[sandeepmohan]

I'll be honest. I am reluctant to fiddle with things. Especially modifying a motorcycle or a car. Its usually a hit or miss process. Unless you are technically savvy, don't mind a trial and error process along the way.

I've had the Interceptor for 16 months now. I can't stop praising how brilliant a job Royal Enfield have done with this motorcycle. I do not think there is any motorcycle out there that can beat it for what it is. I've had a lot of folk come up to me and say that this is a beautiful machine. Some are in shock that this is a Royal Enfield. All they know of a Royal Enfield is the Bullet.

Over time and with all the riding I've done, I was starting to feel that this motorcycle sounds like a Brother sewing machine. When you are out cruising or even when pottering around the city, there is no noise. At all. I wanted to try and replicate some of the character, noise seen in their marketing videos (I've mentioned this before). That was not possible with the stock exhaust. It had to go. Question was which one and will it be a pain to source and fix it. We all know that the Interceptor has been received well globally. With that, the after market parts you can get for this motorcycle is almost unlimited. From simple cosmetic upgrades to technical ones. Right from Hitchcock motorcycles to our very own Trip Machine, there is a lot you can do to spruce up an Interceptor and its cousin the Conti.

This has been on my mind for months. How do I get a little more character (or life) out of this motorcycle. I don't need more power. With New Zealand's conservative legal speed limits, the stock power output is heaps. I could only think of an exhaust upgrade. I wanted something that will be easy going on my ears, won't cost too much and easy to fix. I heard a "two to one" single side pipe (or exhaust) arrangement on a Conti and it was loud. All I need is a little noise to be heard under the lid.

A few months after I picked up the Interceptor, I had seen another rider with the pea shooter style exhaust fitted on his bike. It looked nice. However; I wanted to retain the same upswept design.

I had popped into Motorad who are the sole Authorized dealers for Royal Enfield and a few other makes. They had a S&S Cycle Stainless Steel muffler set for $1100! It sounds the part. No question about it. I did not want to spend that much though. Then I stumbled on a few folks here who fitted Aashu Engineering Works exhaust system. They looked good, well finished and videos on the Tube suggest they sound good too. To be honest, none of those videos actually do justice to the way this exhaust sounds. They somehow fail to capture the note accurately. I tried and my Sony Action camera fails to capture audio such as an exhaust note. The microphone tends to mix up a lot of ambient noise, wind and ends up drowning out the exhaust note.

I've had a TE102 fitted and have clocked close to a 1000km with it. All observation are with Baffles or db killer installed. I'll tell you one thing, close your eyes and buy one. Its the kind of exhaust the Interceptor should have come with.

I'll get a couple of things out of the way first.

• Has the bike lost or gained any power or torque? I find a slight reduction in torque. This is noticeable at urban speeds. Not when you're out cruising.
  
• Does the bike sound like a Triumph? No. I don't believe you can get an Interceptor to sound like a Triumph. It comes close under some scenarios. Not always.

The first thing you notice is an increase in bass note from the exhaust. You hear/notice this from startup and at urban speeds. Less so when cruising. Wind noise tends to drown this bass when you're on the highway. Over the stock exhaust, it adds a bit more weight to the exhaust note from each cylinder firing. You don't need to do WOT stunts to hear it. Its audible even otherwise. I suspect these pipes may sound annoyingly loud if you remove the baffles. This is a personal preference. For now, I like what I hear with the baffles.

Start moving slowly (<50kmph) and as you cut throttle, you'll hear a clear phat-phat sound from the exhaust. Come down the gears, blip the throttle to go from 4-3-2 and you hear a intake-exhaust noise that sounds similar to another parallel twin British motorcycle. Though not exactly the same, there are similarities. Roll on in 5th from 60 - 110kmph and the aural pleasure trip continues. You hear the firing order of each cylinder, in Stereo. On a typical highway scenario, where you have a long gradual incline, leave it in 6th and let the engine work a little hard and you hear exhaust pops from each side. It is clear under your insulated lid. Keep the throttle open on a wide sweeping corner and you are rewarded with the exhaust note reflecting off the surface of the road. Words cannot describe this. It is amazing.

