Orbitr
Member
Since I didn't see any posts on the board that answered a few specific questions I had about the Blue Flame cans, I figured I'd put something out there for future reference.
Customer experience: good, friendly followup both by phone and email. Brian's a good guy and tries to help. Their website, which was recently improved, still lacks some technical info. The website indicates that delivery times vary widely depending on model and workflow, but 2-4 weeks is typical. Mine arrived in 5 weeks, well-packed, in good condition.
Construction & delivery: Really nice fit and finish. Packed to minimize scratching. One mid-pipe was wrapped with both clamps on it; the other with only one clamp. At first, I assumed one was missing. It turned out to be on the muffler. No instructions of any kind are included, nor mounting hardware (other than the hanger straps). Admittedly, slip-ons are pretty dang easy, but since the stock cans require a muffler gasket (as do many aftermarket cans for the FJR), I wasn't sure if I had a problem, since the Blue Flame midpipes won't fit over the OEM gasket. Blue Flame wasn't sure about the answer to that, despite having sold FJR cans for years. High-temp silicone gasket material seems to be the answer, since the midpipes fit too snugly for anything else, but loose enough that you need some kind of gasket in there. The midpipe fits into the can, which has a conventional split-tube construction and a strap clamp. The intake side of the midpipe is not a split tube, so the likelihood of a strap clamp being able to crush a cylinder to tighten it down sufficiently is nil. The silicone is necessary not only to seal the pipe, but to hold it in place.
Installation: Assuming you can peel/scrape the OEM metal gasket off easily (I did mine at only 600mi), it's a piece of cake. Be forewarned (since Blue Flame doesn't forewarn you) that the receiving nut for the hanger bolt is captive, and welded onto the OEM muffler. This means you'll need two M10x1.25 fine pitch metric nuts, or (since that was the ONLY freakin' size not available in my hardware store... bolts, yes. Nuts, no. Go figure) two M10x70 bolts with matching nuts in the 1.50 standard pitch thread. The straps look like they're some godawful milky white color. It's a protective film over the metal, but so smoothly cut at the edges that it really looks like paint at first. If you don't peel it off, it'll burn onto the straps (no, I didn't do that, but it did occur to me that it might happen to someone).
Issues/problems: The EVO dual-port cans are sold with a removable insert on the larger port and a removable solid blanking plug on the smaller port. They're held in place with round spring clips. Blue Flame recommends buying their rosary pliers (they're cheap) to handle the spring clips. I have some really needle-nose pliers that would've done fine (better, actually... the nubs on the rosary pliers aren't very long, which makes them hard to use). That said, once I decided I wanted the blanking plug back in, it didn't seat properly---apparently the internal tube it seats into was a hair too far into the can. This caused the blanking plug to rattle louder than a tin maraca. The only way to stop it was to seal it with a little high-temp silicone...which means it'll probably never ever come out again. I'm fine with that, but a lot of people wouldn't be.
Kudos: The ability to tune the sound of the EVOs is really nice. With all four inserts in place, it has a nice, warm, deep, throaty rumble. It sounds like a 1300 without being annoyingly loud for either the rider or the neighbors. Start to pull out the inserts, and it gets both louder and brasher. If you want loud, you can definitely get it (pre-order your hearing aids starting at age 50 or so), but even at full tilt, it never gets buzzy--just aggressive. There's a resonance at around 3000 rpm, leading to a distinct volume spike, which can be a good or a bad thing, depending on your perspective. If you do a lot of intown, commuting-style riding, you'll be hearing that spike a lot. If you're used to a Euro-muffled bike, it can get a little tiring. On the other hand, it certainly would help cars hear you in intown traffic.
I got the stainless oval 2-ports. I have to admit, I really wanted the triangular cans :dribble: but not at the extra cost.
There are some FJR photos on Blue Flame's site (Blueflameusa.com -- don't forget the usa), and if you search the forum and Mark Johnson's FJR site, you can find useful sound files (as useful as the sound on a computer can be.) Mark has before-and-after clips that were nicely calibrated, which helps you establish a mental benchmark with the "before" files.
