MOTAD ON FORUM

[motad_uk]

I would prefer to be available as tech support and keep away from selling-

You are right in that David S pointed me to the forum- although I should be shot for missing you guys for so long- first Motad systems were for 500-4 and 750-4 in the early 70s

I think that many of our competitors are on the forums that we are on- but hidden behind obscure user names etc

I think that being on to give open and no commercial advise is good- although of course my views are affected by 35 years of being in this market (and of course the need to give that nice lady in Aldi some money each week!__)

[SteveD CB500K0]

I bought my Piper from Bikes of Brighton in 1977:



I think this was about the third. The chrome was pretty hit and miss. I remember the guy from Bikes saying "Where do you guys live? On the beach?"

Nearly - we were one street back from the prom.

Other period accessories:

• Hondastyle/Rickman fairing
• Eurodesign rack
• Air horns
• Finned covers
• Home-made battery charger plug also used to power the lighting in my tent (I was an engineering student after all)

[AshimotoK0]

Reckon that's a mil. spec 'Amphenol' connector on there Steve  ! A tight wad of guy I worked with in late 70's got a right bollocking for using a pair of those connectors from stock as a means of quickly disconnecting the aerial on his MG1300... probably worth more than the car was. Still got some in my loft if you wan't to relive your youth!

 The 400/4 I own to this day  had a crabby Piper exhaust on it when I bought the bike  for 100 quid in 1985, soon ditched it! The standard 400/4 system was  reduced by Honda around 1986 to 100 quid so I got one of those.

Cheers ...Ash

[SteveD CB500K0]

Reckon that's a mil. spec 'Amphenol' connector on there Steve

Errr...   yep.

I worked for Racal in the holidays (and went on to design military telecommunications systems for them after Uni)

If you went into the model shop and asked for a waterproof two-pin connector, that's what you got!

 

[motad_uk]

I think Pipers best effort was for their GT750 3-1-   sounded like heaven and solved the problem of drum brakes on the early bikes by losing about 25% of the power

And the Marving of the same "thin" style I had on my second 500-4- it took me  a week to realise that that slight increase in noise pulling away from  the lights in Stratford was in fact the complete baffle falling off

might be fun if enough interest to do a "parallel tube" system based on our existing downpipes and front part of the silencer on 500 (550s) and 750s

anyone with an interest?- email me on ianmcdonald@motad.co.uk

[Johnwebley]

whats "parrallel pipes? "

 are you considering end pipes to fit on existing stock down pipes ??
my thought is cut/remove rusted silencer,and fit slide-ons onto downpipes

or am I being even more stupid than normal ??

[matthewmosse]

That would be a line I would be interested in, a part that collected the existing 4 downpipes, then you can slip on a variety of end cans to suit the bike. Then I could go wild with fishtails and all manner of tasteless craziness. Not sure if others would want this though......

[ka-ja]

Hi,
    A separate "collector" would be a great idea for all the special enthusiasts, of which I am one, but commercially probably not on, as a manufacturer, why make and sell exhaust parts when you can sell complete systems, I personally think "Mr Motad" is a brave person to enter this arena (forum) considering the huge variation of exhausts already mentioned and variations there-off, most of which seem to revolve around perfect copies for original looks or yoshimura copies for the cafe racers.

[Bitsa (Ralph Wright - RIP)]

Just make something that does not go BLUE
Cheers
Bitsa

[Green1]

I'm on the look out for some silencers for my 1200 trophy.The Motad ones on the bike have been on there for 22 years so not bad.They will probably last another 5 
The black chrome ones look quit smart
Maybe some for the old Hondas the cafe racer boys would love those.You wont see those going blue Bitsa.

[matthewmosse]

On the other hand the chances of me buying a complete silencer are smaller than me buying just the collector for my special the exhaust kind of defines the bikes looks. I am afraid for my bike the motad chrome system for the 500/4 whilst if fitted well and did the job just wasn't the look I really want to end up with, too restrained and sensible. I don't necessarily want the full on noise of the preformace / free flowing exhausts, there Motad have the good factor, you can ride 500 miles without ringing ears at the end of the trip, but for a lot of specials the 2 motad systems I have in the shed are a bit 'safe' in the styling department. Maybe even the gatling gun look of the dunstall system I have at the end of the silencer might give the something wild factor I am after. Just my thoughts. It wouldn't take much if any tooling up, just make the first section of the silencer and the customer can add a end can to suit their bikes look. My ntv650 has a ducatti end can shoved on on this basis - somehow looks and sounds great, lovely bark if given the beans, nearly inaudible to me  cruising through town in a high gear.

[motad_uk]

whats "parrallel pipes? "

 are you considering end pipes to fit on existing stock down pipes ??
my thought is cut/remove rusted silencer,and fit slide-ons onto downpipes

or am I being even more stupid than normal ??

sorry- me being obscure

what I mean is a thin style silencer like on the old Yosh, piper, alfa 41 etc-   all of them not great on power if used as road legal-  but might be of interest for special builders etc

but it would need 15 or 20 interested to be able to justify

[motad_uk]

That would be a line I would be interested in, a part that collected the existing 4 downpipes, then you can slip on a variety of end cans to suit the bike. Then I could go wild with fishtails and all manner of tasteless craziness. Not sure if others would want this though......

always been a little careful here- easy to change from an exhaust for performance and useage- into a styling exercise

a lot of the far eastern/Chinese stuff (which apart from us is most now) offer crazy short cans etc etc-  fine if you can live with being mega noisy ordown on power- but not great to ride with

we love working with bikes- but bottom line is we have to pay our bill too- and probably the average tooling and development cost of making a new end cap is £7,000-  that's fine if we are selling lots but not great on the obscure ones where we might only sell 5 a year!

[motad_uk]

Just make something that does not go BLUE
Cheers
Bitsa

no problem to make- the downside is the cost of tooling and mandrells (different for each system)
average price is around £25,000 and for the older bikes where we might only sell 100 just not viable- SORRY!

[motad_uk]

Hi,
    A separate "collector" would be a great idea for all the special enthusiasts, of which I am one, but commercially probably not on, as a manufacturer, why make and sell exhaust parts when you can sell complete systems, I personally think "Mr Motad" is a brave person to enter this arena (forum) considering the huge variation of exhausts already mentioned and variations there-off, most of which seem to revolve around perfect copies for original looks or yoshimura copies for the cafe racers.

I don't have a problem selling separate parts to experienced people-  so a set of Motad pipes and also making a short collector  to allow someone to add/make their own silencer is not a problem

where it gets difficult is someone less able (like me!) fitting a system badly/dangerously and also the problem that generally to  make a system road legal and work you need a silencer around the size of the one we supply-   short and racy looks good but is often terrible on power if legal