Okay, just took a nice ride with my new exhaust. The big surprise, its not really that loud at all. Of course, it is loud(er) than stock, but really not that much. At a steady cruising speed, wearing a full face helmet, it is almost hard to hear it. Seriously! Only when you accelerate hard, does it eventually assert itself with more sound volume. Starting from around 4k and up, under hard acceleration, it comes alive and I easily hear it as the bike rapidly speeds up. Which is as it should be imho!
I'm sure it will sound loud(er) to others listening to it from behind the rear end of the bike, or even to the rider while passing through a tunnel or by a large transport cargo truck on the highway. Wearing a full face helmet tends to mitigate ANY sound heard by the rider. I did not find any semblance of a constant "droning" of the exhaust at highway cruising speeds. That is probably even less noticeable than driving a diesel powered truck.
There is a slight amount of "burbling" (as well as an occasional, very subtle, but barely audible popping sound) whenever decelerating from higher revs with the throttle closed. This too is a sound I kind of like. It is certainly not that noticeable to warrant an ECU remapping.
I'm happy to report the engine idle is still rock solid, right at 1000 rpm (after warm up) and totally uneventful, same as stock.
Of course, things may change dramatically, with the baffle removed. Certainly, it will be LOUDER. It will gradually become louder over time as carbon deposits build up inside the canister. In fact, it seems like that is already happening - ever so gradually - after only 30 miles!
Bottom line, this 9" SS Slip On Oval "silencer", made by Delkevic, is an excellent product, easy to install and fairly low cost ($185 shipped). It's a somewhat conservative exhaust enhancement for the CB1100; certainly nothing radical! So, fwiw, I recommend it to any others here who are dissatisfied with Honda's stock 4 into 1 exhaust.
