Shanghai Muffler Man -- modding my JH600

I've had my JH600 for barely a month, and have done all my riding on the stock bike. A Laser ProDuro Sport muffler that I bought from Franki even before I had the bike has been sitting in my living room. I got around to finding an installer today. Let me say this was no ordinary installer. This guy was a genius with an acetylene torch. His wife was no slouch either.

We've all marveled at Pfaelzer's amazing modifications, and this thread makes no effort to challenge his. In fact, I'm merely copying one of his many mods -- swapping out the 8.5kg stock muffler with a ligher, higher-performance model. But I took a bunch of pictures in what turned out to be a pretty picturesque setting, and thought the process might be both entertaining and, in the case of TexasAggie and others considering this modification, useful.

I found this guy through word of mouth, via a friend who runs a nice little gear shop in Shanghai. I'll give him a shameless plug here...

Qiyi Motorcycle Accessories

A motorcycling friend of his has a tiny shop selling ceremonial red eggs. These are used to celebrate the naming of babies when they are about a month old, i.e., pretty likely to survive the vicissitudes of expulsion from the womb. You get the idea from his little reception room that this guy is no ordinary red egg dealer.

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OK, his red egg shop is in an innocent looking street called Jiaoji Lu, in Shanghai's northern Putuo district. In fact, his red egg shop is the anomaly here. Virtually all the other several hundred businesses revolve around pretty much one thing: scooters. In the course of about five hours in his shop, untold numbers of scooters scooted in, mainly for muffler repair but also other bizarre mods. If you don't want to see a lot of pictures extraneous to the muffler installation, this is not the thread for you.

That's Mister Muffler in the cool shades, in the classic posture of Chinese street industry -- squatting. As I said, he's good with the torch, and is not ashamed to take any work. So when I arrived he was carving up slabs of steel plate. I'm guessing this was 2cm stock. That's the red egg shop on the right.

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Mister Muffler's sign advertises a variety of metallurgical services, but his main stock in trade clearly is mufflers.

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I pulled out my ProDuro Sport, and he cradled it in his hands like it was a newborn. We didn't discuss a price. Without a word he got down to work, pulling off my right side panel to reveal what looks more like a WWII torpedo than a muffler.

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You'll recall Pfaelzer removed the entire pipe to the cylinder so as to preserve the stock muffler in all its glory. I greenlighted Mister Muffler to have his way with mine. He chose to do her with a grinder.

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Now that's more like it!

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He took a few measurements. As you can see, the fitting on the ProDuro is 7cm in diameter, while the pipe is only maybe 3cm. It's a slip-on muffler with a clamp, so he quickly found some stainless stock about 8cm in length but it was a bit bigger than 7cm across. No worries, just slice it down the side and reweld it to the proper diameter, and grind it smooth.

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The next step is more complex. How to create a funnel-like step-down section to transition from 7cm to 3cm? Using only a caliper, a bladed compass, a ruler and a punch, Mister Muffler dug deep into his high-school geometry lessons and started mapping the piece. Still squatting on his shop floor, of course. No paper or pencil. No computer or calculator.

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Look carefully. You'll see he's got everything etched neatly on the tin surface, like a latter-day Leonardo.

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Now all that's left is to cut it out.

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Better step outside.

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Say, who's that in the blue? Yes, that's Missus Mister Muffler. She works there too, and as I said earlier she's no slouch with the torch either. In fact, though Mister Muffler was called away by insistent customers several times, it was Missus Mister Muffler who handled virtually all the other muffler repairs today.

This looks ugly.

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No worries!

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stay tuned....

I arrived at 77 Jiaoji Lu around 10 a.m., about an hour later than planned. Red egg guy said Mister Muffler gets busy, so an early start is essential. Between them, Missus and Mister Muffler handled an amazing array of ride-ins. Like this guy, with his little Sachs 100cc MadAss. (There was a shop selling these down the street for 9,000 RMB.)

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Or this guy, with his little Jianshe mini-chopper! (His battery fitting had broken loose.) Though it's shaped like a Regal Raptor or even a classic H-D, the saddle was not much higher than his knee!

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Notice the air horns up front. That's become quite a theme here in Shanghai. Little bikes with big horsepower and even bigger sound from their tailpipes and their air horns. Did I mention? Air horns of course come in all colors.

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Then there was this bike, which we glimpsed earlier in Missus Mister Muffler's able grip. Nice back rest for hauling the girlfriend to Xujiahui!

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But you won't get a great girlfriend in the first place unless you equip your bike properly. Here's a wider view to give you a better idea.

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Spider-Man can be relied upon to conceal your fake Hong Kong plate.