Throttle modulation has improved. Riding between 40 - 50kmph in 4th is easy-as. Its so much easier to ride in the City. You may ask, why bother with low speed? New Zealand Town and City limits have either 30kmph or 50kmph limits. Depends on how congested the zone is. When you're touring, you pass through several towns on the way. Small towns do not have by pass roads. You need to reduce speed from cruising to 50 from time to time. I don't believe this situation is too different when you travel on rural or urban roads in India. The Interceptor is a bit annoying at such low speeds. The throttle is quite snatchy and you need to keep disengaging or slip the clutch to control it.

In terms of design, the exhaust is free flow. Noise levels are controlled by means of a db killer and ceramic fiber exhaust or muffler packing. Got the latter info from fm tharian.

I had reached out to Aashu Engineering Works late last year for a quote. They got back and said they would prepare a payment invoice after which I never heard back. I revived the conversation a month ago and got a prompt response and follow up to the quote. The TE102's were shipped at $555. Yes; its still a lot for an exhaust*. However; after I received and installed the exhaust, I realized that its money well spent. The finish of the TE102's are first class. I opted for matt stainless steel finish. The welds are clean, the exhaust joint shield has an almost consistent .5mm gap running around the partial diameter of the exhaust. It feels solid and does not ring when you tap it. Looking at the design, it looks like a straight copy of the exhaust from a Triumph Street Twin. Should be an easy guess where the "TE' part of the model name comes from :-)

Post order, the exhaust arrived in 12 days. Double boxed, wrapped in cling film and a little Styrofoam. A specification sheet and an Allen key (also in styrofoam) to take off the baffles. Installation could not be easier. They've positioned the inner flange (or galvanized packing in Aashu terms) at the correct position. This is thin metal inner sleeve(Think of it as a coke can tin your mechanic used to cut and place for your old Enfield exhaust at the joint below the front foot rest). In fact, it takes longer to remove the stock exhaust.

Aashu Engineering Works provide the following measurement specification for their TE102.

• 510mm - End to end length
• 75mm - length for only the tapered section of the exhaust end bit(or can)
• 63mm - Outer diameter at the exhaust end
• 80mm - Outer diameter for the bend pipe end

You'll need a couple of 12mm spanners as the size is the same for nut and hex bolt at the rear foot rest mount point. You'll also need a 10mm spanner to loosen/tighten the exhaust at the bend pipe joint. Easier if you have a socket set. You need to remove the joint shield before you can remove the stock exhaust. The joint shield has its own bolt and is further secured by two notches than slip on the bend pipe and exhaust side. It can cause some resistance when you try to remove it. After you remove the joint shield, you can access the bolt securing the exhaust to the bend pipe. Once you pull out the stock exhaust, the first thing you notice is the weight. I weighed them and they measure almost 10kilos on the scale! In comparison, the TE102's are 5.2kilos.

The TE102's should slip in with ease. I put a few drops of 3 in 1 oil to make it easier. The only struggle I had was for the right exhaust. The slot for the joint shield for the stock exhaust was protruding a bit much. The non removable joint shield on the AEW's was hitting against this when I tried to slip them on. This was a non issue for the left exhaust. I had to hammer the slot a bit so it goes a bit flat and the AEW joint shield does not rub against it. Other than this, its a job that can be done in <1 hour.

There are some small design improvements over the previous TE101. The baffle screws are threaded on the baffle itself. Not on the exhaust unit. When you need to remove them (with the supplied hex key), you unscrew them just enough to release them from the exhaust and pull them out. The screw isn't going to come off and fall into the exhaust, nor will the baffle unit slip into the exhaust. The screw that holds the baffle in place does not thread into the exhaust unit. There is a indentation formed (on the inner part of the exhaust tip) when they first screwed or tightened it in. Aligning it back to this same indentation will require a few attempts, when you want to put back the baffle. Its not difficult. Just needs some care and patience. In one of the close up pictures below of the exhaust tip, you'll notice what looks like a large screw which is what you remove for pulling the baffle out. The screw to remove the baffle is inset on that part.


The TE102 before installation. The finish of these pipes are outstanding.







