Akrapovic Racing Line Stainless Steel Hex System Spark Arrestor

Rating

9

What It Is

Akrapovic is a high-performance exhaust manufacturerfrom Slovenia. Best known in the United States for outfitting the SanManuel Yamahas of James Stewart and Josh Hill, the company is highlyregarded as one of the premier systems in Europe. The high-end Evolutionline of exhaust is made of titanium tubing and features a carbon fiberend cap, while the more affordable Racing line features stainless steeltubing and a composite muffler end cap.

Hits

The overall fit and finish of the Akrapovic system is second-tonone;everything from the beautiful welds to the perfect slip fit connectionsare flawless. The system bolted on to our test bike perfectly, requiringno jiggling or coaxing of any sort. On the track, the system yieldedperformance changes that were mostly noticeable down low and up top.In the KX450F's case, the Akrapovic system smoothed out the massivemid-range hit, making the bike both easier to ride and more tractable.Furthermore, the engine pulled further at the high-end of the rpm range,allowing it to pull further in each gear. One of the best-liked characteristicsof the system, however, was the fact that it provided performancegains while at the same time reducing the exhaust noise levels.

Misses

The Akrapovic system is not cheap, nor is it short and compact.There are other aftermarket muffl ers that are better tucked in, butnone of them offer the noise dampening performance of the Akrapovic.

The Verdict

We have a pair of KX450Fs in our fleet of test bikes, andwe have had the higher-end Evolution system on one of them for oversix months now. The less expensive Racing system yields identical performance,and has proven to be more durable when it comes to headerpipe dings from roost. Simply put, this is the best performing systemwe've tested for the KX450F...and we've tested almost all of them.