Dave's Garage Speed Twin CAT removal

The first part of the job, getting rid of the CAT and the midpipes, to get ready to install the British Customs X-Pipe. In the end it should sound amazing, but holy cow, what a tedious and frustrating process so far... The amount of parts that have to come off, including half the frame, to change an exhaust piece, is insane.

[@acerides1724]

Starting to prep my Thruxton RS 2020, also comes with welded mid pipe. I already removed all the bolts on the left (clutch) side and no go on just wiggling it out. Going to remove the bottom bolts and motor bolt tomorrow on the right (brake) side, and hopefully that should be it. Worst case scenario may have to loosed in (not completely remove) the top bolt behind the tank. This thing is a PITA! Thanks for your video I’ll use it as a guide.

[@cbschrader]

And this is why I paid my local dealer to do it. They normally charge two labor hours, but I got a discount for having other work done at the same time. Now I have an amazing British Customs 2-1 system and a DNK tune, and the difference is amazing. Well worth the cost!

[@SquireSCA]

Yeah... In the end its not the worst thing I have ever had to do, it's just that when I see things that are intentionally and needlessly more complicated than they need to be, it drives me mad... lol Like having a $10 relay go bad on my Aprilia Tuono... It controls the brake light. Is it with the fuse box? No, its in behind the steering head, under the tank and under the airbox, requiring the entire airbox, velocity stacks etc.... to all be removed, to get access to the $10 brake light relay. Drove me bonkers that some engineer looked at that, and said, "yeah, that's the best way to do that"... WTF? haha

[@benhearne2844]

@@SquireSCA i know that feeling, when i saw those pipes welded to the cat. I lost my mind and thought.why......why...... To stop people tampering with it it actually just causes an annoyance. If people want to remove the cat just let them why make it more difficult, christ.

[@frederickwoods5943]

Did the x-pipe on my 2020 Speed Twin as soon as I got it two years ago and it was easy compared to these newer ones. Compared to some of the "foreign car" (Mini, Fiat, Mercedes etc) stuff I do the motorcycle work is a joy to perform.

[@24james]

Wow, yeah that’s a lot of work. Honestly beyond my skill set. But I wanted to know what needs to be done so I know the labor hours a shop would charge. So, this is to pull the cat/breadbox & put in an X-pipe correct? It may not pick up much bhp, but in my opinion you are doing the right thing to get the cat off. This is still a free country man💯🇺🇸🏍🦾

[@SquireSCA]

yeah, its way more work than it should be. You can do it with basic tools, it's not like you have to drop the motor... But it's more annoying that they made it this way, than anything else...

[@ben.aka.bigben]

thanks for posting this, it is a deterrent now for me. I am about to trade in my speedmaster for a speed twin. Since I always change the exhaust the first thing on my bikes I was planning to do the same on this one. But now I think I will settle for a end can only.

[@SquireSCA]

It is a major pain, but once you have done it, its not as bad... If you lived near here, I would offer to help. haha

[@hogfest5047]

Hi Dave took mine apart yesterday the feeling was dejected pissed off with triumph they really have created a monster with the cat. I got to the point where I had the exhaust completely off, frame loosened left hand clutch side tank moved cat brackets bent out of most of the way but to no avail . The only thing I did not do for fear of completely wrecking a new bike was to loosen the throttle side of the frame I think this would have really helped as the cat was still stuck in place by the bent bracket one side and the spigot shaft in the throttle side of the bike. After i got over it some I sat out there got everything back on the bike as it should be, BUT its been bugging me ever since I will attempt it again just not yet. I can see the benefit of loosening both sides of the frame now, this where I went wrong . Yes the header clamps are like a Chinese puzzle sent to try us by triumph but go easy with those sensors, I found on re fitting the exhaust I put the clutch side on first and pushed the link clamp as far out of the way as possible I covered the tank up wrapped in a couple of old sheets, wound the sensors in by turning the whole header like a wheel. It all went well back to factory spec so having said that I now feel much more confident when I do tackle it .

[@SquireSCA]

It's enraging, isn't it? lol Yeah, the left side frame has to come up, just suspend it with bungee cords or zip ties... And the right frame has to come mostly off... You remove the bottom bolts, the one on the motor and then just loosen the top bolt behind the steering stem, and that will allow you to move it enough for the bent bracket to clear it...

[@petebusch9069]

Can someone tell me how good the stock sound is or does adding a tip do much? The only reason I would want to do this is for sound and not performance. On some bikes a tip does absolutely nothing. Just trying to get an idea, its winter so I can go ride one.