Bend pipe end. The little metal loop you see is to secure the joint shield. This is what needed to be hammered down a bit to accommodate the joint shield of the AEW. It is possible this is a non issue for you and this particular batch of bend pipe had the height of the metal loop higher than it should be.


Underside of stock exhaust and joint shield. You need to remove all those bolts.


The joint shield from the stock exhaust. Note the two notches that slip onto the bend pipe and exhaust unit. Those tiny rubber bits are what cause a little resistance when you try to take the joint shield off as they rub against the metal loop on the bend pipe.


These pipes look and sound good. Royal Enfield should partner with AEW and list these pipes as an option. For a brand known for their iconic "thump" and the innumerable exhaust options that were available (Official, custom made, etc) for the Bullet, their flagship motorcycle deserves a follow up of some kind.


Test run on New Zealand's Desert Road. An almost arrow straight road ~50km in length. It looks like a desert now. In a couple of months, the area will be covered in frost and maybe some snow. With the darn virus hammering the country, the place was empty. Its usually a busy road and has a few hiking start points. This was also the last ride with a heavily worn out rear Pirelli (I carried a foot pump, a spare tube and a tube repair kit for this journey). That's been replaced with a Bridgestone Battlax BT46.



*The Interceptor's oil filter is the most expensive of any motorcycle in my part of the world. $58 NZD! That's about Rs. 3100. In India, you pay big money to maintain something like a Triumph. The same holds true to maintain a Royal Enfield abroad as parts are imported from India. The only difference is that there is a lot less that can go wrong with a Enfield than most other imported motorcycles.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Motorcycle section. Thanks for sharing!

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[SolitaryRabbit]

Thanks for sharing the detailed post, personally I have been in love with the looks of AEW TE102 and I feel they are the sweetest sounding end pipes for the twins. I just hope your thoughts on AEW and RE partnership come true someday. 650 twin owners deserve legalized muffler options like RE has for the 350 range. With the current crackdown on modified bike parts (including mufflers) by cops in Bangalore and Kerala many owners prefer to stay away from these. Sometimes I wonder if having a healthy aftermarket parts scene like Thailand will help the economy grow by providing more jobs and increasing flow of money - wishful thinking.

[ninjatalli]

Thanks for the review. I went to their website and noticed the matt finish option is double the price of the (mild steel) chrome and black painted options. I wonder why such a large difference in pricing. Did you explore/query about the difference?

Mind sharing a before and after image of the bike focusing on the silencer on a standing bike? The fact that the silencer is inclined (similar to the stock one) gives me confidence that cops might be lesser inclined to stop me when they do their modified silencer hunts in the near future.

Edit: The product page also talks about an easily removable, mild steel hard nickle plated decibel (DB) killer. Any additional details/images on this part?

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Did you explore/query about the difference?
Mind sharing a before and after image of the bike focusing on the silencer on a standing bike? Any additional details/images on this part?

No. I did not ask them why there was a double up in cost for matt finish over mild steel. I did not know there was a black painted option.

I doubt if cops would notice or be able to tell the difference. With the db killer in place, these are far from anything loud. You will definitely draw attention without the db killer. I did take them out and fire up the bike just to hear how it sounds. I did not ride without them.

The first photo on my post has an image of the db killer and a brief description of how you remove it. Was there anything specific you wanted to know about these?

This is about the two closest images I have of the bike with stock and AEW exhaust. I have not taken many photos with the AEW. The new pipes give it a slender profile.

[DeadCenter]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

No. I did not ask them why there was a double up in cost for matt finish over mild steel. I did not know there was a black painted option.

In raw material form, stainless steel costs a lot more than mild steel which would translate to a much higher end product cost for the stainless steel variant.

Advantage here is that stainless is far more resistant to corrosion than mild steel although a high quality chrome deposit on mild steel (which AEW would have most likely done here) will perform just as well.

My sense here would be that both would perform just as well and it is just the impact of the raw material cost we are seeing.

[Viju]

Does anyone know if AEW guys ship worldwide or only within India?

I tried getting in touch with them, but did not receive a response yet.

There are many sellers on eBay as well selling the AEW exhausts, but if possible, would like to purchase from them directly. Thanks.