I received a call of a Sunday morning whilst crossing over the mountains into Victoria back in October. It was a former colleague calling from the US at work on his Saturday arvo. He had moved to California and was clearing out the fifteen years of accumulated New Old Stock and other BMW moto debris from the Beemer shop where he'd landed. "Would I like to have a look?" He didn't know I was riding Down Undah again as he was talking to me inside my helmet while I glided along through the eucalypt forests above Mansfield.

A coupla weeks ago I jumped into my Audi and drove straight through from Tacoma to Ventura County, 1200 miles in about 20 hours over night. I'd made appointments with several parts sellers and the trip looked like it might pay for itself.

I managed to gather a boot load of older K spares and some newer K bits too. The one thing that stood out was this piece of art in titanium. It is a Remus titanium header to fit BMW K40 series like my K12R & K13GT. They cannot be legally sold for road use in Cali due to being decat pipes. They're also as rare as the proverbial rocking horse scat. Didn't pay a lot for it. Weighs nothing 2.1 kilos (4.6lbs) in total. Has smooth bends and tight, spring-retained, slip fit, larger diameter than stock pipes. 

Thing of beaudy.

I'm trying to wrap my head around how many of those Remus might have made and the cost they would have to be to justify such a (likely) very small market.  That's just a seriously cool piece of metal work.

Woodie wrote:I'm trying to wrap my head around how many of those Remus might have made and the cost they would have to be to justify such a (likely) very small market.  That's just a seriously cool piece of metal work.

Knute from Maxmoto, the Remus importer in the US, says that they have sold 'several hundred' of these, in both titanium and stainless steel versions, worldwide since 2006 when they were released. Not a terribly small number. The K4X series (K12/K13) has been on the market since the Autumn of '04. Akrapovic make a system for these bikes too.

It beats me why someone would buy a pipe that's almost the same value as the recipient machine. I had to replace the stainless system on the Bandit last year (bad design: there's a stress point where the tailpipe exits the collector box and it always breaks in half) and even a Delkovic system cost almost half of the bike's street value. Araprovics etc. were somewhere north of stupid.

Dai wrote:It beats me why someone would buy a pipe that's almost the same value as the recipient machine. I had to replace the stainless system on the Bandit last year (bad design: there's a stress point where the tailpipe exits the collector box and it always breaks in half) and even a Delkovic system cost almost half of the bike's street value. Araprovics etc. were somewhere north of stupid.

I agree that an older (or cheaper) bike isn't a smart choice for something like this. But when a K1300S costs from US$19K to $25K and the stainless steel version of this pipe costs under a grand, well, then arguably it's a good deal for the power it makes (and noise), and who's to say what value people will place on it.

Years ago I was the US importer for a little-known Japanese exhaust system called Spectrum Power. My mate Takashi, RIP, owned a company called American Hayabusa and made incredible titanium systems that with zero fiddling of fuel injection added 10hp to a typical K1200RS Brick and weighed under 10 lbs for a full system, which also was not a noisy pipe. He had to meet Japanese regulations. When I suggested to him one day that American customers might want to hear their bikes a bit more after spending upwards of $1800 (in 2005 US Dollars), his considered reply was...

"It is not necessary make noise to make horse-power".


Spectrum Power by American Hayabusa. Note the 'curved' pipe lower dead centre of the bike. He called it hebe, which is apparently the word for snake in Japanese. He had crossovers all between the headers and four into two into one sections. This was his 'secret' to sound deadening and excellent torque characteristics.

I need a head-vs-brick-wall smiley....

Dai wrote:I need a head-vs-brick-wall smiley....

Try a PM to Richard Cranium. ......

And to continue with exhausting matters, I note that BSK Speedworks is offering the straight collector at a discount now.
http://www.bskspeedworks.co.uk/k-collector.html

It's a lovely bit and I'd be tempted if it were not for the SS brake lines and the rebuild of the water/oil pump on the to-do list.

I just sold the header for a tidy sum with a Remus Ti canister to match. The buyer was ecstatic. Cash is king.

Sometimes it is worth climbing into your cage 

Woodie wrote:Sometimes it is worth climbing into your cage 

If there wasn't a threat of ice on Siskiyou Pass that evening...I tell ya. Wait, oh yeah, I needed boot space for the bits.

I ran into the 'old mate' the other day who bought those Remus headers from me back in late 2018, as we were both gathering the harvest in the grocery store. We had a good catch up convo. He has since bought a sweet, very clean 2008 K1200GT, to go along with the K1200R which he bought from me. He also has an R1150GSA, a 1973 R50/5, & an R1100RT. I asked him how the headers are, how'd the install go, & etc? 

He looked down slowly and mumbled that he'd not fit them yet. Jeez. I offered to help him get 'em on there. 

Yeah well - we've all dunnit.

Best ever thread resurrection