SuperTrapp

Project 13 is rounding the corner to home. Today the bike was started up for the first time since I acquired it 3 1/2 years ago. At that time I had finished all the mechanical checks and everything was in order. So the cylinders were fogged, oil changed and she was put in hibernation.

One of the important items on this project's build sheet was refurbishing a set of SuperTrapp mufflers. The left side muffler and both mid-pipes came to me several years ago on a parts bike. After a couple of years of searching I was finally able to locate the matching right side muffler — a new, unused example on eBay. So the challenge was to get the old and new to match up visually in order to look right together on this bike.

Fortunately, neither muffler had any dents or road rash. And they're aluminum, so they can actually be massaged to an altered look without too much effort. I began by experimenting with various types and grades of sandpaper to remove the corrosion which had begun to take hold on the old muffler. It eventually got to a very presentable stage, but was definitely not a match to the new one. With more than a little trepidation I began sanding the sparkling new muffler and was relieved to find it slowly coming around. With a final machine polishing the mufflers are nearly identical. Next came a multi-day soak in rust remover for the neglected mid-pipes, followed by a lot of sanding and finally several coats of hi-heat black paint. Refitting the system went as smoothly as I could hope for.

The SuperTrapp is a unique design which allows a degree of exhaust tuning. You do this by varying how many of the eight baffling discs are in use. This is accomplished by placing the solid "blocking plate" disc closer or farther from the exhaust exit point. I arbitrarily chose position six (of eight in this case), leaving five open baffles. Adjusting the baffling also affects the decibel meter, of course, and I was a little surprised how loud it is, but with a very satisfying bass growl. I'll be experimenting with the tuning and sound once we're on the road. But, at this point I'm very pleased with the SuperTrapp. Pictures work better than words....