I have a year on my black one. No problems and hasn't really faded much.

 

They scrape the ground pretty bad if you ride hard.

 

Exactly. Mine is flat on the bottom from hitting it in the canyons. Last time out I about broke through it from dragging. It's now paper thin. But that being said it hasn't cracked and it's taken some hard hits.

As far as there "ceramic coating"... well it sucks and there isn't anything anyone can say otherwise. If other owners like the coating then they've never owned anything else with GOOD HIGH TEMP ceramic coating or they'd be throwing rocks at it. In a few weeks I'm taking mine off and welding in a patch of steel where it hits and then going to go have it ceramic coated with High Temp Cerakote. Mine is baking off as many others I have seen do the same. Whomever T-Header uses for their coating vendor sucks at it. It's thin, making it useless for heat reduction, and it's not high temp or it wouldn't bake off.

Would I buy one again??? Hellz yeah! If I had to do it again I would just patch in a spot from the Get-Go where I know it's going to hit and then have it recoated before I even put it on, but that's just me. Did I mention how bad the coating is? Lol.

 

Yea that scraping has been on my mind too. That's a big reason I went with the TBR. But I feel like my experience is like a lot of you guys. I have the bad quality image in my head but I can't get away from wanting the TH still. lol Regardless of quality, scraping, being pretty ugly, etc that sound just can't be beat.
Yall put my mind at ease. I'm going back. Screw it. haha

 

Haha wait, so the coating sucks? I'll get it coated by my local guy for sure. May even try the bbq paint first to test that out.
Post a pic of that plate and its location if you get a chance! That would be kinda nice to weld one up before I mount the pipe to begin with.

 

Having run/installed/tuned many TH, the sound is truly great and the seat of the pants feel of the install is always appreciated as it has great primary tube lengths and a good collector. The problem is it's great at waking up a stock or mild build bike but not so great once the engine mods get bigger as it is an 1-3/4 pipe and it does have that torque dip in the 2500-3000 range. IMHO if you have a stock or mild bike the TH gives the best sound and "power improvement" feel of all the pipes out there. Never hollow, or tinny. But once you add compression and healthy cams and more fuel most any good pipe will surpass the TH in gains and sound.

Some guys cut them up and turn the head pipes and collectors horizontal to gain ground clearance, something Rich Products should have done years ago for us, but they seem happy to just keep pushing out the same pipe from 1987 and that's fine I guess.

The reality is the TH is great for mild bikes, and gives you the NorCal HA look and is generally a great mod. The downside is its not for big engine builds nor is it built with aerospace precision and attention to detail.

My thoughts worth exactly $.02

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Good words, man. Worth a little more than $.02...sounds spot on. lol

 

Keep in mind anyone can scrap at low speed. If that's your problem I wouldn't worry about it at all. A lot of pipes will drag at under 25mph. Where is it you're having fun on your bike mph wise? I scrape at 70mph so I got my bike leaned way over (for the speed). Secondly, riding it like this I can't really blame the pipe at this point since I'm grinding my pegs the hell off a good ways BEFORE I'm hitting my pipe on the ground. So at the point I'm moving my foot inboard off the peg to keep it off the ground so I can keep diving further into the corner (before the pipe is contacting the ground) then I should be looking into lifting the bike for more clearance. What's another 1/4" or 1/2" on the pipe's location? You'll find it almost as fast anyways if you're carving this hard. So again IMHO I'd be looking at suspension playing a big factor in clearance and not so much blaming the pipe design.

I don't make it up to the canyons on every weekend so I'm not worried too much about it. If I lived closer to the canyon's and twisties I'd be lifting my bike before replacing the pipe, and bringing the bike up to my skill level of what I want it to do. Fixing the problem, rather than band aid it. I used to ride rockets so I don't do this all the time being this isn't what I bought the bike for. I just get carried away sometimes lol. Do I find the concrete more often than I'd like? Sure do. Worth lifting it? To me... Nope. Worth a new pipe? Nope.


BBQ paint... to each their own, but I wouldn't go that route myself. Not trying to knock anyone's pipes or bikes but to me that looks like what it is. Rattle can special. Compare BBQ paint to even say a D&D Fatcat both in black IN PERSON. Not no pic on the internet. You'll quickly see the quality difference not to mention ride it on a hot day and you'll feel the difference. One just sticks at high temps and MAYBE provide a small portion of heat reduction... maybe. Woohoo. A good ceramic coating will reduce heat by HUNDREDS of degrees on the surface of that pipe. I live in AZ so to me when it's 110 that makes a HUGE difference. I've had my Thunderheader start to burn my leg through my pants and tube socks on the freeway in mid-summer here. I wear a double sock (Top only, just cut the tube part off) on my right leg for a "burn sleeve" when it's hot the way the pipe is now to keep from getting heat rash on my ankle. So in a long drawn out answer... YES, the coating sucks. If you think a BBQ paint will reduce heat better than a even the shitty thunderhead provided ceramic coating... well, knock yourself out. I'll stick with a 2000 degree rated ceramic coating for a few hundred bucks and wear freakin ankle socks if I want to lol.

When I get it all patched up I'll post some pics up of it and it's all re-coated and what not. Powder coating my wheels are first on my list though since i gotta replace my tires after this weekends day trip. Been waiting to do this for a few months now! Riding Devil's Hwy Saturday morning. Speaking of all this pipe scraping, I do believe I'm gonna drag it a few more times this weekend lol.

 

I used semi gloss High Heat BBQ paint and heat shields on the t-header on my old DX. It was still pretty uncomfortable riding in the dead of Vegas summer (120+ deg temps on the road) but not deadly. I always told myself I was going to have it jet hot coated but never pulled the trigger. I had some pipes on a chopper I had done in silver ceramic and it was night and day. Looked killer and 5-6 mins after shutting it off, the pipes were cool to the touch.

 

I had issues with TH on two different bikes. For me this is not a pipe I will purchase for a third time. I tend to put a lot of miles on my bikes but think that these should hold up better than they do.