Kymera

Hi all,

I need some advice. I have 2000 Honda Superhawk (Firestorm) with the stock exhaust. I always wanted to upgrade and was finally ready to start looking but a couple of questions have come up for me.

I’ve always liked the high mount look but I use the bikes for trips at times and do use saddlebags. I suspected with high mounts that would be out of the question is that correct? Also, I’ve noticed there isn’t a lot of choice. Few items on ebay and in a lot of online stores the hawk / VTR1000F doesn’t even show up. I’m currently looking at some low mount LeoVince cans, Yosh’s, Two Bro’s but open to others. Anywhere else I should look in particular?

Also do you really get any improvements in performance, mileage? Are there any drawbacks?

After reviewing a lot of the posts on the forum I guess the question is really, is it worth it? I like the bike a lot but I’m wondering if I should bank my money and look at other upgrades.

Any thoughts, advice, opinions welcome.

Thanks!

jefejrs

Suspension stock? Upgrading the suspension is always time and money well spent. Wish I would have done mine sooner. Better feel and more confidence is better than more noise. I'm older now.....

tomzxt

What are you trying to get out of the exhaust? Better sound(louder, softer)? Performance? Shape? Color?

RIPI

Round high mounts rule! D&D makes a great product and are excellent with their customer service! Saddle bags are tough on the hawk either way without brackets...

Kymera

I would have to say performance first but sound is important although I'm not interested in waking up the neighbor on my early morning rides. Shape and color not so much although if the exhausts were not appealing to the eye it would influence my decision.

Right now the bike has SS brake lines, aftermarket air filter, and shimmed carbs so it's fairly stock. No suspensions mods but I have been considering it. My local shop is owned by a former honda tech who raced these bikes in the early 2000's and he has the bike running really well and he suggested the exhausts for the weight savings and performance. Even asked me if I would consider selling it a while ago.

Thanks for the replies.

AK Ronin

D&D's are the loudest you're going to be able to find. Their race packs add substantial performance to the bike too. I used to ride with Vance & Hines, they look really nice, but eh. Never was a fan of Two Brothers. Too many squids up here with those on their bitch bikes. It irks me to no end. However, if you're going for the FULL exhaust changeout, Two Brothers offers the best increase in performance if you're willing to shell out the money. Yoshimuras are generally quiet until you get going pretty fast, then they create more of an ear-shattering/glass breaking effect. The tri tips sound sweet on the ZX-14's.
I personally Love my D&D's.

Wolverine

I've had mine on 3 days and I couldn't agree more!!

Huge weight savings over stock, which you will notice when you lift up those oem cans. With that reason alone an exhaust upgrade is worth your $$$.

sethday

I got a SWEET set of CF Jardine hi mount and love them (Thanks 97Wolverine). Not too loud, but just right. I am going to explore into saddle bags next. I have seen (recently) a member that had hi pipes and saddle bags that worked together. If you can fond some members near you it might be worth it to meet up with them and see what you think (sound and looks) of the exhaust they have on their bikes.

8541Hawk

This is pretty good though I personally think the D&Ds are a bit too loud. So I run one of the exhausts you left off which are the Leo Vince cans. You can 3 different "loudness" settings with the baffles they give you and can go for "stock" quiet to a fairly good rumble just by the different combinations. They are also some of the best made slip ons I have ever installed. Yes I'm biased but the really do install very nice.

mput

I'm running Erion Racing slip ons. Sound great deep rumble below 5k and the roar of a race v8 above. I noticed a slight drop in mileage with the cans and jetting and the V-brake isn't as strong with less back pressure. Runs quite a bit stronger good performance gains. Ok to average build quality TERRIBLE fit.

ranchomice

My Erions installed very nicely and I love the sound and weight savings! I wanted high mounts for asthetics, but after talking to a few people, I'm glad I went standard.

mput

My mid pipes never sealed to the header very well always leaked untill I found the IFAQ on SuperHawk996.net. The right can started moveing in the hanger at about 12,000 miles. After 300 or so miles it will rotate till the springs catch and stop it. Just expected a little more from a at the time all honda outfit.

superdutyd

You can do the bafflectomy also. It's pretty much free and sound awesome. As good as any aftermarket exhaust i've had on previous Superhawks. I was skeptical at first, but i'm a believer now. I did the full bafflectomy by the way.

Wolverine

I was planning to eventually trim about 3-4 inches off!! After riding w/ this:

I want louder! Trimmed Sato carbon cans = the best sounding bike on planet earth (IMO). He recently sold it, so I have the need to replace that V2 song.

And mput, I challenge you to post a sound clip of a twin that sounds like a race v8. I've heard quite a few V4 Interceptor's that sound that way, but a V2???

AK Ronin

oooopppssss. Forgot about those. Although I've heard them quite a few times, I never really like the sound for some reason. A little too whiney from what I remember. Maybe I heard a different baffle set on them? But an interesting sound nonetheless. Those Vance and Hines make your bike sound like its an electric motorcycle. Kind of funky, but once you get above 5K Rpms they ROAR. I've never had issues with installing cans though. I always liked the look of the SP2's from V&H, they were more boxy than the cylindrical look. (By the way, I need to sell mine, inquire if interested, Sorry for posting here). The D&D's installed in less than 10 minutes.
There was someone on here selling those blue Erion cans earlier, those things looked sweet. I've never heard Erion before though, I just know that they're redonkulously expensive. I think the rarest exhausts though are those Devil's. I still remember a buddy of mine not being able to get those for his Hawk back in 2000. They had a set on a bike at the shop though, he said they sounded crazy, louder than the D&D's. Kudos to anyone who has those. Especially to the guy who had the Devil shotgun ones too. Those things were epic.

8541Hawk

Well as we have ended up there, the real rare set ups are the Moriwaki cans, The Akro cans or system and the real rare bird, the M4 complete system.

There are many more that are not made anymore.

Though I will say I ran Erions for around 10 yrs. The last very well and sound good but are pretty loud.

I guess I'm getting old as I would like to only set off some of the car alarms when I come home at 1 or 2 am....... or when leaving early in the morning.

Also my decision to run the Leos is that they can be made a quite as the stock system. The reason for that is if you want to do a Laguna Seca track day you need to have stock exhaust (which I can get around with the inserts)

So as they all make around the same power (except for some of the full systems but you really need engine work to get the real benifits from them) choose which ever one you think looks the best, or sounds the best if you have a chance to listen to them.

I would just suggest to stay away from the carbon cans as some of them don't do well or live very long on a big twin

Onomea