pipski99
New member
Hi all my fellow MT fans, long time since I've stopped by.
Well I've finally taken the plunge and splashed the cash on an aftermarket exhaust and as much as I wanted to save money and go with the Akra carbon racing line, I also wanted to stay legal and get a certified legal system so went with the Akra titanium system.
Now I was never going to pay the full retail price as it's barmy in my opinion spending £1047 on an exhaust (including the cat insert) when the bike was under £7000. Maybe it's the Yorkshire in me showing through but that just didn't make sense.
When Yamaha stuck the knife in recently and announce all new purchases of an MT-09 would include the Akra titanium system FREE OF CHARGE I thought it was worth a shot at emailing Yamaha customer services to ask if there was to be any concession for those of us who bought the bike back in November 2013 soon after first release, when the Akra system was on a 4 month plus back order. Turns out it wasn't worth the time I took to send the email as they just said no.
Next plan: Watch ebay for a cheap system going for sale, hopefully still in the box, from somebody who bought the bike, got the system included free but didn't want it - could happen couldn't it? Well yes it did! Akra titanium system, in the box with a buy it now price of £800 and it's in Keighley, West Yorkshire only a few miles from where I live so I took a moment to message the seller with an offer which they accepted and I went and picked it up and paid the cash and now it's mine, all mine! Sorry if you were one of the people watching it on ebay but I jumped at it and beat you.
Time to fit it and after watching the obligatory YouTube "How to" video I set about it. First off removing the nuts from the headers - 6 in total and 4 of them came off no problem but both the nuts on cylinder 2 (the middle one) pulled out the stud from the engine so I tried to free the nuts off to refit the studs but no joy - they're seized on.
Been to my dealer in Keighley today to order 2 studs, 2 nuts and a set of 3 gaskets but they don't have them in stock and would be 2-3 days to arrive. I'm actually going away for 2 weeks on Wednesday morning so didn't bother ordering them as no point having them sat at the Keighley dealer for 2 weeks waiting. What I plan to do is find my local dealer while I'm way on holiday (in Rye, East Sussex) and order them down there then pick them up and bring them back with me to fit.
So the bike is sat in the garage, all chained up and secure but with no exhaust on as I decided to carry on removing the old exhaust completely.
I know it's my own fault the centre 2 nuts were seized on as I hadn't made sure to clean the road crap and salt off there thoroughly enough but had cleaned the outside cylinders 1 and 3 so they came off freely so I didn't get to play out with the Akra before my holiday. It will give me something to look forward to when I get back though so let the good times roll!
Well I've finally taken the plunge and splashed the cash on an aftermarket exhaust and as much as I wanted to save money and go with the Akra carbon racing line, I also wanted to stay legal and get a certified legal system so went with the Akra titanium system.
Now I was never going to pay the full retail price as it's barmy in my opinion spending £1047 on an exhaust (including the cat insert) when the bike was under £7000. Maybe it's the Yorkshire in me showing through but that just didn't make sense.
When Yamaha stuck the knife in recently and announce all new purchases of an MT-09 would include the Akra titanium system FREE OF CHARGE I thought it was worth a shot at emailing Yamaha customer services to ask if there was to be any concession for those of us who bought the bike back in November 2013 soon after first release, when the Akra system was on a 4 month plus back order. Turns out it wasn't worth the time I took to send the email as they just said no.
Next plan: Watch ebay for a cheap system going for sale, hopefully still in the box, from somebody who bought the bike, got the system included free but didn't want it - could happen couldn't it? Well yes it did! Akra titanium system, in the box with a buy it now price of £800 and it's in Keighley, West Yorkshire only a few miles from where I live so I took a moment to message the seller with an offer which they accepted and I went and picked it up and paid the cash and now it's mine, all mine! Sorry if you were one of the people watching it on ebay but I jumped at it and beat you.
Time to fit it and after watching the obligatory YouTube "How to" video I set about it. First off removing the nuts from the headers - 6 in total and 4 of them came off no problem but both the nuts on cylinder 2 (the middle one) pulled out the stud from the engine so I tried to free the nuts off to refit the studs but no joy - they're seized on.
Been to my dealer in Keighley today to order 2 studs, 2 nuts and a set of 3 gaskets but they don't have them in stock and would be 2-3 days to arrive. I'm actually going away for 2 weeks on Wednesday morning so didn't bother ordering them as no point having them sat at the Keighley dealer for 2 weeks waiting. What I plan to do is find my local dealer while I'm way on holiday (in Rye, East Sussex) and order them down there then pick them up and bring them back with me to fit.
So the bike is sat in the garage, all chained up and secure but with no exhaust on as I decided to carry on removing the old exhaust completely.
I know it's my own fault the centre 2 nuts were seized on as I hadn't made sure to clean the road crap and salt off there thoroughly enough but had cleaned the outside cylinders 1 and 3 so they came off freely so I didn't get to play out with the Akra before my holiday. It will give me something to look forward to when I get back though so let the good times roll!
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