Surely wrapped exhaust has nothing to do with exhaust temperature but makes the entire bike a whole lot cooler when parked outside a hip coffee-with-turmeric bar?
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Exhaust tape??!
- Thread starter Squishman
- Start date
It always gets blamed on the flux capacitor!
AUTOMAN
XS650 Addict
Flux caps were not invented until 1950.
That’s what they want you to think…
Have fun fellas. Puff puff..
I know I am late to the party but to answer your original question, I agree with others, you gotta pull the wrap off first to see what you find underneath. If the pipes are stainless, there should be minimal staining or rust. If they are regular mild steel, there will be rust. There might be ugly welds. Ugly paint. Pinhole leaks. You won't know until you pull the wrap off.
As far as the aesthetics, that is completely up to you whether you like it or not. They make different colors so if you like wrap but this color does not agree with you, you can always wrap it in different color. It's a style thing. And we all have different taste. Nothing wrong with that.
I got wrap on maybe half my bikes. Two of them are custom show bikes and people love the wrap because it is neat, clean, wraps are equidistant (hard to do) and it flows with the design of the bike. But I wouldn't put wrap on nice stainless exhaust pipes, for example. Again, my personal preference.
Good luck with the new bike!
As far as the aesthetics, that is completely up to you whether you like it or not. They make different colors so if you like wrap but this color does not agree with you, you can always wrap it in different color. It's a style thing. And we all have different taste. Nothing wrong with that.
I got wrap on maybe half my bikes. Two of them are custom show bikes and people love the wrap because it is neat, clean, wraps are equidistant (hard to do) and it flows with the design of the bike. But I wouldn't put wrap on nice stainless exhaust pipes, for example. Again, my personal preference.
Good luck with the new bike!
Shelby
XS650 Addict
That's the only reason I'd planned to use it, but my DH hit the exhaust with buffing compound, scratch remover, then Mothers Chrome Polish and de-aged her by about 35 years, and I like that look a whole lot better.
My pipes were dented and the finish so bad I didn’t have that option, however they were solid so that part won out.
On all my other bikes, some elbow grease usually took care of most of the issues and usually 4XXXX steel wool gets 99% of the clean-up done. I do want to try waxing them as has been mentioned by other members.
Squishman
XS650 Addict
Those pea shooters look same as on mine.
Wrapping (rusty, dinged, scratched) pipes is a cheap appearance upgrade. Some fellows do not have the $ to replace all the dingy bits. How many of us have rattle canned an existing part on our project to keep the cost down?
The RE looks better without that abortion of the wrap job. A good wrap can look good. A good tidy wrap that doesn't detract from the look of the bike.
Shelby
XS650 Addict
That does look good. All the ones I've seen in person -- a hand full at best -- have looked like the tail end of that 6 weeks in a cast thing.
Shelby
XS650 Addict
Not me! (I hand em off to the husband. Cause he's really good at it!)
White? Yeah, it does look kinna cheezy.
Opinion intrudes a lot. Insulating the pipe has real engineering consequences. Silicone may be used under and through the wrap, and the wrap materials are several with differing effects, including big variations in emmissivity. That said, most use of wrap seems to be uninformed and amateurish. FWIW, Melnic, it can have a favorable effect on the depth of burns when the bike falls on your leg, and can reduce the radiation coupling to adjacent hoses and parts. This is probably not the best place to learn about wrap strategies. Alas, study the subject from sound sources, fellas with engineering qualifications in the relevant fields. No so much ad hoc opinions. Best of luck!
I have an Indian Scout and it has a similar position for the exhaust as a Sporster, right at the inside of your calf when you step onto the bike.
6 months ago I ordered some wrap and some insulation to put on the inside of the heat shield. I have been deliberating within my head to actually apply one or both under the shield. If its a good thing, why would Indian not have done it already. There are times I"ve taken that bike with shorts to go somewhere not too far away and in the case of when I had the sportster I tapped my calf and burned it. Its also in a spot where if the passenger got off on the right side of the bike, they could hit it.
Looks a lot better without the tape!
