The stylish FMF Apex Exhaust System provides a noticeable gain in power while emitting the loveliest of guttural purrs.
You know that one Christmas gift you got as a child, the one you still remember to this day? I can recall it like it was yesterday. I was 13 and when I unwrapped that box and saw an FMF Factory pipe for my Honda CR85, I nearly lost my mind. That pipe, hand-welded with a shorty silencer, had to be the coolest thing on earth. And I’m sure a lot of you can relate. Point being, if you have ever ridden a dirt bike or know anything about them, then you know who FMF is. As the largest off-road exhaust manufacturer in the world, it’s nearly impossible not to. But in the street world they are the new kid on the block. I bet some of you may not even know they are making street bike exhausts. But if you haven’t yet, you will real soon. After all, they know a thing or two about bending metal into motorcycle pipes…
Their introduction to the street bike market comes in the form of its Apex line, which is currently offered as slip-ons for a host of modern sportbikes, with a much-expanded line on the way. Very distinguishable with its angular shape and aggressive lines, the design is just as cutting edge as the performance.
“I think with the Apex we have come up with a cool shape which also performs well. We’ve also made them as high-end as possible – carbon mufflers, titanium end caps, solid-mount titanium brackets. Very focused on little details."
Donnie Emler Jr., FMF’s Marketing Director
Though this is a new arena for them, Emler Jr. says they are making a strong push: “With our Apex street line this is something new for us to branch out. There’s only so big we can get in the motocross world but street bikes are new territory for us so it’s something we have been putting a lot of time and money into. We’re really making an aggressive push.”
In fact, they are already sponsoring several road racers and teams, most notably Corona Honda, which they have been doing a lot of R&D work with. “We sponsor the Corona Honda factory Superbike team and are making all of their pipes now, the full systems,” he adds. “We’ve been working really closely with them so we’ve already done a lot of the development for the
CBR1000RR.”
We had a chance to roll up to their SoCal do-it-all factory and offices to have a slip-on fitted onto our brand new Yamaha YZF-R1 and get a tour of the joint. We figured it’s the best sounding Inline-Four we’ve probably ever heard in stock form, so with a new pipe it had to be amazing. And we were right. But more on that later…
George Luttig, their chief of R&D, threw the bike up on the dyno in stock form first and then after with the exhaust on to show us the results. But, really, how much power could just a slip-on really make? More than you would think – just have a look at the graphs. Nearly 5 hp gained up top while also getting rid of most of the strange dip the R1 has in power from 5000 to 7000 rpm.
“Right now we are developing slip-ons to start, but development for full-systems has already begun,” said Luttig. “It’s on the way soon!”
While George did the dirty work on the dyno, Emler Jr., who is son of founder and owner Donnie Emler, Sr., showed us around to get an idea of what FMF was all about. We came away thoroughly impressed to say the least. But once the work was done, the big question still remained: how does the pipe perform out in the real world?
(
left) George Luttig, Chief of Research & Development at FMF, threw our Yamaha YZF-R1 up on the dyno while Donnie Emler, Jr.
showed us around the heavy-equipment-laden FMF factory. (
right) We stumbled upon FMF founder Donnie Emler, Sr. back in the shop in an FMF T-shirt and jeans. No corporate type here, just one of the guys back developing and making parts.
As soon as we got back from the Flying Machine Factory (FMF) I strapped the lid and gear on for a little jaunt to my local favorite twisties. First things first, it’s impossible not to take note of that sound! Almost like a mix between a V-Four, V-Twin and Inline-Four on steroids, the raspy rumble emitted from those twin tail pipes is in a whole new league – make that a whole new sport. There’s really nothing like it, sending chills up your spine at the slightest twist of the right grip. At times I found myself slowing down to 40 mph on the freeway simply so I could drop a couple gears and hammer the throttle open to be serenaded by that acoustic euphoria.
Equally as impressive is fit and finish. They bolt up quick and easy, everything fitting perfectly, while the quality is right on par with that of an uber-expensive Akrapovic system. Made fully from titanium and carbon, weight savings is some 4.5- pounds. And that’s over stock mufflers which are already made from titanium.
What is the difference between a good bike and a great bike? Attitude! Now give it an extra five hp and get back out there . . .
Also noticeable was the gain in power, especially down in the lower rpm. The bike just plain runs much crisper. For the US market the
R1 gets slightly choked up due to noise regulations with a mechanical valve in the exhaust, which this eliminates. It’s hard on the street to detect the top-end difference, as that could require risking serious jail time (not like that stops us much), but it’s definitely there. The entire way up the rev-range the bike feels far less corked, much more free flowing.
As a whole the slip-on provided much more noticeable gains than I would have thought. FMF did their research, because attaining improvements like that are hard without removing the catalytic converter, which is left in place with the slip-on system.
But in reality, with the R1, a bike already making 150 hp stock, what it really comes down to is style and sound, which the FMF Apex system has in spades. No doubt it will be staying on our press bike for a long time – at least until they make their full-system, that is!
MSRP is $999 for the dual-pipe slip-on and they are available now. Check it out for yourself, here:
www.fmfracing.com.
