This product review was written by Wilfred Lee, a VFR Lister and he has graciously allowed me to post it here.
It's been a few weeks since I installed a Hindle slip-on Hindle slip-on on my VFR 800 so I thought I write a review of the pipe.Fit and Finish
First of all, the price is right ($350 Cdn or $230 US) for a race baffle carbon fiber oval high mount slip-on. Construction quality is about 7 out of 10. It is built to the quality of a pipe to be used on the track (such as Erion Racing). Looks, fit and finish isn't as good as Yoshimura or Micron CF pipes. But material used in its construction is excellent. Thick CF wrapping and thick gauge stainless steel high mount connecting pipe. The springs are strong and welding quality excellent.
Installation
Installing the pipe is a snap if one knows the trick. Since the pipe didn't come with any instructions, I spent about an hour fiddling with the connecting pipe as it simply seems too long (pipe slides into the collector at the bottom - no need for clamp, and the top mounts to right passenger foot peg bracket). Initially, now matter what I did, the top mounting hole seems to be off by 1/8" so it wouldn't fit into the passenger footpeg bolt. I didn't want to cut the pipe either. Turns out loosening the passenger footpeg bracket and then installing the mounting bolt did the trick.
The pipe comes in two pieces. One piece is the cannister and the other the high mount connecting pipe. The connecting pipe slides into the cannister nicely and is secured with two springs. I put in some high-temp silicon sealant to help the seal. The cannister seems very secure so I didn't bother with the clamp.
During installation, I got several CF splinters in my finger. Clearly, the splinters weren't cleaned up thoroughly at the factory.
Performance
Power wise, at part throttle, it removed the 6000 RPM power surge. Power comes on gradually. At 8000 RPM, there's more power than stock. The extra power lasts well into 12000 RPM when the rev limiter kicks in. So to sum up the pipe, I gained top end at the expense of mid-range. It is a bit harder to pass on the highway without the 6000 RPM power surge. But on back roads now the bike pulls very strong out of corners. Corners exits at full throttle used to feel so stable but now (with the new pipe) I can feel the Dunlop 207 front tire sliding. If I snap the bike up straight in second gear and full throttle the front wheel just comes off of the ground. In mid-corner long sweepers (270 degree highway on/off ramps) throttle is much more sensitive than before as the rear tire tends to slide if I give it too much throttle. I really have to learn the bike over again with the extra power.
Sound
The pipe is fairly loud (also hear all the backfires too). To get an idea of what this pipe sounds like simply remove the VFR's muffler and start the bike. Now, imagine the same sound just a tad softer and with more bass. As the pipe ages (now a few weeks old), the sound gets lower and lower and the raspy sound begins to diminish. I like the note more and more. It's cross between Harley & TL1000 but with 4 cylinders instead of 2. Instead of "potato, potato", you get "popotatatoto, popotatatoto".
Summary
Overall, I'm satisfied with the pipe.
Regards,
Wilfred Lee
VFR800FI