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This guy's bike was completely decked out in strings of glue-on LEDs, which create a beautiful effect at night. But he wanted more. But the spoiler wing he wanted to install didn't fit. So the Missus got right to work, fabricating a couple of stainless brackets to bolt it on securely. "Now my bike will really fly," he told me.

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Chinese stomachs work like clockwork, especially at noon. The guys in the neighboring shop did it right, and surely put our muffler team in a mind to eat.

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That's why God made daughters. Here's lunch being made in the back of the shop, almost close enough to splash on my bike!

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The Mufflers took all of five minutes to eat -- standing rather than squatting -- and I ventured over to a little minibike shop two doors down.

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I thought I was getting used to all the scooter mods. Then this guy wheeled in. Oh my God! I was so surprised I started shooting with my iPhone, whose lens is designed to fit right under my finger. But you get the picture....

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This guy really must be overdosing on girlfriends. Let's take a closer look.

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Did someone say air horns? I count three!

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Or, no, maybe that's a police loudhailer, right there below, er, Cupid. Is that really Cupid?

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Now that's what I call a proper license plate!

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Did someone say "muffler"? This is the four-color tailpipe, with the meaningless additional virtual mini tailpipe just in case. I asked what the little green muffler was for. He delivered his reply with a straight face, the cigaret still dangling from his lip: "It serves no useful purpose whatsoever."

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Now this is what you call a true chick-magnet control console. One can particularly appreciate the blue bar, blue grips and the blue ancillary mirror on the far left. He's even got blue bolts. The orange secondary fairing serves conveniently for cigaret storage.

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Sorry, but, no, we're not finished yet...

Why are we here again? Ah, yes, my muffler. Surely you are still wondering about that 7cm to 3cm step-down adapter, and why he's cutting it out of tin! This guy's an imposter. A geometrically inclined poseur! If you are thinking this, you'd be wrong. The whole exercise with the tin is to make a proper, precision template! See the piece on the floor? That's a bit of stainless stock; I'm guessing about 1.8mm thick.

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So once again he cuts, this time using the tin template as a guide.

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And now, like some medieval blacksmith, Mister Muffler starts working the stainless the old-fashioned way, with an anvil, a length of thick pipe and several mallets. And some very strong gloved hands. (Sorry, it was a bit hard to stop the motion with my iPhone; the sharper pix in this thread were made with my Canon G11, but its battery ran out.)

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We're getting there....

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Keep working it, Mister Muffler.

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Work that seam!

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This is looking like a good fit!

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But we want a perfect fit...

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Muffler adapter or Apollo nose cone?

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Fusing the two sections.

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Now let's grind those seams.

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We now have a very fine, functional, precision step-down adapter.

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So is that good enough? Good enough for this acetylene artiste?

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No, this is a muffler man who strives for perfection. He changed grinding wheels at least three times, each time choosing a progressively finer grit, to shine this handmade gem to an appropriate high sheen. The final wheel he rubbed against a black slab of something, presumably a very fine abrasive.

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And..... voila! The quality of this piece simply took my breath away! Mister Muffler obviously was quite pleased with his handiwork too, though he said he'd done this many times before.

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Of course the piece slipped into the muffler like, er, well, like a hand into a glove. All that remained now was to bring it all together on the bike.

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A little more grinding and polishing, for good measure. Also, look carefully: He's added a little ear by which to bolt the adapter to the bike. It's just to the left of center, in the funnel section, in this image.

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Nor was that his final trick for the day. The bazooka-like stock muffler was attached to the frame with two big bolts, whereas the slip-on ProDuro comes with a circumference strap. Yet neither of the stock bolt holes was anywhere near the center of the ProDuro, so the strap would have mounted poorly, and looked stupid too. The solution? A strap to bridge the two bolt holes.

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Here it is with one allen bolt yet to install.

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So here's a final close-up, with the side panel already back in place.

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And a wider look.

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And off goes Mister Muffler to aid other scooters in distress, and to continue to abuse his knees.

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I know, I know. A picture is worth a thousand words. But in my case, I thought this story was worth a thousand pix. Or at least a hundred. I'll close with a few more images from Jiaoji Lu before we hit the showers...

Is that a solid rear tire?

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Whoa!!!! What was that????

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So how does it work?

Pfaelzer and Franki both use the ProDuro Sport muffler, and both cautioned me that it's a bit louder than the stock muffler, which someone described as sounding a bit like a sewing machine. In fact, Franki offers two models -- the "sport" and the "approved + sport", the latter of which is said to be the quieter of the two but also offering less of a performance boost. I opted for the higher-performance, louder version, since the Jialing offers only about 32 kw/hours aka 40 horsepower, which is on the low side for an engine of its size.

