^^^ I suspect that he is adding Acetone to the fuel. During my 2 stroke racing days we use to add 2 - 5% acetone to increase the octane rating where aviation rated gas was not available.

Your suspicions are incorrect, I use toluene as speed 97 is not available here, there's plenty of info regarding the use of this on the net.

Leo Vince Corsa GP Exhaust (Aluminum)

Leo Vince Corsa GP Exhaust (Aluminum)

More than 10,000 kms and almost 2 years on the 165cc big bore, free flow exhaust and other related parts, its been a journey with its ups and downs. The sum of all these has been a whole load of fun and learning along the way.

In the past month I have been noticing that the bike was behaving a bit erratic. It would not idle below 1,500 rpm. Close the throttle, snap it open and there is a second of nothing happening before the revs pick up again. The bike was guzzling fuel like a RD350. The bike had also lost its punchy torque. So it was time for some work. The fuel tank was cleaned, the fuel injector and throttle body were cleaned, air filter washed and oiled, oil and oil filter replaced, valve clearances checked and adjusted.

However, the problems still persisted and led to a lot of head scratching. I noticed that the exhaust noise had increased considerably and the same was drawing unwanted attention from cops. Therefore, I decided to check the status of the glass wool in the exhaust.

Upon opening the exhaust it was found that the glass wool had completely burnt off and there was not a hint of it in the exhaust. A closer look into the exhaust brought a bigger problem to light. The inner baffle tube, which is perforated with holes, was so rusted that it had disintegrated and was now only half its original size. It was being held only by the cap of the exhaust, where one is inserted, the other end that plugs into header pipe was gone. Looking at the state of the tube it was apparent that a new one needed to be fabricated or the exhaust needed to be replaced with new one.

So why did this happen? My take is that it happened due to the rains. The most likely scenario is that glass wool was burnt off before the monsoon. Once the monsoon set in, due to the fact that the bike was parked in the open, water swept into the exhaust and collected at the bottom of the exhaust, as there was no glass wool to absorb the water. This in turn led to rusting and disintegration of the pipe. So, my advice to all who are using a similar exhaust, check and repack the glass wool before every monsoon season.

I also had a more immediate problem. I use the bike for daily commuting and was now possibly stuck without a working exhaust. After some thinking, I decided cut 2 sheets of glass wool to the length of the disintegrating exhaust. I then wrapped the sheets around the pipe. I took 2 strips of copper wire and lashed both ends tight and inserted one end into the exhaust cap. Then the complete assembly was inserted into the exhaust and riveted.

Start the engine and viola, the sound gone down drastically. Adjust the idle screw and the rpm is now steady at 1,300. Took the bike around for trial and its transformed back to the beast it was. The torque is back and is as responsive as it originally was.

So the lessons learnt are; the glass wool plays a significant role in the power characteristics. The glass wool needs to be checked before every monsoon to prevent rusting of the exhaust.
However, I was well aware the solution that I had found and implemented was a temporary one. I need a new exhaust. So I sent Joel a message to ask how soon he can send me a new exhaust. Unfortunately, even after sending messages on more than couple of occasions I did not get a reply.
The bike is used as a daily commuter and I was getting frustrated. I was aware at the back of my mind that this temporary solution could give away any time and I needed to find a solution fast.

Finally, I decided to check out the Leo Vince exhaust out of sheer desperation and frustration. I contacted Zulfi at Bachoo Motors to check if the exhaust was available. Once he confirmed that the exhaust was available I went down to check it out and decide on whether to purchase it or not. Once I checked it out, I decided to buy it.

Leo Vince Exhaust installation

The Leo Vince exhaust comes well packed in a box. The box contains all the parts required to assemble the exhaust along with an instruction manual. The only part that you will need to purchase extra is the exhaust gasket. The exhaust system consist of 3 main parts i.e. the header pipe, mid section pipe and the exhaust. A db insert is part of the kit.



The quality of parts is superlative. The quality of bends on the header and welds on the headers and mid section pipe are exceptional and head and shoulders above any OEM pipe. The pipes are made of 304 stainless steel and are claimed to be manufactured by hand. The muffler is made of aluminum, is well finished and feels solid. The one thing that struck me as particularly exceptional was the fit tolerances of each pipe. The pipes are so well mated and have just the right amount of tight fit that they do not require any gaskets. Unlike the TBR exhaust, the exhaust looks well proportioned and designed for specific application and not just a big bike can adapted for the R15. The pipes are of variable diameter and the mid pipe ends as a diffuser cone that plugs into the muffler. Clearly, someone has done some amount of testing and designing for this system.

The fitting of the parts took about 30 minutes. There were no complications, however, since its in 4 parts it requires some intricate assembly.

1. The first thing to mount is the header assembly.
2. Insert the new exhaust gasket into the exhaust port and mount the header.
3. Tighten the nuts on the header just enough to hold the head pipe in place.
4. Then mate the mid section pipe to the header and align the mounting hole on the collar on the midsection with the collar on the chassis.
5. Tighten the bolt and nut just enough to ensure that the midsection pipe is held in place.
6. Now attach the muffler-mounting collar on to the muffler and mate the muffler to the midsection pipe.
7. Take visual approximate alignment of the spring collar on the muffler with the spring collar on the midsection pipe.
8. Insert the spacer and bolt and tighten the muffler-mounting collar to the collar on the rear footrest.
9. Now tighten all the nuts and bolts alternately till all of them a fully tightened.
10. Lastly, mount the springs provided with the kit on the collars of the joints between header – midsection pipes, midsection pipes – exhaust muffler. A spring mounting tool is provided with the kit.

