I dont wish to offend anyone here, being new and all, and im certainly not an expert on these later model Buells,, im a vintage bike guy,
But my $0.02 is pipe wraps are a bad idea, (is stupid too strong?) For some reason,, they are all the rage for motorcycles and i would have thought people would have learned by now or the word would spread,, but wraps are a very bad idea.
Now,, in a pinch or to protect another part from heat,, such as Block hugger headers running up against the starter on a Chevy muscle car, its perfectly suited to use it to shield the starter or other parts from the radiant heat.
Some years back the wraps were popular in the hot rod and muscle car circles and people found very quickly that exhausts failed very quickly, particululary in radius's because they accelerated the metal in rotting out,,it concentrated the heat even more than normal, It got so bad a number of well known magazines printed articles warning about this and a lot of the well known header and exhaust manufacturrers were very explicit about it being a bad idea, voids warrantys and just dont do it.
Bikes are not any different,, its all basic mettalurgy and physics.
If you want an excellent solution to appearance AND dramitically increasing longevity,, use a good quality ceramic coating and or heat dispersant. There are many qualified shops who can coat your pipes for reasonable prices and theres a number of colors and finishs,, IE: Satin, Gloss etc,,, I use a local shop here in Oregon,, and yes, they do handle shipping if you like, look up
http://www.Finishlinecoatings.com and Russ and Lana are great people, their products are tested in landspeed record racing and customers use their stuff in all forms of racing,
AND they offer a lifetime warranty on the coatings
I coat used pipes ID & OD and on restorations of vintage bikes I often have the new chrome pipes coated on the ID as they dont blue after that,. I have had people at shows comment that my bikes are beautiful but a shame they arent ridden, BULLSHIT,, i rode it in here! (because my pipes arent blued) on a pipe coated ID and OD you wont believe how much cooler they run,, no more burnt legs or cooked parts from the radiant heat, all the heat goes out the pipes end,, not radiating.
Feel free to ignore my advice on this, im not trying to insult anyone, just my experience. Been working as a mechanic for a long time, Im also a Federally licensed Aerospace mechanic, Im certified to teach power plant theory and mechanics, and have a Mechanical Science degree. 35 years making my living as a mechanic.
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