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Flya, you’ve hit on the difficulty in interpreting dyno charts - what do they mean to the way a motorcycle actually rides? If one is lucky enough to take the two motorcycles in question - Hammerdrill’s 6 gen and Samuelx’s 8 gen - out for a 100 miles or so that includes a bit of city surface streets, a bit of freeway, and healthy helping of one’s favorite twisty roads (I was exactly this lucky), the conclusion drawn would actually be that the 8 gen has more power, and certainly more grunt. This impression comes from the midrange, and my subjective opinion Is that unless we are riding our VFRs on a racetrack or our favorite twisty roads also include 1/2-mile or longer straightaways, we don’t get to tap into the top end power of our motorcycles very often at all. Midrange is where we reside and midrange is what gets us out of a corner. This header project has helped me develop a great respect for torque and hp numbers between 6000 and 10,000 rpms, and it’s taught me the value of professional dyno tuning to precisely and deliberately make both curves - torque and horsepower - smooth and linear so the motorcycle is very pleasantly and eagerly responsive In a predictable manner.

In simple terms, max. power only determines top speed. Torque determines how quickly you get there.

If it ain't leaking then don't touch it would be my advice.

Gentlemen, our fellow VFRD member Hammerdrill has run into health problems that have forced him to hang up his riding gear. Sadly, in addition to losing a riding brother, his 6 gen [Named Lola] is now up for sale. This was our 6 gen test bike for dyno tuning on the header project: