Franspeed Race pipe Test & Review....
Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 9:53 pm
There are quite a few pipes available for Lambretta scooters, and whilst operating the Scooterotica dyno i have seen quite a few come through the doors on various machines. My two favorite pipes, for quite some time were JL3 & JL4, because they are so flexible in many ways....the JL3 was for whatever reason classed as a 'touring pipe' and the JL4 as the 'race pipe'.....but i have seen whopping torque figures come from JL4s matched to the right tune, and i have seen TS1's go very well with decent bhp on JL3s.....just ask James Chrighton or Philly Hindle, they both run Scooterotica ported TS1's, set up by me on the dyno, and they are quick bikes! 
The only fly in the ointment though with the JL4 was the low down-pipe that was prone to cracking, it was an absolute pain in the arse to be honest.
But then came 3 new pipes from Chiselspeed, the ADS range, and dyno graphs looked promising, so we got them in for testing on various machines, both piston port and reedvalve, and we were very pleased to see that these pipes were very well made, well priced, and more importantly.....they did what they said on the tin! Touring, fast road, and race...3 pipes, each working within the power bracket the were supposed to. These 3 pipes instantly became me new favorites, closely followed by the almost identical AF range of NK pipes (all made by the same guy).
Then more recently, i heard more and more good reports about the new Franspeed range of JL pipes, it seemed JL were fighting back against the new-kids on the block! And being eternally confused about JL this, KRP that, and Taffspeed the other....i looked at Andy Francis website to see if i could gleen any updates, and from what i read, it seemd like the JL3 was staying the same (but Andys version has no internal stinger) and the JL4 was now superseded by the Franspeed Race......so after a bit of a chat with Andy, he sent us one to test.
The pipe itself looks very well made, has rear silencer supports, and it sounds pretty trick to boot. We intend to put the pipe on just about every machine we can find to run up on the dyno, and test it against every possible other pipe we can gather or get our hands on. So this week when we got Andys 200cc cast iron stage 4 tune in to upgrade to the Avanti kit, we started the ongoing process. We had my own ADS fast road pipe to hand (for my TS1) and Andys scooter had a PM25 fitted....so the first 3 pipes were set to be tested on Andys scooter, here's how it went.
Andys own pipe (PM25) is shown in blue @ 15.57bhp, then in green in the ADS fast road @ 16.75 and lastly in red is the Franspeed Race at 18bhp. You can see the PM25 actually out-performs the ADS fast road on this engine below 7000rpm and only loses out 1bhp at peak, so in this engines case, the PM would actually be a better pipe choice than the ADS fast road. However, when you look at the Franspeed, you can see the mid-range losses are actually minimal, and the top end gains are more substantial...it has nearly identical mid range to the PM and nearly 2.5bhp at peak.....not bad!
Franspeed visual compared to ADS:
Franspeed left, ADS right.
The next plan is to test the same 3 pipes on the Avanti kit that we have fitted to Andys bike, and see how they perform. we anticipate a similar pattern to the curves, but at different values on the scales. Then, we hope to test the ADs and the Franspeed against a JL3 on a tuned/revvy TS1 225. The tests will be ongoing.
Franspeed and Avanti:
As soon as the next batch of tests come in, we shall keep you informed! The more engines and pipes we can compare over time, the better! In the meantime, if anyone wants more information on Franspeed JL exhaust, please see Andy Francis website: http://www.ekmpowershop12.com/ekmps/sho ... s-26-c.asp or ring him on Telephone - 01228 675187 Mobile - 0777 9035 809
Cheers
Dan
The only fly in the ointment though with the JL4 was the low down-pipe that was prone to cracking, it was an absolute pain in the arse to be honest. But then came 3 new pipes from Chiselspeed, the ADS range, and dyno graphs looked promising, so we got them in for testing on various machines, both piston port and reedvalve, and we were very pleased to see that these pipes were very well made, well priced, and more importantly.....they did what they said on the tin! Touring, fast road, and race...3 pipes, each working within the power bracket the were supposed to. These 3 pipes instantly became me new favorites, closely followed by the almost identical AF range of NK pipes (all made by the same guy).
Then more recently, i heard more and more good reports about the new Franspeed range of JL pipes, it seemed JL were fighting back against the new-kids on the block! And being eternally confused about JL this, KRP that, and Taffspeed the other....i looked at Andy Francis website to see if i could gleen any updates, and from what i read, it seemd like the JL3 was staying the same (but Andys version has no internal stinger) and the JL4 was now superseded by the Franspeed Race......so after a bit of a chat with Andy, he sent us one to test.
The pipe itself looks very well made, has rear silencer supports, and it sounds pretty trick to boot. We intend to put the pipe on just about every machine we can find to run up on the dyno, and test it against every possible other pipe we can gather or get our hands on. So this week when we got Andys 200cc cast iron stage 4 tune in to upgrade to the Avanti kit, we started the ongoing process. We had my own ADS fast road pipe to hand (for my TS1) and Andys scooter had a PM25 fitted....so the first 3 pipes were set to be tested on Andys scooter, here's how it went.
Andys own pipe (PM25) is shown in blue @ 15.57bhp, then in green in the ADS fast road @ 16.75 and lastly in red is the Franspeed Race at 18bhp. You can see the PM25 actually out-performs the ADS fast road on this engine below 7000rpm and only loses out 1bhp at peak, so in this engines case, the PM would actually be a better pipe choice than the ADS fast road. However, when you look at the Franspeed, you can see the mid-range losses are actually minimal, and the top end gains are more substantial...it has nearly identical mid range to the PM and nearly 2.5bhp at peak.....not bad!
Franspeed visual compared to ADS:
Franspeed left, ADS right.
The next plan is to test the same 3 pipes on the Avanti kit that we have fitted to Andys bike, and see how they perform. we anticipate a similar pattern to the curves, but at different values on the scales. Then, we hope to test the ADs and the Franspeed against a JL3 on a tuned/revvy TS1 225. The tests will be ongoing.
Franspeed and Avanti:
As soon as the next batch of tests come in, we shall keep you informed! The more engines and pipes we can compare over time, the better! In the meantime, if anyone wants more information on Franspeed JL exhaust, please see Andy Francis website: http://www.ekmpowershop12.com/ekmps/sho ... s-26-c.asp or ring him on Telephone - 01228 675187 Mobile - 0777 9035 809
Cheers
Dan
..(my stage 4 top end that is)
