198686d said:
Drew: Don't quite understand "airhead that replaced it".
No, it's not a reference to my wife (she's brunette anyways
) -- I sold my Bonnie last year and bought a '73 BMW R75/5 in its place. They're known as "airheads" in the BMW world (air cooled flat twins).
The real complaint most folks have on the pipes is generally the look or the too-quietness of stock pipes in general. Not much burble. Many of the aftermarket pipes offer a little more bark, and can look nicer as well. My era of Bonnie had the pea-shooter pipes with the bit of a kink in them that many folks didn't like the look of. Never bothered me.
Don't know that you'll gain that much power from just a pipe swap on your bike; maybe a handful of HP but that's just a guess.
Only thing I added to my bike was some soft-luggage brackets and lots of miles. That was a good bike. I do miss it a bit.