I recently purchased a red 2002 VFR800 and I am absolutely loving it! It hides its age extremely well except for one thing (which tends to be an eye sore for me); the big outdated under tail exhausts. Another issue I have with my motorcycle is it is just no loud enough. I run with a Stain-tune cat back exhaust (without the baffles) and also have the stock exhaust. Now I know I can have a custom exhaust fabricated or use a more modern style rear exhaust setup (like repurposing a R1 or Ducati TOCE setup for the VFR) and this would fix both of my issues (make it louder and get rid of the dated look, but I am a university student on a pretty tight budget when it comes to throwing money on a bike. The alternative to this is running with a cheap slip on exhaust which comes out the side. The issue with this would be the gaping hole under the tail where the old cans used to be; this just makes the motorcycle look like something is off about it. What I am proposing is to get an affordable slip on and put that on the side, and fabricate a piece to go under the tail. I would fabricate this by first making a mold around the empty tail with cardboard, filling it with expanding foam, shaving it down to fit the bike, going over the foam with fibreglass, and finally paint matching with the Italian Red Honda paint. I could also have the fibreglass part painted at a shop if it would be cheaper. I have listed the rough price estimate and a getto mock of the final product (slip on not included in the mock up). I would love to get your guys opinion on this, the level of difficulty this would be, and if this is a pipe dream or something that is actually realistic and a good idea. Thanks.
Cost Estimate:
- Shorty Slip On Exhaust - $100 CAD
- Expanding Foam - $10 CAD
- Cardboard - Free
- Sandpaper and Files - Free
- Fibreglass Repair Kit - $40 CAD
- Primer - $10 CAD
- Honda Paint - $35 CAD
- Clear Coat - $15 CAD
- Total - $210
Motorcycle Mockup: