For Dooley who sounds like a corporate spy from V&H, lol.

I would not be so quick to blame V&H.
First off: who did the install and tuning ? I installed them and the dealership tuned the bike afterwards (I am more then qualified to bolt on parts with my background in building off-road rigs)
If your bike is not tuned right, it can cause all sorts of discoloration problems with your pipes.
If they were not properly installed this could account for the break, as well as discoloration.
```As for the break, the shoulder ring in which the flange uses to attach the header to the to cylinder head had zero penetration in the rivet weld. This was easy to determine when I had the shoulder ring in my hand and saw the header pipe under where the shoulder ring usually covered. Poor manufacturing on their part.
I have the same pipes on my Sporty and have had no issues at all with them
From what I can see in your pics, the browning seems to be where the baffles should be in the mufflers......
Did you remove the baffles by chance? Nope the baffles have never been removed.
If you did did you plug the screw holes? Not applicable, see above answer

All sorts of reasons why this may be happening, many of which V&H has no control over.

 

In the market for pipes, really like the Sansoms, Hard chrome has some nice stuff, the Dealer really push th V & H stuff, But everone has a set

 

4merRacer has some Python3's nice pipes, sound good and hes never had problems that Im aware of. Im a lil biased against V&H's atm. Bassani's are nice looking but no experience with them. Just my 2 cents.

 

OK, Fair enough.
Corporate spy?...Man I wish.
After looking at the pics again, it appears that you still have the stock air box and filter?
I know on some bikes this may not be an issue, but on others it can cause heat build up.(lean)
If the heat is building up, the baffles seem like a good place to catch the excess carbon, No?
Possibly leading to the browning in that area?
Maybe I`m wrong, but the browning being right in the baffle area of the pipes makes me suspicious.
Personally I would not let a dealer tune my bike, at least not again.
Been there, done that...and had to fix it too
Sounds like your mixture needs adjustment to me.
Oh yeah, almost forgot to ask....Carbed or injected....?
I know the 07`s are all injected, but don`t remember if the 06`s were too.

 

Was teasing about the corporate spy

I have a stage I air cleaner with a stock cover. The bike is EFI and Ive checked the plugs they show no signs of being rich or detonation. I honestly think my pair are just crap. Every company makes a not so kosher unit of their product and usually get a response by their customer service of Oops, let us fix that for you. I never expected, "Sorry we dont stand behind what has happened to your product!" CLICK (thats the sound of them hanging up on me, btw)

 

I'm not putting the blame on V&H. Obviously they make quality exhausts because everybodys got em. There are a lot of variables in a situation like this.

When the bike was brand new the dealership installed the pipes, air filter and they set the EFI engine up. I never removed the baffles or played around with the exhaust in any way.

To clutter up the situation, my wife burned her boot twice in that exact same spot on the pipe. [:@]. I've spoken to many people who have burned boots on their pipes but never had any discoloration.

When I showed the pipes to my dealer, their answer was that the lower pipe is exhausting on the upper pipe and over heating it. I don't go back to that dealership anymore. [:@]

I guess I'm to blame because I should have done my homework a little better and bought pipes that have a 100% heat shield.

 

I KNOW WHO TO BLAME!!!!!!!!

 

I agree V&H for the most part makes a decent product. The problem I am having is the way they handled his call. They are capable of making a Lemon once in a while. I am glad you told me about the way their customer service handled your call. My neighbor experienced something similar. That's all I need to know and I will not give them the opportunity in the future. Customer service means everything, and apparently they suck.

 

Sorry to hear about the issues with the pipes. Nothing's worse that having something go wrong and you get attitude when dealing with a company. I have a pair of Big Shot Longs, full heat shields, and have yet to experience any problems with them. You've got a great looking ride; sucks to have that particular problem.

 

I completely agree with Alien Spyder and IRready. I owned V&H's on my sports bike, great equipment, and like Ive said before any company can make a lemon but their customer service sealed the deal with me ever buying from them again. Yes now that Ive read everyones responses here I will definately spend a little more and get the complete heat shielding or the coated pipes or whatever the higher end product that company makes next time, or like another rider in another forum said send em out to jet-hot to have them coated to help keep the temp of the pipe down. Definately more weary next time. The bad thing is Im getting used to my rat rod look atm, lol. Except for the sitting at a light burning the hell out of my right thigh from the heat dissapation.