Has anyone who has removed the baffles from their stock Roadie exhaust had any problems with the bike since doing so?

The reason I ask. I stopped by a local Yamaha dealership to pick up a part. While I'm there the service rep is standing in the parking lot talking to some folks. As I walk out to get on my bike the asshole makes a comment about my bike right in front of me. "Well here's a mechanic that will be pushing his bike in to me. I won't work on those wollered out exhausts." I asked him if he had a problem that he needed me to fix and assured him I'd be glad to do it. He huffed and walked off.

First, I'm gonna open a business in Houston. Apparently, here you can insult your customers and still make money!

Second, What's y'alls take on de-baffling?

I think a lot of dealers will have issues with folks who make modifications to their bikes. I suspect it has a lot to do with having to clean up after the ones who then have problems when the bike breaks down or does not operate correctly.

In any event, his response sure seems drastic. We have to accept that this community tends to hang out on the edge of what many mechanics would approve of, and we have often paid the price. The good thing about it is we each other to learn about the mistakes from. We can't expect that type of leadership from a dealer, their in business to keep the bikes on the road and we really screw that up from time to time.

As long as you are paying attention to your bike (mileage, signs of leanness, or perhaps you rejetted) you shouldn't have a problem. Reaming out your pipes will increase flow slightly with the stock air kit, so just pay attention to it.

If you are aftermarket air kit, have rejetted, and are experiencing the performance and mileage you would expect, then don't give this another thought.

GRAM

I agree with Gram.

I have had other bikes where I have removed the baffles and have found the "around-town" preformance to suffer somewhat. Unless you are always running full-throttle some backpressure is preferable.

Doc