BMW F700GS / F800GS OEM Vs. Akrapovic Vs. MIVV Exhaust Pipes

Changing the exhaust pipe on your BMW F700GS or BMW F800GS motorcycles can dramatically change the motorcycle’s character. It lets you add more depth to the exhaust tone, and more growl out of the motor.

Which F700GS/F800GS exhaust sounds best and which should you spend your money on? Is it the made in Slovenia Akrapovic exhaust which costs over $1,000? Or is the MIVV exhaust, made in Italy and less than half the price, the better deal?

BMW OEM Exhaust

A known quantity, heavy (10.6 lbs with mounting hardware), quiet, soulless, does the job.

No need to expand on this any further, you already know how your F800GS or F700GS sounds. It’s boring.

Akrapovic F800GS/F700GS Exhaust

I bought the Akrapovic exhaust used in “like-new” condition. I put it on and was immediately disappointed. While it does sound better (deeper than the exhaust), it is no louder, despite the rave reviews from years ago…

I discovered that there are two different Akrapovic pipes for our bikes: One is Euro-3 compliant and has a baffle you can remove by drilling out just one rivet, the other is Euro-4 compliant and several rivets must be drilled out and then probably more work beyond that. Mine was the newer, black, Euro-4 compliant exhaust and I wasn’t going to start ripping the things apart and not being sure I could put it back together again.

I can’t comment on the Euro-3 Spec. Akrapovic, but the newer Euro-4 Spec. exhaust is still fairly heavy, around 9.1 lbs.

The Akrapovic exhaust costs over $1,000 USD – for a slip on! Luckily I since I bought it used I was able to sell it used and break even on it. I wanted something that made a little more noise.

More thoughts on the Akrapovic exhaust here. Installation + review video for those who want to see/hear it:

MIVV Oval Slip-On F800GS/F700GS Exhaust

I went into this with mixed expectations. At $480 this slip-on was just less than half the price of the Akrapovic. Would this exhaust only be half as good?

MIVV uses a link pipe to connect the header to the muffler. I believe this helps them keep costs down, while only taking me an extra minute or less of install time, so I don’t mind it. It’s on the kick-stand side of the bike so I won’t see it much anyway.

Immediately I noticed the MIVV sounded nice, but was maybe only a decibel or few louder than stock. I liked the extra deepness and growl that both the Akrapovic and the MIVV let out. It gave some character to an otherwise very plain Jane, vanilla, 800cc parallel twin.

And then I went home and started drilling out the rivet to remove the DB-killer/baffle.

Wow. Now that the db-killer was out this motorcycle really came to life. It completely changed my feeling both on the motorcycle, and my feelings about the motorcycle. Removing the DB-killer really woke this motorcycle up and made it feel more fun.

It isn’t super loud, much quieter than my (baffled) Harley-Davidson V-Rod was, for example, but still loud enough that I may consider dropping the DB-killer back in if I’m going to be doing a cross-country trip with this bike… I just may also drill a few holes into the DB-killer before I drop it back in, to get a little more noise out of it. It’s a touch too quiet for my taste.

The MIVV also came with TWO DEFECTS. The logo was riveted into the wrong place, so the support bracket covers it. The exhaust is also calls for two tabs for the springs to mount to, but my exhaust only came with one tab. Luckily, Tom at MotoMachines.com spoke to MIVV on my behalf and will be sending me a free replacement exhaust!

The MIVV exhaust and mounting hardware weighs only 5 lbs, making it 4.1 lbs lighter than the Akrapovic, and 5.6 lbs lighter than the BMW original exhaust.

More thoughts on the MIVV exhaust here. Installation + review video for those who want to see/hear it:

While the MIVV exhaust may not have arrived perfectly, compared to the Akrapovic, it’s still my pick as the best exhaust pipe for the BMW F700GS and F800GS motorcycles. With the baffle still in, it gives you all of the sound and tone improvements that the Akrapovic exhaust offers, but at half of the cost. With only one rivet holding the DB killer in place, and the ability to either remove or modify the DB killer to your tastes, the MIVV also offers a lot more control over sound, a lot more easily, than the Akrapovic does. Finally, the MIVV weighs in 4 lbs lighter than the Akrapovic.

I’ll update you when the replacement MIVV exhaust comes in, but I feel pretty confident that there won’t be any defects on the replacement, and that I’ll be very happy with the final product when it arrives.