A Resonator Delete Pipe Review Made Me Love My BMW F750GS / F850GS

The story of how a $36 exhaust mod made me fall in love with and keep my motorcycle.

In today’s video, we’ll look at how to install an exhaust resonator eliminator on a BMW F750GS or BMW F850GS. This should make your motorcycle sound a bit better, weigh a little less, and not cost too much!

We’ll look at:

• How to install it
• How it compares before versus after
• My concerns and thoughts on whether or not you should get one

I’m Adrian from YouMotorcycle. I make videos that help motorcyclists. Let’s see what this thing does for our GS’s!

Installation

First, take a T40 Torx and back out the exhaust hanger bolt. Then grab a T20 and take off the two heat shield bolts. Next, use a 14mm bit to loosen the exhaust clamp between the muffler and the resonator box. Now, slide out that exhaust hanger bolt and just wiggle the muffler backwards and off.

Okay, this right here is the exhaust resonator that we’re trying to eliminate. Grab that 14mm and take it to the exhaust clamp by your foot peg that connects your header pipe to the resonator box.

Holy, that resonator is heavy! So essentially, our much lighter resonator delete pipe is going to replace the resonator in the space it used to be.

Time out. So, while I was editing the video, I realized I never actually showed you this resonator eliminator pipe that we’re installing! I got it from Temu, where it costs $36, but they’re sponsoring today’s video, so I got it for free.

Before continuing with the installation (and coming across a couple issues), I went inside and weighed parts. The resonator pipe weighed about 7.5 lbs. The resonator delete pipe weighed about 0.5 lbs. My scale is not very accurate, but I would estimate about a 7 lbs weight reduction on this BMW F750GS. Not bad for $36!

You’ll have to take the exhaust clamp off of the resonator pipe to re-use it on the resonator delete pipe. If you get stuck on this, just check out my video above and I’ll show you how it’s done.

Now is when I started noticing the shortcoming of the exhaust pipe.

First, the resonator delete pipe doesn’t come with any kind of rubber grommet, which is probably because it weighs almost nothing. Since I have a mixed pack of grommets anyway, I decided to lube one up, adjust to fit, and stick it in.

I installed the exhaust clamp bracket to the header, just snug enough to hold position. Then, I reinstalled the muffler, securing the exhaust clamp too, as well as the hanger bolt up top. Everything lined up easily and correctly on the very first try, so I just tightened everything down after that.

The next issue I came across was when trying to reinstall the heat shield. It will only install if I install the left bolt first, and then the right bolt, and not the other way around. Even when I do it that way, the heat shield actually touches the exhaust pipe. Does it bother me? Nope! But I’m sharing this for the sake of giving you the most complete and honest review that I can.

How it compares before versus after

To really understand how it compares before versus after, there’s really no substitute for just listening to the video clips. If you watch the video at the top of this post, you’ll find that about 3:44 (3 minutes 44 seconds) into the video, I start the sound comparison.

I have before and after recordings of start-ups, idling, revving up, and riding the motorcycle uphill and downhill for you to hear the differences.

Overall, you get more base, more growl, and more volume.

Concerns and thoughts on whether you should get one

So now that I’ve had this thing for like a week, how do I feel about it? I’m going to try and answer that based on the three concerns that I had before installing it. If I was worried about these concerns before installing it, maybe you are too.

1) Is this going to negatively impact my motorcycle’s performance?

The first concern I had was if doing a resonator deletewould negatively impact my motorcycle’s performance. I asked the head technician at my local BMW Motorrad dealership about this.

The short answer is no, a resonator doesn’t have anything to do with your motorcycle’s performance. It’s job in the BMW F750GS and BMW F850GS motorcycles is just to make your motorcycle run more quietly. So on one hand, no power gained, but on the other hand, no power lost. I’m okay with that.

2) Is this going to cause any engine error codes or other issues?

My second concern was if doing a resonator delete would cause any engine codes or other expensive issues? I’ve been running it for about a week now—no engine codes, no issues!

I can’t personally speak to this product’s longevity, but I did some research. In forums and Facebook groups, you can find riders who have had their resonator deletes for as many as five years without issues, and ridden as many as 60,000 km (37,000 miles) with their resonator deletes trouble-free.

The F750GS is still smooth when I want it to be, and still snappy when I want to be more aggressive with it. Sometimes I don’t dilly-dally my motorcycles. Sometimes I ride them hard, and despite the resonator delete this GS’ responsiveness is still spot on.

I do notice a little bit of a decel pop. It’s pretty minor however, because we haven’t done anything with the factory original muffler. It’s still there doing its muffling job, so it’s not like you’re getting loud “pop-pop.” You’re getting a very subdued, mellow, grown-up, mature sound. I like it. Again, you can hear it in the video.

3) Do I like it?

My final concern was whether or not I’d like the resonator delete pipe. The answer is yes. The full story requires a little backstory: I wasn’t planning on owning an F750GS. I bought the motorcycle because it was a crazy deal, purchased just hours before the owner was leaving the country.

I already owned two white BMW GS’ – one here in my garage, and one in Italy. I needed one more white GS like I needed a kick in the head. So I wasn’t too sure what I was going to do with this one until I took it for a ride after installing the resonator delete pipe.

This is what I want my exhaust modifications to sound like: I want more bass, I want more growl, I want more volume. I want to get rid of that “I’m a restricted motorcycle being smothered by emissions requirements” sound that so many modern motorcycles have these days.

I want to do all of that but at the same time not have a bike that’s so loud and annoying that I don’t want to go touring long distances with it. To me, I tour with ear plugs in, and the motorcycle isn’t too loud for that. I suppose if it wasn’t to your fancy you could always reinstall the resonator in under 10 minutes.

Normally, I know I’m going to have to spend several hundred, maybe half a grand, to get all that, but this thing ticks all of those boxes for $36. I’m a fan!

But I know that some of you guys don’t ever want to modify your motorcycles, not like this. Not with a product made by an unknown company. I hear you. I get it. That’s totally valid, that’s totally fair. There are people who have had these for years and put tens of thousands of miles on them, but I get that it might not be for everyone.

My goal isn’t to try and convince everybody, “Oh, you’ve got to buy this pipe.” It’s not like that. My goal is just to give you the information that you need so that you can make an informed decision for yourself on whether or not you even care about this thing.

So, let me know what you guys think. I’d love to know what kind of motorcycle you ride and if you would want a mod like this for your motorcycle. If you have a BMW F750GS or F850GS, have you done a resonator delete yet?

I’d love to hear what you have to say. I’m Adrian from YouMotorcycle. Thank you so much for watching. As always, ride safe, but have fun!