Price, price, price. I have been involved with sportbikes and modified bikes since about 1998 and I have owned maybe 12-15 sportbikes since then and every one has had an aftermarket exhaust or at least slip ons. I have bought expensive ones, cheap ones, high quality ones, and I have bought some of them from good dealers, some from bad dealers, some from small companies.
After you get over the initial price of the item I usually forget all about what I paid for it and over the 1-5 year life I expect from an exhaust I am then a lot more focused on the VALUE that it delivers. Does it work? Does it fit? Did it start to look like ass after one rainy ride? Does it make power? Do I have to spend $350 to remap my bike? Is there anyone there to call if I have questions or problems?
With companies like Brock and Schnitz the answer is usually a positive one. I recall once I bought a Yoshi exhaust for my then new 2000 GSXR750 and it had the wrong mid pipe so it wouldnt fit. Now my bike is stripped down and no exhaust. I called Yoshi and they insisted that I first send the wrong pipe back to them and THEN they would fix their mistake. OR I could give them a CC# and buy a new Mid pipe to fix their mistake. Either one sucked for me and my bike was down a week unless I wanted to spend even more money.
At that point getting the lowest PRICE was not the most important thing to me. I only wish that had been a BROCK exhaust because Brock would have shipped me the right pipe out THEN.
At another point I had another major brand of pipe that started to rust even though it was stainless afterone year on a 1999 Hayabusa. I ended up throwing it in a dumpster because I could not even sell it USED and bought another brand. Again if I had not focused on the best price product and instead bought a GREAT pipe at a good price I would have came out ahead in the long run.
To sum it up there is a japanese quote that loosely translated goes something like this. The bitter taste of a poor quality product will be remembered long after the sweet taste of a "good deal" is forgotten.
So instead of trying to get the cheapest product at the lowest price I encourage all of you to instead focus on buying good products at good prices from reputable dealers such as Brock. Schnitz, HPC, KWS motorsports, Orient Express, Leo Vince etc etc. I am sure there are others too.
One thing that is critical in the equation is the Brock PERSONALLY is involved with the design and support of all his products that his name goes on. And if you have a problem you may well end up talking to Brock on the phone too. Plus he also builds and gives you a custom map for any exhaust that you buy from him. That alone is a $300-$400 option if you did it at a seperate Dyno.
My last exhaust came from Brock and it included TWO maps. One for the street and one for the track. The bike runs GREAT with the map right out of the box and I didnt spend another dime on it since. It is for my 08 Busa and really like it so far.
So please dont look just at prices or you will be unhappy in the long run, take it from someone that has done that too many times in the past.
