SV650.org - SV650 & Gladius 650 Forum - Suzuki Gladius SFV650 Exhaust Philippine Decat Pipe

Hi Riders

Well I finally took the plunge and decided to get rid of my Catalytic Converter from my 2010 Suzuki Gladius SFV650.

My bike has a stock down pipe and a Leo Vince GP Pro muffler, with the CatC in between also running a Power Commander V. I had seen the Leo Vince and GPR decat pipes online and thought it would be a great addition to the bike. But of course the biggest problem is the cost involved.

Here is an approximate price tag of a GPR decat pipe: $361 (15,284peso) plus $25 (1,059 peso) shipping (ebay.com). Ok you can live with the shipping cost which is relatively small but living in the Philippines means Import Tax. I know from friends who have imported items that the Tax can be pretty heavy. So let’s just say another $70 (2,965 peso). So a total of $456 (19,307 peso)….Whew!

Now of course you have to take into consideration the RnD the company puts into making the units and the limited buyers of such items. But never the less, it’s a hefty sum.

So off I went to one “Big Bike” supplier and workshop here in Cebu. They quoted me a price to manufacture and fit a decat pipe to the specs I supplied - lots of internet photos of different decat pipes. I only had to wait a week. When I took my bike there the guy who was meant to do it was off. Then a few days later they text and said that the price had gone up!

So off I went again…. Luckily some good fellows put me onto two machine shops here in Cebu City. One located in Mandaue, the other on the South Road.

The Mandaue workshop could do it, come back in a week and half, which I did. “Oh the guy is off, come back Monday”. Went back Monday… “oh the guy is still off”. Duh!

So off I went yet again. This time to Jubal’s workshop located on the left side of the South Road, just at the flyover taking you to the SRP. There we discussed, agreed and made a plan. So last Thursday I took my bike for an exhaust make-over.

First they stripped down my existing pipe and catalytic converter. Then they took Stainless Steel pipes, which they cut to the desired length, edges were ground down, corners were bent, seams were welded and Wallis sweated. Back and forth he went with the sections of pipe that made the puzzle fit. There were a few hiccups of course as this is not a standard job, unlike many of the pipes they do for the smaller Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki bikes.

Once the pipes were correct the welder spot welded sections, making sure everything fitted correctly, finally he put a final weld to each area. Eventually the whole thing came together. The smaller items such as the brackets and Air Sensor screw were manufactured (with the correct die threading). Lastly the completed pipes were taken for polish.

Once everything was attached to the bike we turned her on….and wow! A growl popped out of my bike. I revved her up and everyone stood still listening, a crowd had gathered to see the finished product. There were big smiles from everyone, even some young bikers who happened along to see some friends at the shop.

Now this may sound like a quick job. It took two days to complete. It was done in a local Philippine workshop, not a large multinational up-to-date computerized workshop, see the photos.

I don’t know how much the CatC weighs but it must be 6-7kg, so there is a huge saving in weight. Along with having a Leo Vince GP Pro muffler and not the stock one, I think there must be a total of 12-14kg overall weight saving!

I have laid out some photos here for you to see. Also I’ve put together a video of the BEFORE CatC and an AFTER CatC, hopefully you can hear the difference in the sound.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=05anb6nAvY4

I’ve taken the bike out for some rides to see how it runs in traffic and for good bursts of speed and it’s a totally different bike with the new pipe. Everything is smoother, going up and down the gears, slight acceleration and deceleration is outstanding. My thoughts are that the bike is performing how I expected it should have done when I first bought it, and it really didn’t. Acceleration is awesome! So I’m a very happy bunny!*

My final word on this project is that you need to check out the price of the unit that I had made. Remember I estimated around $456 (19,307 peso) for a GPR Decat pipe from ebay, shipping and import tax. So please have a medical check-up before finding it at the end of the photos.

Tks…Ride Safe

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Final Price: $106 (4,500 peso)

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