Exhausts – Exhaust note rating

The 𝟐𝟕𝟎° 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤 is the main reason the Rebel 1100 sounds so good.

I always wondered why my Rebel 500 never sounded as good as my CB160 did many years ago. Engines with a Parallel twin 360° crankshaft (CB160, Yamaha XS650) sound better than with a Vertical twin 180° crankshaft (Rebel 500, Ninja 650).

These twins are 360°: 1981 Honda CM400 twin, 1982 CM450 twin, 1986 Rebel 450 but do not sound that great unless the exhaust collector is removed or bypassed (see *** below).

The later (?) Rebel 250 had only an exhaust crossover pipe – not a collector.

I had a 1981 CM400 360° crank – I removed the scavenger/collector chamber and re-attached the stock mufflers. It sounded almost as good as a Triumph/BSA vertical twin.

I owned a 1986 VT500. I would not buy one of these again because of the VT500 exhaust note – basically it will never sound like a v-twin. The VT500 has a dual-pin crankshaft – so it does not have the nice V-twin sound like single pin V-twins (Guzzi/Ducati/Yamaha/Shadow 750). The “dual-pin crankshaft” robs the bike of ever having a v-twin sound. I tried 7 or 8 exhaust changes (stock, stock with holes, removed collector, added Emgo shorty’s w/o the collector) – nothing sounded good – not even as good as a vertical twin.

. ***Alternative to removing collector: Leave the entire exhaust system intact (headers/collector/mufflers). Insert a 9 inch pipe into each side of the collector to disconnect/isolate the center part of the collector.  If it rattles, add a sheet metal screw to the bottom of each side.