Exhausted panniers on ST4S
 

Interesting minor problem today on the exhaust front. After filling up with petrol I fired up (literally !) the ST4S and got one beauty of a backfire - other customers must have thought Al Quaeda were in town. Riding off from the filling station there was a hell of a racket, as if there was a hole in the exhaust. The backfire had blown the pipes apart at the swivel connector under the engine and they were out of alignment. Easy enough to put back together, but it looks like the problem stems from the bolts connecting the silencers to the pannier frame, which allows quite a bit of play and you can wiggle the silencers around, which must loosen the swivel joint over time, even with the retaining spring.

Anyone else had a similr problem ?

Not had that problem but my cans are very loose, just undo the bolt, remove the spring and they just fall off. You can also feel the exhaust gasses leaking from around the joint with your hand. Not the worlds best design really!

Paul.

Paul,

One of the guys at my local dealer took a look at it and fitted a spacing washer on the silencer bolt which connects to the pannier frame. It allowed the bolt to hold the silencer a bit tighter with much less movement, which seems to contribute to the swivel exhaust joints working loose. As you say, it's not really up to standard and I will ask for a new retaining spring at the next service. The main thing is, I'm happy I don't need to worry about it on next week's trip to Le Mans for the French GP....

I had a backfire like that after trying to start the bike at home with the 'kill' switch on - switched it off and tried again - what the **** was that ????

I don't have the panniers but it still blew the pipes apart at the connector. Like yours DofE, there's quite a lot of play in the mountings and the pipes were easy to spring back into place.