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What's best to upgrade first?

Gen 5: 2016-20 
12K views 26 replies 14 participants last post by  Raja Segar 
#1 ·
Hello all, I bought my 2016 zx10r abs thinking I was going to keep it stock. That's now changed. I want to get a full system exhaust and flash the ecu. My dilemma is which full system should I go with. I want what will do the most for the money. Akra seems so over priced. There's got to be something as good for a bit less $. As for the flash, I was looking at woolich, but don't really know what to buy. Their website is confusing. Also, should I get a K&N air filter? Thanks for your input.
 
#2 ·
Just get rid of the cat with link pipe and add your preferred slip on.
Then the ECU flash. You will be very happy.

I doubt K&N filter going to make any noticeable difference to your bike performance.

Later you can decide if you really need a full system based on the performance of the above mods.

My 2 cents.
 
#17 ·
I was thinking this, but will it be about as good as a full system? I heard the stock head is made good with good material already. I want to do the ECU flash, but this will be the first for me. What's the best way/process to do it? Thanks all for the replies thus far.
 
#4 ·
I don't know first hand because I have a lot of people to feed (and I'm thrifty with my mods) but I've seen good dyno results from Graves exhausts on other bikes and they're not toooo expensive.
 
#5 ·
Talk to Anthony (Archer) about the Woolrich stuff and he can get you what you need. As far as full exhaust, it seems like you really can't go wrong with any of the major brands. They will all be fairly similar in power it seems. The new graves full system does look really nice. As for air filters, the choice of the forum seems to fall with stock, MWR, or Sprint from what I've seen.
 
#6 ·
Not a graves fan at all after my 4th gen system.

Also, arrow, hindle and then to a lesser extent brocks for full systems. Austin racing for slip on only.

Sprint f08 f185 or MWR WSBK for aftermarket filters.

WOOLICH racing for tuning
 
#9 ·
Welcome to the party! Congrats on a great bike!

As far as first mods go, skip the exaust and spend your money on getting your suspension tuned properly. If you're finding the Woolich site confusing, that's probably not the product you should be tinkering with. It's pretty straight forward with only 2 options for that bike - a product to reflash your ECU or a product for the reflashing with autotune. All the other stuff is optional parts and swag. So buy some stickers and hoodies and people will think you're fast!

Full system exhaust? Yeah, Akrapovic is pricey but the quality is very good and they do their R&D properly. There's lots of other options, but not many that compare. There really is no "bolt on" parts to give you "the most for the money". That's so subjective and each require tuning and mods to make them properly perform.
 
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#10 ·
The first thing I did when I got my bike was flash the ECU and install a full Graves. Those alone will unleash a lot of power, no dyno tune necessary. I just picked up a filter though and plan to get it tuned in the spring. I will probably lose my dragons breath... but I guess I'll be making more power? (Kind of a hard decision lol) Also, IMO I would stay away from K&N. There are better products out there for the same amount and phenomenal filters for not much more. Also stay away from their oil filters! Go with Hiflo.
 
#12 ·
best exhaust and bang for the buck is Hindle, just because the system is not very attractive but performs beautiful
that would be my decision.

If money was no problem, I would go Graves link $$$$ then Ackro then Arrow (the distributor has a terrible problem with me), then hindle...

When I was in Austin last year, saw lots of gen5 with hindle.... and had seen big improvements with it, also with Ackro.$$$$$
 
#22 ·
Top end, peak power is going to be within 1HP of each other - so negligible.
Here is a gif cycling the differences between the full system and their slip on with their link pipe.
View attachment 411986

Question you need to ask yourself is how long will you and the bike spend time at that max power RPM right after 13000 RPM? Are you and the bike going to spend more time there... or are you going to spend more time below say 10000-11000 RPMs?
More than likely, I'll be around or below the 11k rpm range most days.
 
#25 ·
Its a really tough call if you just look at them overlayed like that; was meant as a quick comparison only. You really have to overlay them in photoshop. First you line up the stock HP runs, ignoring the torque curve; you can then see the differences where one outperforms the other in HP. You then have to do it again for TQ and line up the torque curve while ignoring the HP curve and compare them that way for torque. You can't just overlay them like I did in the animated GIF since the scaling is off between the two PDFs of their charts.

I'm not here to push you one way or the other, ultimately it is your money. But for me it was well worth it especially since I haven't had to mask the low end weakness by regearing my 5th gen (still 17/39). I can pretty much gas it in 6th gear cruising around town and have no bog or have to downshift to get into the power. All the claims Akra has made about their gains were there and then some and I backed it up in my own dyno testing as shown in the link posted earlier.

Again, look at data from several areas, not just mine or what I present. I had various slip ons on my 4th gen before putting a full on - no comparison whatsoever. Had I just put the full system on from the get go like I wanted I would've been way happier. On my 5th gen, I wasn't going to make the same mistake again so as soon as Mike @ Riders Discount was taking orders for the Akra Evo, I gave him my wallet and had one of the first few in the country. Don't regret it one bit either.

You can always buy the slip on and upgrade to the full later on. Or you can get the Graves slip on and then upgrade just the header later on too with their Link system or whatever they call it.
Good assessment. I recommend reducing front sprocket to 16. It will really give you the kick needed in the mid ranges without getting overly torquey. Dirt cheap to mod and makes a big impact to performance.
 
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