Staintune Exhaust

[DGShannon_imp]

I realize that aftermarket exhausts do not appeal to everyone (and there are a number of them that don't appeal all that much to me). But as far as I'm concerned, Staintune hit a home run with their slip-on exhaust for the CB1100. The only downside is the price which by any measure is exorbitantly high. But for that price you receive a finely crafted unit that is like a work of art — high grade materials and hardware that beautifully constructed with no rivets to be found and no packing to be replaced down the road.

A few weeks ago just for fun I swapped the Staintune out for the factory unit. I'd been running the Staintune long enough that I couldn't remember what the riding experience was like without it. As I've mentioned before, I don't mind the factory setup. It looks just fine and sounds alright. But the reality for me is that the factory setup is missing the "soul" that the Staintune lends to the whole riding experience. A couple of days ago, I reinstalled the Staintune unit and that familiar extra stretch of grin immediately returned to my face. While it's not really all that much louder than the stock exhaust and any performance gains are minimal, it's the tone of the Staintune that makes all of the difference for me. It is simply music to my ears and makes the riding experience that much more enjoyable.

Agree with that. When I first became aware of the Staintune, one of the things I liked was that to the untrained eye, it still looked very much like a stock setup, yet gave out that great sound. With passing time, my attitude shifted. Now, the fact that it is so stock looking bothers me in that it feels as if I would be paying huge bucks for pretty much a sound change alone. If I actually saw (and heard) one in person, it may change my mind. For now, I keep eyeing the Tadao pipe. Wish we had more folks here that already had one, and were singing it's praises as much as the Staintune!