First Impressions
The bike was first started without installing the db insert. The bike started at the first crank. The sound is as loud as Joel’s FFE. Then the db insert was installed. Immediately the sound level came down to almost the stock level. It is a little louder than the stock, but no cop is ever going to take note of it.

Put the bike in to first gear and off for a small test ride. First thing that becomes apparent very quickly is that this not the same beast anymore. It is not making as much power as before. Not that its not making power, it is, but its just not comparable to the old setup. It quickly becomes apparent that if you want the maximum power you require a exhaust that is specially designed for the setup that you have i.e. in this case 165cc big bore with revised cam and fueling.

So is this exhaust useless? Certainly not so. Considering that it has a db insert on and has near stock level sound, it does an admirable job. On a stock bike without any other changes, it should show a good improvement over the stock exhaust. Strangely, while the engine is cold, there is a huge flat spot between 3,000 rpm to 4,000 rpm, which gradually disappears as the engine warms up.

Would I recommend this exhaust? Depends on what you are looking for. If fit and finish are a foremost priority then this is the exhaust to go for. In addition to fit and finish, the exhaust will give a decent performance up grade without any changes made to the engine. However, if fit and finish were secondary and performance is the only altar on which you will be willing to bow your head, then Joel’s FFE is sublime and unbeatable in that area. Oh, its also much cheaper than the Leo Vince.

Now if only Joel were to make his exhaust in 304 stainless steel and give the finish that would match the Leo Vince!!! But then if wishes were horses …..

I had the privilege of trying out abhimanyu31's R16 with both the RC FFE and now Leo Vince exhaust. Although, Joel's RC FFE made his ride feel like a maniac, Leo Vince definitely has its own characteristics. I did a small spin and immediately found out that the mid range was very well pronounced!! R16 with the Leo Vince exhaust has a flat spot between 3k - 4k. But besides that, all the way to the redline she felt sublime. I guess like abhimanyu31 has mentioned, it vanishes post the engine heating up to optimal working temps but may be that's something one can live with.

Unless one intends to be Danny Pedrosa all the time, Leo Vince with the DB Killer on is not a bad combination with Joel's, RC Kits. However, for pure performance enthusiasts, RC FFE indeed compliments the whole set up.. nothing else will do. If and when me and abhimanyu31 get a chance to runaway from Mumbai, both of us would be able to give a better perspective about the Leo Vince with the DB Killer off.


Cheers,

Hello there, I got my bike Joelled just recently and she's done just around 1200kms.
what all i got from Joel? here goes the list.
1. 170cc bore
2. Head work
3. air filter
4. cam
5. clutch springs
6. valve springs

Needless to say, she's flying like anything now. but to get her started is a real pain now. Now, I've been facing starting problems because of the high compression ratio. got all the electricals checked and everything is absolutely fine. it just doesn't start when i take it out for the first time in a day irrelevant of the time of the day. since you mentioned about going for a bigger battery, i wanted to know if you changed the battery and if it really was helpful. I'm eagerly waiting for your reply. If it works, i'll go for a bigger battery as well.

Thanks in advance.

Just saw your post.. being the creature of the night for a while now.. So here is what i would suggest:

1) Change to a minimum of 5 amps battery.

2) Check with Joel and ask him to have a relook at the map. That's ofcourse if you have opted for the RD powertronic ECU

3) For the heck of it.. If you have the step 2 done then, Plug in the old ECU and then attempt cranking your ride. If she starts normally without any trouble then the current map is most likely the culprit and needs to be tuned properly. I will not blame Joel on this as maps are dependent majorly on many factors like drop in temps, air pressure etc. It would be wise to get it checked by him once.

4) This trouble is predominant because of the absence of the decompression unit with the new camshaft. A decomp unit's job is to intentionally allow fuel to leak in during start ups for easy cranking. Without it the bike needs a bit of a jolt to start. abhimanyu31 would be a better person to answer this part.

I hope the above mentioned pointers help you troubleshoot the problem easily. Better bet would be to interact with Joel since, you live in B'lore. He should help you optimise the fuelling for better cranking.

Cheers,

Current Setup:
1. Stock head with revised intake track for improved flow.
2. 165 cc Big Bore kit with semi-forged piston.
3. Longer duration cam.
4. Stiffer valve springs.
5. Simota plane type plug-in air filter.
6. Fully programmable Race Dynamics ECU with 11,500 rpm redline.
7. Stiffer clutch springs.
8. Leo Vince Corsa full exhaust.
9. HEL steel braided brake lines.

Next set of changes (Coming Soon ):
1. Revised Head with larger valves. Inlet 22mm vs. 19mm stock. Outlet 19mm vs. 17mm stock.
2. 180 cc Big Bore kit with fully forged piston.
3. Longer duration cam.
4. Stiffer valve springs.
5. 32 mm throttle body.
6. Revised close ratio gearbox.
7. Custom made Free Flow Exhaust for 180cc.

Does this mean the arrival of the 180cc kits at your kingdom soon ?? .. now that would be something!!. Your 165cc set up is already insane as it is now it will be interesting to see the 0-100 timings on this set up.. who's up for round two??

Cheers,

I can only guess what the R18 will be capable of

Btw where are you sourcing these parts from?

^^^ Made to order by Race Concepts and Joel. It will be a very high compression setup and will run on 97 octane only.

Thought so, but just wanted to confirm. All the best for the build, I guess this will be one of the meanest R15 (can i call it R15? ) in the country.

Is the 180cc kit readily available? Or is it still under development?

Thanks Brother! I have a bone stock R15 which has done 5k kms on the odo. The bike is completely tamed now and the hunger for more power has been increasing day by day. What are your suggested modifications/upgrades for my ride? I am willing to take it to the highest "Street-legal" level that is possible... Preferably a 25bhp setup.