Customer experience: good, friendly followup both by phone and email. Brian's a good guy and tries to help. Their website, which was recently improved, still lacks some technical info. The website indicates that delivery times vary widely depending on model and workflow, but 2-4 weeks is typical. Mine arrived in 5 weeks, well-packed, in good condition.
Construction & delivery: Really nice fit and finish. Packed to minimize scratching. One mid-pipe was wrapped with both clamps on it; the other with only one clamp. At first, I assumed one was missing. It turned out to be on the muffler. No instructions of any kind are included, nor mounting hardware (other than the hanger straps). Admittedly, slip-ons are pretty dang easy, but since the stock cans require a muffler gasket (as do many aftermarket cans for the FJR), I wasn't sure if I had a problem, since the Blue Flame midpipes won't fit over the OEM gasket. Blue Flame wasn't sure about the answer to that, despite having sold FJR cans for years. High-temp silicone gasket material seems to be the answer, since the midpipes fit too snugly for anything else, but loose enough that you need some kind of gasket in there. The midpipe fits into the can, which has a conventional split-tube construction and a strap clamp. The intake side of the midpipe is not a split tube, so the likelihood of a strap clamp being able to crush a cylinder to tighten it down sufficiently is nil. The silicone is necessary not only to seal the pipe, but to hold it in place.
Installation: Assuming you can peel/scrape the OEM metal gasket off easily (I did mine at only 600mi), it's a piece of cake. Be forewarned (since Blue Flame doesn't forewarn you) that the receiving nut for the hanger bolt is captive, and welded onto the OEM muffler. This means you'll need two M10x1.25 fine pitch metric nuts, or (since that was the ONLY freakin' size not available in my hardware store... bolts, yes. Nuts, no. Go figure) two M10x70 bolts with matching nuts in the 1.50 standard pitch thread. The straps look like they're some godawful milky white color. It's a protective film over the metal, but so smoothly cut at the edges that it really looks like paint at first. If you don't peel it off, it'll burn onto the straps (no, I didn't do that, but it did occur to me that it might happen to someone).
Issues/problems: The EVO dual-port cans are sold with a removable insert on the larger port and a removable solid blanking plug on the smaller port. They're held in place with round spring clips. Blue Flame recommends buying their rosary pliers (they're cheap) to handle the spring clips. I have some really needle-nose pliers that would've done fine (better, actually... the nubs on the rosary pliers aren't very long, which makes them hard to use). That said, once I decided I wanted the blanking plug back in, it didn't seat properly---apparently the internal tube it seats into was a hair too far into the can. This caused the blanking plug to rattle louder than a tin maraca. The only way to stop it was to seal it with a little high-temp silicone...which means it'll probably never ever come out again. I'm fine with that, but a lot of people wouldn't be.
Kudos: The ability to tune the sound of the EVOs is really nice. With all four inserts in place, it has a nice, warm, deep, throaty rumble. It sounds like a 1300 without being annoyingly loud for either the rider or the neighbors. Start to pull out the inserts, and it gets both louder and brasher. If you want loud, you can definitely get it (pre-order your hearing aids starting at age 50 or so), but even at full tilt, it never gets buzzy--just aggressive. There's a resonance at around 3000 rpm, leading to a distinct volume spike, which can be a good or a bad thing, depending on your perspective. If you do a lot of intown, commuting-style riding, you'll be hearing that spike a lot. If you're used to a Euro-muffled bike, it can get a little tiring. On the other hand, it certainly would help cars hear you in intown traffic.
I got the stainless oval 2-ports. I have to admit, I really wanted the triangular cans :dribble: but not at the extra cost.
There are some FJR photos on Blue Flame's site (Blueflameusa.com -- don't forget the usa), and if you search the forum and Mark Johnson's FJR site, you can find useful sound files (as useful as the sound on a computer can be.) Mark has before-and-after clips that were nicely calibrated, which helps you establish a mental benchmark with the "before" files.
Last edited by a moderator:
