KZ 550 exhaust header and system for KB2TT

Cone engineering has stainless collectors, exhaust tubing and muffler parts.
Or you could buy a kz650 system from delkevic and mod it from there

I measured the OD on a 550 aftermarket header downtube, done in "black chrome", and it was 1.40". I also measured an aftermarket 650 downtube, and it was 1.38". The 650 header can be made to fit a 550 by bringing the tubes closer together and altering the bends slightly, but it will hang further away from the bottom of the motor. The point is the down tubes are basically the same size as they fit into either head the same.

The 600 Ninja's are based on the 550 motor, so you can usually use a header from them as well.

A race-system from Kerker goes down the center of the oil pan, so you could probably modify one of those pretty easily.

The Delkevic 650 header looks like it could be a good start (cheap too!), especially since the downtubes are a slip fit in the collector, making it easy to modify. I imagine I would have to tighten it up to fit inside the fairing, which is a pretty tight wrap. Thanks for that and the measurements.

Cone looks like they would have all the pieces I need in the smaller tube size. I hadn't run across them yet. The last post on the Bimota KB forum was over a year ago, I may try posting there but it seems like they don't have a lot of traffic.

Long ago I thought about swapping the whole motor out for the 600 Ninja, which would be pretty cool. But I would have to clone on a cooling system and it wasn't obvious that everything would clear the birdcage frame and fit up. Older and wiser now, I think there is value in leaving it "stock".

Here's a Mac header. Notice it has extra bends that bring it much closer to the motor.

Here's how it looks under.


The problem is that it doesn't go straight under the bike, it comes out on the right side behind the rear brake pedal.


Here are two other other 550 aftermarket 4-into-1. Notice it doesn't have that extra bend on the down pipes, so it is not so tight against the motor.




Now here is a 650 header fit onto a 550 bike. Notice it hangs much lower under the motor.

Interesting. On the Bimota it also has to come out to the right, near the brake pedal.

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Hi ,i still have a copy of Cycle magazine with a test of the Kb2 in. What a beautiful bike they loved it as well. I have always wanted one, there was one for sale at made in Italy motorcycles a few
months ago I think it was for about £18000. Put us up a few pictures up when you can, good luck with the exhaust.

There was a thread on this over at GPz550 forum a few years ago, IIRC some had the Yoshimura 596cc pistons and other tuning gubbins. Even stock these are very strong motors, and that trellis chassis is the ultimate.

Don't recognise the pipe sorry, the angle and the fit looks different to the Yoshi pipes.

A competent exhaust builder could make you a copy, I like stainless personally but it comes with a weight penalty.

Yeah, it is a beautiful bike. I bought it used in Rome, about 1989 or so? Paid 8,000,000 lire for it. Had it shipped back in pieces. With it are two full fairings, extra foot pegs and controls (these are very pretty aluminum forgings), whole bunch of other stuff. Everywhere you look on the thing it is special. I posted a couple of pictures above, don't have that many, and those were taken with real film! That's how long it has been sitting waiting for a pipe. The original pipe was built by Bimota just for it.

An update: I bought the Delkevic header for the 650, the downtubes fit in the head and clear the birdcage frame members where needed. The collector looks like it will end up at a pretty good angle to get out of the fairing. The downtubes are a little long, which is fine - easier to shorten than stretch! I think I will be able to modify them to tighten up the fit. The pipe and muffler after the collector should be easy to fabricate. The Delkevic looks like pretty decent quality, and it was only $227 delivered - can't beat that.

Sounds good. Be aware, due to the downtubes being brought in closer together, the effective angle of the upper and lower bends on the downtubes change slightly. I had to tweak them a bit to get the header to sit square in the head.

You may want to fabricate a spring loaded attachement at the head like on a two-stroke. That way you can make sure the connection at the head is sealed and square (as the head connection will be a separate piece, it won't be affected by the downtube bends).