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Product Review: Lextek SA-1 Slip-on Exhaust For Himalayan


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Published in: Gear

Lextek SA-1 Exhaust for Himalayan intro

Royal Enfields Himalayan has seen strong aftermarket support considering its short time in North America. Exhausts are one of the most common upgrades for motorcycles in general and are often expensive. Dropping a thousand bucks for a can on an $18,000 motorcycle may make sense, but not so much for budget-friendly bikes such as the Himalayan. Always looking for a good value, we checked out Lexteks SA1 slip-on exhaust, which has a street price of around $150. That’s a quarter of the price of many more expensive systems.

The first thing to notice when pulling it out of the box is the overall quality of build and finish. Aside from a few small edges, you could easily mistake it for a more expensive unit. The satin silver body is evenly finished, and the carbon tip is solid as well. A very thin, clear protective plastic covers a few parts and should be removed before using. The stainless mounting hardware and strap are robust enough, but the provided top hanging screws didn’t exactly match the OEM hardware specs.

Lextek SA1 Exhaust Himalayan 2

You could reuse the OEM bolt, but it’s longer, and shouldered since the stock muffler has rubber-mounted spacers which are absent on the Lextek. Alternatively, you could find a new OEM-size bolt or widen the hole on the Himalayans frame. We also found the provided kit pulls the exhaust in toward the tail a little. This is a fairly easy and inexpensive problem to solve at home or with a quick hardware store run, but including them would be nice.

After getting through those easy-to-remedy issues, once on the road the exhaust’s note definitely gives the thumper more bark. At idle the Lextek sounds more like stock, but at 6,000 rpm there’s a lot more growl but not so much to be deafening at speed for extended distances. The exhaust comes with a removable baffle already installed, but we didn’t see a good reason to pull it because doing so would be noisier and we also wanted to maintain a closer-to-stock back pressure.

A bit of torque may have been picked up according to the “seat of the pants” dyno, but the appeal of an exhaust like this lies mostly in its weight savings, improved sound and looks. All in all, Lextek is offering a solid upgrade for Royal Enfields Himalayan which is an outstanding value for the price.

LextekProducts.com

MSRP: $150.00

Lextek SA1 Exhaust Himalayan 3

PROS:

  • Affordable and well built.
  • Gives the thumper a sporty sound without being obnoxious.
  • Shaves a couple pounds and looks good.

CONS:

  • Included hardware angles the exhaust in a little. An included spacer would be nice.
  • Could be better tuned for sound (but that would likely cost more).
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