Fitted: Motad 2 into 1, quieter and tidier

The Motad 2 into 1 tidies up the front and the pipes are turning a lovely coppery gold colour after 40-odd miles. The sound is typical Honda actually and as I get older I appreciate silencers more - see below for the evil racket it made when I bought it. I spent five years with a Harley and there is nothing like the sound of unbaffled pipes on the 45 degree V twin.

But with the exception of Dukes, old Brit singles and the odd Jap sports twin, most loud pipes are pretty crappy.
I tend to sympathise with people living on village A roads who must get pissed off with Johnny Power Ranger out for his Sunday ride, who deliberately drops down a gear outside their home... come on, we've all done it, thinking the people looking are admiring you and envying your 'freedom' when most are thinking 'anti-social twat'.
But lads, we'll all suffer in the end by increased EU noise regs and we won't have any recourse by quoting 'loud pipes save lives' (which they don't, defensive riding does), but you won't care because by then you'll have got bored and bought a jet-ski or 4x4 or some other big boy's toy, eh?
Anyway, for the record, when you ride this old 450 (which has a central counter balance shaft) you have an almost four cylinder feel with fairly vibe free acceleration. You can't hear the bike's exhaust, just a faint airbox whistle and the whirring of the tacho drive (hmmm I need to look at that).