I hear and read in this forums it's a little louder than the q4 so I installed the q4. I loved it but still I sometimes find it a little on the loud side specially when I'm beside a cop car on traffic lol which makes me nervous ha ha.

 

A pipe is not a practical mod and will do nothing to help your commute.

 

Yeah, listen carefully to the guys who know this stuff (and there are a lot of them). Pipes may lessen weight, but since the bike is lean to begin with, it won't do much in the way of HP gains. Once you start messing with input and and output, there's no halfway. Proper jetting will be essential to NORMAL operation of the bike. I've done this to a few different types, and it's all in or don't do it at all. Simply put, one thing will affect another, so be ready to do some work. Or, just ride for a bit to determine what you really need, and read the forum. It's filled with an enormous amount of tried and true information. Seriously, these people have tried everything, and it's where I get my starting points for future experiments. Emphasize, future! Have fun.

 

Your practical may not fit all.

 

I just put an aftermarket pipe on mine. It sounds great and I like it! Practical it is not.

He's going to commute on it primarily. If I were doing that I'd get bags or a rack or larger tank or better seat or taller bars (if he's taller) or change the gearing or syspension work for his weight or a go throttle cruise if its a longer commute or heated grips...

 

I'm nearing 700 miles on mine, and you guys weren't kidding about the seat. Pretty sure it was designed by Dick Cheney. I can go a lot longer now than the first few hundred miles, but sweet Jesus. So, maybe a seat.

Bottom end is kinda soft. I'd like to rejet and pipe. With the pipe I'm worried about melting stuff, blinker, air box... Any pipes that won't melt this stuff? Maybe an end cap that is bent away from the blinker?

 

I think if I had the newer style KLX with the blinker right behind the exhaust I'd mount up some little signals on the tag.

 

The FMF Powercore4 is shorter and will not burn the blinkers like the Quietcore4 has on some. Slightly louder though. It sure gives the bike a much needed boost in the lower rpm. For commuting it also gives a good acceleration for lane changes, so I think it does fall in the "Practical" category.

 

I've seen more than one dyno on these bikes stock now and I'm yet to see one lean from the factory. They are plugged up stock but not lean as over time this could cause problems which they don't want. I found with my bike a good bost in power from the pipe alone, I didn't touch the airbox until I jetted. I found very little performance gain from my uni filter and jet kit but the bike no longer popped on decel.

 

Best part about my state, we don't have emissions testing and noise actually isn't a big deal. I'm wanting something a little louder anyways! So I'm thinking this Powercore 4 will be my pick!