I don't have the means, or the interest, to put it on a dyno to measure the change in power and torque, but suffice it to say I had a much livelier ride home from Mister Muffler's shop this afternoon. It's definitely louder, and there's more backfire than before, especially when engine braking. There's no way I'll be sneaking into town in the dead of night! But this modification has definitely trimmed the bike down. It's at least 5kg lighter, and conspicuously narrower, which will make installing the luggage frame much more practical.

So it's now a loud, aggressive dual sport. Did someone say motorcycles cause a bit of noise pollution? Guilty as charged!

Oh, and he charged me 400 yuan, or about US$58. Red egg guy said this was more than usual, a "foreigner's price". I paid happily, without complaint. The price of admission for a day of entertainment on Jiaoji Lu, with a nice shiny souvenir to carry on future rides.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by euphonius

And..... voila! The quality of this piece simply took my breath away! Mister Muffler obviously was quite pleased with his handiwork too, though he said he'd done this many times before.

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Thanks of the very nice report, Euphonius. I am very happy to see some high quality hand crafted items from China and respect to the modern blacksmith. In my opinion drivers are ridicuously arrogant people with their bikes regarding to mechanics, and mechanics are in general very underrated as are many crafters and fixers. This western culture is just so absurdly self important and strange in many ways that unless you are some white collar FUD spreader salesperson or have a word "director" or "manager" in your title you are nothing.

The blacksmith deserved well his (small) salary. You would not get oils changed to a BMW in Finland with what you paid. I by the way would not be troubled to pay more than Chinese of that kind of work in China. In my opinion it is clear that rich may have to pay more. People don't owe favors to rich and there is no reason why poor should charge rich equally with the poor. It is called something like freedom to do business.

Brilliant!!! :clap::clap::clap:

What a wonderful experience. The guy in the shades is definitely king! Thanks for this entertaining report. Hope you like the Laser - I am sure, power delivery is much better not only the sound... too bad we can not measure it.

Greetings,
AW.

I am spending too many grumpy hours in front of the TV or computer with a bad back lately, but this and other similar reports really cheer me up! Thanks mate, never too many pics. Great to see real workmanship and fair dealing.

I rang up my local dealers (who hate china-bikes and refuse to service /repair them!) to see what a smaller, lighter muffler would cost me for the Kinlon. They said $300 and rising, most performance mufflers being closer to $500 plus fitting costs ... I am sure I will find something cheaper somewhere as it was just the first enquiry I made, but at that rate it might be very cost effective to send to Shanghai for one! Or for a chinese bride that can weld ... you know of any that might want a grumpy old sod in the bush? I've got nice views of trees from my verandah, nothing much in the bank though ...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jape

I am spending too many grumpy hours in front of the TV or computer with a bad back lately, but this and other similar reports really cheer me up! Thanks mate, never too many pics. Great to see real workmanship and fair dealing.

I rang up my local dealers (who hate china-bikes and refuse to service /repair them!) to see what a smaller, lighter muffler would cost me for the Kinlon. They said $300 and rising, most performance mufflers being closer to $500 plus fitting costs ... I am sure I will find something cheaper somewhere as it was just the first enquiry I made, but at that rate it might be very cost effective to send to Shanghai for one! Or for a chinese bride that can weld ... you know of any that might want a grumpy old sod in the bush? I've got nice views of trees from my verandah, nothing much in the bank though ...

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Hello! Glad to come to your website. I am Chinese motorbike enthusiast. Hope and communicate with you. My MSN: gdgoujun@hotmail.com hope you can add me. My English is poor.


and I want ask your ,where are you's? china or USA?

jkp,

I hope I can find a guy this talented here in Nanjing. Beautiful job! I have the same muffler sitting under my desk for my JH600 but have not had time to do much more than ride a few days around Nanjing. I still have less than 300km on big blue :(
Anyway, great pictures. I will have to find a guy like this locally here in Nanjing. I also have the suspension upgrade coming from Franki when he returns from his adventures. Let me know if you get that done and use a third party like you did with the muffler man. IT might be worth it to ride or send the bike to Shanghai as you seem to be very good at finding the right guy. Enjoy the ride!

Dear Aggie,

China never ceases to amaze me. You should be able to find someone in Nanjing, as I'm sure you'll find a whole scooter culture scene there too. Clearly it's in the scooter scene where modification of motorcycles is most dynamic and advanced. There's a huge aftermarket for everything from standard parts and upgrades to giddy frivolity and fun, as you got a taste of in my Jiaoji Lu scenes. Needless to say, if you want to organize something here, just give me a shout.

cheers