New Stuff: Fazer8 Yoshimura Slip-On

Think people can't hear you coming? Pops Yoshimura can help you..

In 1954 a chap called Hideo Yoshimura more commonly known as Pop’s Yoshimura established a company called Yoshimura Motors. For 20 years they specialised in racing a tuning engines. A major development came in 1971 when they developed the worlds first ever 4-1 exhaust system. Pop’s tested it on a CB750 and in 1972 Yoshimura motors began to sell the system worldwide.

Today the 4-1 exhaust has become synonymous with Japanese manufactured bikes but has also been adopted by many others.

One of the first modifications us bikers make to our bikes is the exhaust, be it a full system of a simple slip-on end can usually we can't resist unlocking the engines full potential and subsequently impressing the neighbours with rattling windows and shaking floors as we leave the house in the early hours to meet up with mates for a Sunday morning ride.

Yoshimura are widely regarded as one of the highest quality exhaust manufactures in the market and like most brands of exhausts, a Yoshimura has its own distinctive sound. We called upon Phoenix Distribution and requested a slip on can for the Yamaha Fazer8 long termer.

In standard trim the Fazer8 end can weights 4.3kg. Whilst nice in flat black you can hear the restrictive muffler suppressing that howling engine Yamaha are so well known for.

Removing the standard muffler and replacing it with the Yoshimura stainless steel replacement took just 10 minutes. It was a simple matter of loosening the mid pipe clamp and undoing the hanger bolt then reversing the procedure.

The Yoshimura slip-on weighs 3.1kg which equates to a weight saving of 1.2kg. The supplied stainless mid pipe gives the impression that you are running a full system and helps keep everything looking neat and tidy.

I have never seen welding that neat before. Another nice touch is the hole to access the baffle removal screw is located in the carbon end cone and is blanked with a tidy rubber grommet, easy to get to unlike some.

Baffle in you get a loud but road legal 96db, whip it out and you get 102db. That’s when you get to hear that silky smooth 4 cylinder burble and bark.

This particular slip-on fits all Yamaha Fazer8 and FZ8 models from 2010 onwards. For £575 you get the end can, mid pipe and fitting kit along with an extra 5bhp and more than 8db of glorious noise.

From my perspective an aftermarket exhaust is a must on all bikes I ride. Not only do they make the whole riding experience more entertaining but they increase other road users awareness of me by what I genuinely think is about 60%. Try riding through the dingy suburbs of London with a standard quite can and then do the same with a loud aftermarket pipe, it’s like you don’t even exist without it.

This is Pop's by the way.

To see more on Yoshimura from the UK distributor go the Phoenix Distribution site.

To read more on the Fazer8 see our first impressions and checkout the main Yamaha UK site