A Tale of Twin Exhausts

On any classic motorcycle, a decent set of exhaust pipes rather finish things off nicely; that and rust free wheel rims.

The starboard pipe on my bike was pretty good, as were both silencers…but the port side pipe had blued quite badly and had many dents in it; I suspect due to an impatient installer. That was exacerbated when I accidentally caught the pipe whilst the engine was running, with my polyester padded jacket sleeve. The turquoise material instantly melted and fused with the exhaust pipe. Once I’d complete the other major jobs on the bike, I decided it was time to replace both pipes. The port side one because it looked really nasty, and the starboard one so it matched the other one and didn’t upset the balance of the engine.

I had tried to get just the port side pipe for simple economics. There were no markings on the pipe but there were on the two silencers. They were marked ‘DORSET’. I couldn’t find any reference to a ‘Dorset’ silencer style, but did track down a company called Dorset Silencers…but sadly that company was dissolved in 2021.

I wanted decent pipes so my search led me to Armour Motor Products Limited, a long established and respected manufacturer and supplier of quality exhaust pipes and silencers for many marques of motorcycle. They offered a set of pipes type ‘M10’ on their website which looked right, but I did check with them that the pipes would fit my 1966 G12. The M10 pipes can be found here. The picture on the ‘Armours’ website wasn’t brilliant so I asked them for a better one, which I’ve shown here. The starboard pipe didn’t fit the cylinder head properly so it was returned to Armours who made me a new one to replace mine with no quibble…except that they wanted the faulty one back of course, for examination. The M10 pipes slot a few inches further in to the silencers, so replacing the pair for good balance was a good idea. At the time, I think I paid just under £200 for the two pipes including postage.

The only work needed on the pipes to make them fit, was filing of the slots in the flanges to fit my particular bike; but not much was needed.

Here’s a picture of the port side pipe fitted to my bike. It looks great and didn’t turn blue like the old one. Both pipes match now and the engine note sounds better with identical pipe profiles. You can buy cheap exhaust pipes, like you can most things, but you may have to spend quite a bit of time reworking them. They may also discolour easily and often have thin chrome plating. Why spoil the job for a ha’porth of tar, as my Mum used to say.

So, if you’re looking to replace your motorcycle’s exhaust components, give Armours a try…they provided me with a great service.