I couldn't stand it. The stock exhaust system on the 1700 Nomad was too quite, not enough presence. Bikes should be louder than that. Whatever it was, I couldn't take it. Searched high and low for an exhaust system and couldn't find one. They just don't make complete exhaust systems for the 1700 Nomads yet. Slips ons didn't seem like the answer. Solution, help the stock exhaust breath a little better.
Bought a 1 3/8" bi-metal hole saw. A 12" drive extension and went after the baffle walls inside the stock cans. The right side was much easier because the exhaust system comes apart just before the muffler starts. Starting from the tail (outlet) of the muffler the first baffle wall was out in less than two minutes.
The second wall didn't take much longer.
Flipped the muffler around and took out the third wall from the inlet end.
That revealed the packing material which is the catalytic converter. So, 20 mins to get the three baffle walls out. 2 hours of digging with a coat hanger hook to get the packing stuff out. Nice open tube with perforations. The left hand pipe was the same, except had to cut the elbow off the inlet side to get to that baffle wall and packing material. When done, hung the muffler back on the bike. (Disconnected the battery) and tacked the pipe to the muffler in a couple of places so the alignment was correct. Removed again and welded all the way around. Sound is better than stock by a long shot. Still not very loud. No popping or backfiring (yet?). Haven't noticed any change in performance, so we will see how these gutted cans work out..
Here is a view after the two outer walls were removed.
Words of caution. Do NOT try to push to entire contents of the catalytic packing out one end. You must break it up and pull it out in tedious, time consuming pieces. The tube that makes up the baffle wall does NOT run the entire length of the muffler. It stops one either side of the packing material. If you try to push it out, it will catch on the ends of the tube. Pushing harder on the packing material only collapses the tube. I used a small spade bit to break up the big chunks, then fished them out with a coat hanger with a hook.
