New rider here, well it's been 25 years anyway.  I bought a Vulcan 500 to start with about a month ago.  Now its got 13,000 miles on it and runs great.  Tonight on my way home I noticed a rather "tinny" sound coming from the right side exhaust somewhere near where the crossover pipe meets the right side.  For a few minutes I thought something was coming loose or that the noise was from inside the crankcase.  I've noticed there is a small hole on the underside (belongs there) of the main pipes on both the left and right.  On the right however you can feel and hear the exhaust coming out of it forcefully.  On the left it is barely noticeable.  Anyone familiar with this description?  I'm wondering if this is something simple or something I need to be really concerned about.  I would appreciate any info you can offer.  
Thanks!  

Vulcans have a design flaw, which may damage the exhaust pipes. On a few bikes, the inner pipe will crack, burn through and eventually break off. At burn through, some of us noticed a change in the exhaust sound. This is a tinny sound, which gets worse as more miles go by. At break off, the pipe starts banging against where it broke off from, when you back off the throttle after the pipe gets hot. Eventually, the pipe flexes enough to start banging against the outer pipe, ringing like a very loud cowbell.

On the V-twin Vulcans, this only happens to the front exhaust pipe and the break occurs about 2 inches from the head flange and it usually happens shortly after about 12,000 miles. I don't recall where or when the break occurs on the 500's, but I have seen posts from 500 owners saying they also had this happen.

Kawasaki is aware of the problem and has replaced the exhaust pipes on V-twins even after the warranty has expired. I don't know if they also do that for the 500's.

If this happens on a particular bike, replacing the pipe is only a temporary fix. The new pipe will fail in the same way after roughly the same number of miles.

regards,
Joe  

Wow, thanks Joe!  Do you recall if one had to contact Kawi directly or is it a must to go through the dealer?  Also, wouldn't this change the back pressure and possibly have an affect on how hot the cylinder on that side runs?

Thanks alot!
Gary  

Sorry, I don't know the details on the 500's. I've only read what other people said about them.

I went through the dealer to get my exhaust replaced on my VN800, about 6 months after the warranty expired. He said he hadn't heard of any such problem, but he went ahead and contacted Kawasaki about it and they agreed to absorb the cost even though the warranty had expired. When the replacement pipe failed the same way, after another 13,000 miles, I bought a new pipe then traded the bike in on a Honda.

I haven't read anyone actually figuring out what combination of factors cause the problem, but most people who keep the bikes that do this, learn to weld or buy aftermarket exhausts. Some people modify the air injection and rejet the carbs, to cool the exhaust gasses some, but that gives up the 60 mpg and would probably fail the pollution test if you live somewhere that does that.

regards,
Joe  

Hmm, well I checked and can get the pipes for $131 each.  I'll see if the dealer has any luck with Kawasaki but if not I'm gonna go ahead and get what it needs.  The bike is worth it.  I couldn't ask for a better starter/commuter bike, though I am itching for a 900 already.  I'm torn, my head says stick to the plan and ride this one for a year but my heart says get the bigger one now and sell.  Thanks for the info SP, greatly appreciate it.

Gibby  

You're welcome :-)

If the V-twin replacement pipe had been that cheap, I might have kept the bike, too. At $535, I was looking at 10% of the bike's original purchase price for that one repair part, every 12 to 18 months. That wasn't even worth considering.

regards,
Joe