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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126787
(Above) Allspeed pipes have steel silencers, chrome finish; (below) steelsilencer Bassani pipes didn't fit - a bungee cord held them on. 14 jets. So both Toomey and FPP pipes should have been run with #370 jets. So it was back to the dragstrip again, this time for the final (we hoped) shootout between Toomey and FPP. With the big jets and the airbox boots off, 'the RZ350 turned a best pass of 12.74 sec. @ 104.40 mph with FPP pipes during our follow-up day at the drags, a day hotter and drier than our previous test days. With only the pipes changed, the RZ!l50's best pass with the Toomey pipes was 12.72 sec. @ 104.40 mph. Toomey and FPPpipes, when jetted according to their manufacturer's instructions, are identical in performance. Which makes sense, since FPP's Ross Liberty admits that his pipes have the same di mensions as Toomey's pipes - Liberty copied Toomey's dimensions after testing several brands of pipes, and dimensions are the critical factor in making two-stroke power. Toomey views this with great outrage, saying that he developed his pipe dimensions after many hours of hard labor on the dyno, testing pipe design after pipe desi~. ' Liberty says he's domg the public a service, offering Toomey performance at a lower price, $185 vs. Toomey's $299. Toomey counters that his pipes are made better, and Liberty admits that's true. The Toomey pipes have heavier spigots and springs; the pipe hangers are made of two heavy-gauge pieces of metal, triangulated and welded to the pipe around three edges, and then welded together along their edges. There's a rectangular centerstand stopper welded to the left pipe. Toomey's silencer attaches with a spigot that fits over and is welded completely around the end of the expansion chamber; that spigot and the silencer-backing plate are machined out of a solid piece of steel. The aluminum silencer bolts to the backing plate, and a snap-ring at the end of the silencer holds in the fiberglass-packed core. Removing the snap ring allows easy silencer re-packing. The Toomey pipes are shipped assembled and ready to install. The FPP pipes have hangers made of single pieces of metal welded along two edges. There's no centerstand stopper; when the bike's on the sidestand, the centerstand hits the bottom shock linkage, and as the suspension compresses the centerstand hits the left expansion chamber, making dents. The FPP silencer backing plate is slid over the end of the expansion chamber and brazed in three spots; those three welds also hold on the mesh-screen silencer core. The aluminum silencer slips over the silencer core, held in place by a snap-ring at the backing plate. But the FPP pipes we tried came disassembled and the silencers wouldn't slide far enough over the backing plates to allow installation of the snap ring. Liberty says a few sets of pipes had that problem, and he recommended that the backing plate be filed to fit. The FPP pipes came with two sets of silencers, a set of large-diameter street silencers and a set of normalsized silencers. We didn't try the larger FPP silencers. The F-I pipes, made by FPP for F-I, are very similar in construction to the FPP pipes, with different. dimensions. The black paint. on the F-l pipes turned silver-white at the headpipes after only a few passes; when the pipes were removed the paint rubbed off on everything it touched. The RSC Allspeed and Bassani pipes both have steel silencers welded (Above) Toomey pipes have aluminum silencers with strong mounting; (below) FPP pipes are less-expensive copies of Toomey pipes. directl y to the body of the expansion' chambers, with internal stingers. That's a very durable - and much heavier - method of construction. Allspeed and Bassani pipes come assembled. But the Bassani pipes we received for this test did not fit the RZ!l50 - the rear mounts on the pipes did not match the mufflerhangers on the motorcycle. According to Daryl Bassani, th~ pipes were designed for another model; a dealer ordered a set and reported that they bolted right onto an RZ350. Bassani believed the dealer and shipped identical pipes to us for this test. He says the design will be altered to fit an RZ!l50. The Allspeed pipes were the only ones with a chrome finish. Looking at terminal speed figures, the Toomey, FPP and Bassani pipes all make about the same horsepower with stock jetting. Since the Bassani pipes we tried didn't fit, they weren't taken to the drags for the non-stockjetting shootout. The Toomey and FPP pipes make identical horsepower with #370 main jets and the airbox boots removed. II we were buying pipes for our RZ350, we'd buy Toomey pipes based on performance, looks, construction and respect for a guy who designs, tests and makes his pipes work the hard way, from scratch. FPP pipes offer the same performance for less_ money, but the idea that Ross Liberty blatantly and openly copies Stuart Toomey's dimensions for the purpose of producing a lower-cost, less-wellmade copy strikes us as being somewhat, well, to borrow a phrase, sociale ly reprehensible. Day One AlI..-ct piPM, atock jeta ••••••.•••..••.•.. Bauan! piPM, atock jeta FPP piPM, atock jeta F·1 piPM, atockjeta •.••.••.••••..••••••••• F-1 piPM, rejetted. . . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . Toomey piPM, atockje Toomey piPM, rejethld (beginning of dey) .••• Toomey piPM, rejethld (end of day) .•••••.•.• 12.90 Me. 12.70 Me. 12_57 Me. 13.08 Me. 12.75 Me. 12.98 Me. 12.42 Me. 12.48 Me. @I102.73 mph @I105.14 mph @I106.28 mph ·@I102.85mph @l1 04.18 mph @l106.01 mph @l108.215 mph @l108.88 mph Day Two FPP pipes, rejettad 12.74 NC. @I104.40 mph Toomey pipes, rajetted .....•....•....•.•.•. 12.72 NC. @I104.40 mph (Mt of two) What they weigh (eachplpe) Allspeed .............•179.96 B.... ni ..............•283.00 FPP .................•186.00 F-1 .................•199.00 RSC Noguchi .••••...• 219.96 Toomey .....•.......•299.00 Allspeed 7 lb'. 13 oz. B ni 71b. 1.6 oz. FPP 41b. 8.6 oz. F-1 4Ib. 3 oz. RSC Noguchi ..•. 3 lb. 16.6 oz. Toomey •........ 41b. 13.6 oz. Stock ••.•••••••••• 13 lb. 4 oz. What they cost