Well finally the weather and a day off have cooperated and I took my first ride of the season today. I was out for several hours and, aside from all the sand and salt still on the roads, it was FANTASTIC!!! :thumbsup:
This was also my inaugural ride with the Laser setup and it sounds great!! I put all the restrictors in because I didn't want the bike to sound obnoxious, just better. Well it sounds better alright! It's definitely louder and deeper, but it's far from loud. I'd thought I might pull just the upper restrictors to turn up the volume at some point, but I think it sounds great.
If I didn't have hardbags, the installation definitely would have been easier. Installing it so the bag brackets clear the exhaust is tougher, but with some patience (and a few new curse words) I've done it!
Well, I am not usually one for buying AF pipes but those Lasers are about to push me over the edge.
That is dam cool. I run hard bags on my 03 and I wondered if they would fit with lasers. I have been happy living in the fantasy that they would not, but you have now dispelled that myth.
Lasers rock Bro's ! I love mine and they always, always, get comments. Even the CBR boys get jealous and the only system I've seen so far I liked for my CBR was the Lasers but not as much as stock. Can't wait to see what we'll get for the V5, 5 pipes baby or even better maybe, twin pipes slashed cut like last years RCV211 had, none on the side, just the 2 under the seat. Sure wish I could hook up with one of you so I can hear what Lasers sound like coming and going. Must be way different than on the bike with a helmet on. Many times I ride up on stopped riders and they always state they "heard me coming" :) ! I get a kick outta just polishing those babies and with my polished wheels, looks great. Enjoy, you made the right decision, shame to cover them up with the bags though. Anyone with ABS, I just removed the whole remote preload knob from it's bracket and put it under the seat.
coldinvt, Apr 5 2005, 09:51 PMWell finally the weather and a day off have cooperated and I took my first ride of the season today. I was out for several hours and, aside from all the sand and salt still on the roads, it was FANTASTIC!!! :thumbsup:
This was also my inaugural ride with the Laser setup and it sounds great!! I put all the restrictors in because I didn't want the bike to sound obnoxious, just better. Well it sounds better alright! It's definitely louder and deeper, but it's far from loud. I'd thought I might pull just the upper restrictors to turn up the volume at some point, but I think it sounds great.
If I didn't have hardbags, the installation definitely would have been easier. Installing it so the bag brackets clear the exhaust is tougher, but with some patience (and a few new curse words) I've done it!
Ride on, Rob
Rob,
Nice pics. The Lasers look very sharp. I love that old TL as well, great color and very clean.
Nice pics. The Lasers look very sharp. I love that old TL as well, great color and very clean.
I made the unfortunate mistake of tossing the TLS off the outside of a turn a couple seasons ago... I was deeply saddened to have ruined that beautiful custom paintjob! Oddly enough, the corner at which I took the "VFRAutumn" photos is the very same corner... The slower I go through there the better!!
coldinvt, Apr 6 2005, 02:51 AMWell finally the weather and a day off have cooperated and I took my first ride of the season today. I was out for several hours and, aside from all the sand and salt still on the roads, it was FANTASTIC!!! :thumbsup:
This was also my inaugural ride with the Laser setup and it sounds great!! I put all the restrictors in because I didn't want the bike to sound obnoxious, just better. Well it sounds better alright! It's definitely louder and deeper, but it's far from loud. I'd thought I might pull just the upper restrictors to turn up the volume at some point, but I think it sounds great.
If I didn't have hardbags, the installation definitely would have been easier. Installing it so the bag brackets clear the exhaust is tougher, but with some patience (and a few new curse words) I've done it!
Ride on, Rob
I love the lasers look too. Had a set and returned them. I've talked about them in some other posts. They are the best looking but they shouldn't be so hard to install. To much tweeking for the price. At least you could get them to work with the hard bag rack, I couldn't. The guy at forest rad said that Laser was going to R& D them some more and redo them again. Then he offered me a reduced price when they come out if I still want them. Who knows, still love my staintunes!
Yeah, they definitely required some futzing, but I just figure that's the price of admission, y'know? If you want the sound you want, and/or the ability to change it relatively easily, you're going to need a system that comes apart/goes together like that. Those extra parts might make the system tougher to align properly I guess (though I've never installed another system).
I'm no mechanic for sure and like I said, I swore a lot. But I got it done and I can say it was well worth the frustration.
I am thinking about getting some myself and was wondering what exactly the problems were with installation? Was it just a matter of adjustment or did you have to rig it with extra washers, home made brackets, ect...
Yeah, it was basically a matter of adjustment/fine tuning. It all went together easily enough, but tweaking everything so that the bag brackets would fit was a little tougher. There are some spacers that hold the pipe brackets (and thusly the pipes) away from the bike and I ended up playing with them a bit to get it dialed it in. I had initially thought that bending the pipe bracket would be necessary, but on a suggestion from Robert Foster at FosterRAD, I messed with using washers in place of the spacers to bring them closer... Viola! I'd suspect that only someone who's actually installed a set would spot the tweak.
Mine are the 1st gen, solid ones and I had to add a few washers to side bolts to spread pipes apart to clear LP. Piece of cake, used stainless steel ones from Tractor Supply and longer SS bolts as it was very hard to get the nuts on the bolts under the seat. And, if anyone noticed the factory pics of the 02 VFR had real shiney nice pipes at catcon ? They are SS too and with a little metal polish clean up nicely and go well with the Lasers. They do turn brown over time but are easy to repolish while you're out in the garage bonding with your baby.
End of thread · 11 posts recoveredWayback Machine snapshot 28 Apr 2005