Exhaust Replacement - Slips/Headers/Gains?

Your logic is similar to mine. I really don’t mind the stock system but I’d like a slightly deeper sound. I am not the biggest fan of the looks but I can live with it. I am leaning toward the 8” Delkevic Carbon Fiber ones. I’ve had great luck with their pipes on other bikes. They weren’t too loud.

I definitely don’t want very loud as I spend a lot of time on the highway and would like to keep my hearing. I wear ear plugs of course but loud sounds for extended periods causes a lot of fatigue as well. You don’t just have to hear it but you can feel it.

Lastly I don’t want to attract undue attention from LEO. Last thing I need as I am usually flying low.

So I go with a header would be the max gain and get rid of the cat BUT it is likely to be much louder as well. I thought about the brawlers but was put off by the potential noise levels. Most slip-ons will only gain 2-3 hp from what I’ve seen. Not a lot and I wouldn’t do it just for the hp gains but more the weight savings and the improvement in looks.

So when I do all the analysis, I am going with Ivan’s tune and with the Delkevic 8” CF slip-ons. They are great bang for the buck. My last Delkevic CF on a 1250 Bandit gave a significant gain in HP and huge weight savings. They weren’t much louder than stock with the DB killers in and with them out not really what I would call loud.

Since I don't have Ivan's tune yet, it seems like that would be a better use of my $$$ than to buy a header. With the Delkevics around the low $400 range it isn't a huge investment.

Generally a few ways to get HP from a normally aspirated motor (and no nitrous); more revs, peakier powerband or more displacement. The first 2 tend to compromise the streetability of the the bike and I wanted a streetbike, not a racebike.

Best bang for the buck is to spray. You can instantly have a 180hp bike with not much install time. I'd go with Ivan's tune and a bottle and have a lot of performance for not much money. Hide the bottle in a factory bag and surprise the crap out of people. If you go a low HP kit, a bottle will last a fairly long time.

Once you start trying to get more than about 10-15hp out of a stock setup, you are probably better going with a different bike unless there is some hugely limiting single factor that you can easily eliminate. I've had bikes that a pipe swap netted me 20HP at the rear wheel. Nowadays though pipe design is much better from the factory and not so many huge gains to be had other than from weight.

If you are really serious about this and want to tear the motor down, you could maybe go big bore (if there is one for it), cams, porting the head, lightening the valve train, etc. Then you are up to cubic $$$. I'd keep the N1K pretty much stock and buy a beater Gixxer, S1000R, R1 or ZX10R if you are really serious about going fast.