So, there were a few reasons I wanted to consider a new slip on exhaust…
- Aesthetics – better look and sound
- Weight saving – other mods have bumped me up from stock weight, so good to get some of that offset
- Reduced heat – the stock exhaust runs unbelievably hot, and as I want to run rack-less luggage, having a cooler running can was a big advantage (although you can buy heat shield for the stock can).
To be honest, it never took too long to pick the can in the end. My main two options were the Akrapovic can (which KTM do as part of their power parts range), or the Wings slip on. Most people (due to the price I think) recommend the Wings can. The Akrapovic is priced at a whopping £962.10, and as nice as it looks and sounds, it seems a awful lot of money to me. By contrast, the well rated Wings exhaust is £338 delivered to your door. Guess which one I went with?
Fitting was pretty easy to be fair, even for someone mechanically challenged like myself! First up, you need to remove the stock exhaust. Remove the rear top plastic (around petrol filler) and the rear side plastics, so it looks like this:
To remove the stock can, there are only two bolts, both circled in blue in above picture. I have seen a few videos where when the bolts have been undone, the stock exhaust goes crashing off the bike to the floor (and ends up damaged). I removed as described below to avoid that issue. After loosening both nuts, I would recommend undoing the left hand fixing clamp first (that connects to the lower pipe). Remove it completely, so now it is only secured by the hop hanger bolt. Before removing the top hanger bolt, I would pop a bungee cord (or similar) around the exhaust and rear of the bike, to help catch it if it suddenly drops as the last bolt comes out.
Carefully remove the upper bolt whilst holding the exhaust and lift clear when the bolt undoes. Feel the weight of it… then compare that to the Wings one! With the stock slip on removed, you end up with this.
Before storing your old exhaust in a suitably sturdy location, you need to remove to collar which seals the connection to the lower pipe – this one.
OK, now its time for the Wings can. This is how it comes out the box.
Note the inclusion of the T-shirt – you specify the size at checkout, a nice touch!
You then just have the can itself, a small sleeve to connect to the pipe, a clamp and some lubrication fluid. The instructions for fitment are relatively straight forward, so there is little point me recounting them here. But, I did do a couple of things to make the job easier, so I will describe those aspects.
First up, dont forget to fit the collar you removed from the stockl exhaust to the new one.
When you have lube’d the rubber insert in the bracket you then hold up the exhaust to the bike. I found it a faf to hold the exhaust, hold the bracket in the right place, and then try and line up the bolt with the hole. If you can get another pair of hands you are laughing! If not, a simple cable tie can help you. I put one around the bracket as in the picture below, to hold the bracket in the right place on the can, and to take the stain of the spring loaded bracket – so I could just focus on lining things up. This is the cable tie trick.
Once you have the bolt through and caught properly in the hanger, just cut off the cable tie.
Finally, the oil from your hands will get on the exhaust as you fit it. If you leave that on and start the bike, as the oil residue from your fingers heats, it will leave marks on your can which you cant get off. I gave my Wings can (before and after fitting – and defo before starting!) a good clean with contact cleaner:
As for tightening, I did the main hanger bolt at 28nm and the connector to the down pipe at 10nm. Obviously, go with what you think yourself, this is just what I chose to do!
When the exhaust was finally mounted, and again, before starting I gave it a final good rubdown, this time with an clean cloth doused in ACF 50 protection spray, just to be 100% sure there were no finger marks left.
Bolted up on the bike, the Wings can looks like this
Then, just put your plastics back on and you are done! Give it a start – listen to that note, and feel the temperature difference! A good job well done! Check out the run in guidance in the Wings instructions before you go hooning up the road!
As for the weight difference – it is humungous! I weighed both stock and Wings with a luggage weighing scale. The stock came in at 4.2KG, and the Wings at an impressively light 1.9KG – that’s a saving of 2.3KG – and its weight mounted high up too (where it hurts you most). So, that goes some way to offset the weight of my rear rack and engine bars.
Small Bike Adventures 