The CB1100 Community Forum

OK, this is kind of like a 'who cares' issue, but I'll ask anyway.

What the 'hey' has happened to my exhaust pipes? They're splotchy, have little dots all over them, at least off the cylinder head. I own a 1991 BMW R100GS (since 1991) that shows less heat damage to the pipes at 150k miles than my 2014 CB1100 with slightly over 3000 miles showing. And my 2008 Guzzi pipes still look reasonably kept up, even though they have 65000 miles on them. And all I do to either bike is wipe the pipes down periodically.

It's not a big issue, but I won't concede to the logic that some fellow Triumph owners said about their 2001 Bonnevilles, when their pipes turned a scorched blue within a few hundred miles. I simply don't believe that discolored pipes show that I'm a hot shoe that really runs my bike hard.

So what gives with my CB1100 pipes? Or is it just my bike?

It’s simply the nature of the beast; the CB1100 pipes turn brown and uneven spots appear with use and miles. Stainless steel will never rust, of course.
They polish quite nicely w/ elbow grease, Mothers aluminum polish and flossing 1 pipe at a time with a thin rag.

Or you need a DLX just the 4in2 exhaust

Speaking of stainless steel, does anyone know if the inner pipes on the DLX/EX headers are constructed of stainless steel? I'm sure that Honda would have published this somewhere.

They have double-wall pipes...outside pipe is chrome

(12-09-2017, 02:50 PM)alprider_imp Wrote: [ -> ]They have double-wall pipes...outside pipe is chrome

Yes, I understand that the outer wall is plated in chrome. But I'm curious about the metal that is used in the construction of the header pipe.

In my opinion it was shabby of Honda to ship the 2010-2016 Standard CB1100s without double-walled stainless steel exhaust headers. Those fitted to the DLX/EX/RS models are much sharper.

However, being essentially lazy, I've accepted this curious design decision and am allowing my headers to discolour in whatever way they want.

For those unable to live with that choice, a product called Optiglanz has received rave reviews on this forum for its simplicity and efficacy.

(12-09-2017, 07:10 PM)Cormanus_imp Wrote: [ -> ]In my opinion it was shabby of Honda to ship the 2010-2016 Standard CB1100s without double-walled stainless steel exhaust headers. Those fitted to the DLX/EX/RS models are much sharper.

However, being essentially lazy, I've accepted this curious design decision and am allowing my headers to discolour in whatever way they want.

For those unable to live with that choice, a product called Optiglanz has received rave reviews on this forum for its simplicity and efficacy.

Optiglanz is great for getting the overall original silver colour back, but it may still leave some freckles near the cylinder head. For those persistent spots, you will still need a traditional metal or dedicated header paste polish and "elbow grease".

The good news is, the more you use Optiglanz the less discolouration you will get, and it seems to take longer for the discolouration to return. Also, the discolouration I did get was more gold than brown with slight shades of blue near the cylinder head. The gold shade actually didn't look bad in contrast to the Spenser Blue tank.

Cormanus's pipes are almost black in appearance.

About the only thing I couldn't abide by my 2013 was the discoloring header pipes.

Jet-Hot is a permanent solution. They will even re-coat them once more for free if there is an issue with the coating.

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Sorry, can't seem to make the dang photo stand up right!