[@SquireSCA]

Depends on what country you are in, what year the bike is, and whether your stock mufflers allow the baffles to be removed or not. On my 2022 when I had it, the stock mufflers for the US and CAN had small set screws in the exit end, that you could remove fairly easily, and slide out the dB killers, making them straight through, just alike an aftermarket muffler. And they didn't have CATs in the mufflers that year, so they really were loud like aftermarket. If your mufflers were like mine, remove the baffles and see how you like it and then decide if its worth spending money on. That said, aftermarket cans are a good bit louder if you can't remove the stock baffles. But compared to stock cans with baffles removed, no difference.

[@jerimiahaltamirano1286]

Sir Dave, after the remap while I was riding on 6th gear down the highway my check engine turned on. Code was p0151. Should i go ahead and remove my oxygen sensor and get a kit from british legend? Thank you so much sir.

[@SquireSCA]

What else did you do prior to the remap? From what I have read, its not an uncommon problem, an O2 sensor going bad, or damage to one of the wires when installing an X Pipe or something... Here is a thread on it: www.triumphrat.net/threads/o2-sensor-problem.976732/ If you want to remove O2, then disable it in the map, and then unplug them from the wiring harness. You can leave them in the pipe, of if you want to physically take them off the bike you can get plugs: amzn.to/3MmsoJK

[@jerimiahaltamirano1286]

@@SquireSCA thank you so much sir. I will disable the oxygen sensor sir, do I have to do the SAI delete also? Reason I ask is there’s a lot of back fire on lower gear while cruise on lower speed sir. I already ordered the cover bolt for the sensor thank you for the link 👍! I have an xpipe, short predator exhaust and k&n filter sir. You gave me the remap file last month and super thank you again for that

[@SquireSCA]

@@jerimiahaltamirano1286 You don't have to delete the SAI, just disable it in software, and then stuff a marble in the SAI hose. I think I have a video showing where it is and what to do.

[@jerimiahaltamirano1286]

@@SquireSCA got it sir. Yes you do sir! Thank you!! I will post an update once it’s all done sir

[@CustomNDKO]

Why would they do that? I checked the street triple and changing the pipe does not look that bad, not that I want to do so because I think it does not need it TBH

[@SquireSCA]

Couple reasons... One, they want it to look nice, and so not seeing the cat achieves that. It's nestled up under the motor and between the frame rails, which is what makes it so hard to get out. Also, they are trying to make things "tamper proof" so that the green evangelicals don't start demanding to see someone's manager...

[@henkbokhove]

I did it myself on the 2019 model, on my 2022 i let the dealer do the hard work 🙂

[@itsallbullox3310]

Shit the fukn bed🤔.. Already you've given more info than any other on you tube ..Stick with it Dave but way beyond my technical prowess but damn useful to know 👍

[@SquireSCA]

Thanks, part two of this video should drop Tues or Wed of this week.

[@ocm1774]

Number 1 reason i am seriously thinking about buying some other bike, and i like this one but its wayyyy to much parts involved just to get to one.

[@SquireSCA]

I wouldn't pick a different bike just because of that. It is a pain, but once you know how to do it, you can knock it out in around an hour or so. The good news is that unless you have to pull the engine out of the bike, you only have to do it once.

[@donjingle4059]

I just spent a week working on a car, lying under it with no room to get my Popeye size forearms in the stupid small spaces. Horrifying. Super sore and bruised like I was in a fist fight. Will work on a motorcycle over that insanity any day. 😑

[@SquireSCA]

True, its all a matter of perspective. Most of my bikes, the decat pipe takes 10-15 minutes... haha

[@Antmanmoto]

🍿🍿🥤🥤

[@SquireSCA]

The install video dropping in 3...2...

[@Antmanmoto]

I tried to tell you!

[@SquireSCA]

@@Antmanmoto I can't help myself

[@donjingle4059]

Only dyno video showing before and after ...kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYLOlqRpirarZtE ............1:20 tells the tell.

[@SquireSCA]

Yeah, I figured that with a tune, you might pick up 2hp if you are lucky... It's mainly for sound, heat and maybe a few lbs in weight. I am sure it will sound lovely once its done, but it really was needlessly complicated.

[@chicblair]

Dave , you do know that it's California in the good old US of A that set the emissions and Noise regulations !!

[@SquireSCA]

California is not part of the US. Hasn't been for years...