Triumph Repair: Exhaust, motorcycle muffler, stock muffler

Question
Howard. I would like to get rid of the stock muffler on my Spitfire and replace it with something that gives a nice "sports car sound" to it. The after market systems out there are expensive. I was thinking of replacing the stock muffler with a motorcycle muffler. Would that cause any problems.?  Jim in Elyria, Ohio

Answer
Hi Jim,
I have seen people do it but keep in mind that a muffler that sounds good on a 650cc dual pipe bike is only passing the volume of 325cc cylinder on each side and even though it sounds great on the bike, if you put one on a 1500 spitfire, you are trying to push 1500 cc of cylinders through the 325cc cylinder muffler. Even though most bike mufflers are not restrictive for their size keep in mind what the volume is going to be. But a newer 1000cc twin bike with one muffler will probably work just fine because not only do you need to consider cc size you need to consider horse power. A newer 1000cc bike today produces more horse power than a Spitfire does so any single muffler off of those bikes should not be a problem.
Howard