Well I bought a vance and hines exhaust for my Virago, it was a kit that was sold as a "complete system" to me by alchemy bikes.

Well it was not a complete kit, it needed the yamaha standard downpipe. So I ordered one of these from a yamaha dealer. Getting old one off was hell, because it was knackered.

Assembling the vance and hines exhaust, oh look, it does not not fit a standard yamaha downpipe. So I had to make a step conversion and get it welded by local garage so it fitted one end off the rear link pipe. Link pipe supplied by V&H didnt fit the muffler. So phoned V&H and they told me to grind out inside of muffler. Link pipe also turns out to be too long, so had to shorten it by 2 cm to allow muffler to be bolted onto bracket. 

Put on front downpipe, the muffler has a clip bracket that you slide a dog bone fitting that has nuts joined. On the front one the bracket is too wide, so to fit it i have to raise the dogbone up with a screw driver.

The bracket is not sitting at right angle, when front is connected then rear bolt is too far away to rear the inside dogbone.

So dismantle full thing, straighten bracket, and then refit it all.

The instructions from V&H said fit everything then tighten it all up. However you cannot tighten up rear muffler on rear bracket if front is fitted.

So dismantled front one again, and tighted rear one, then reassembled front again with screw driver wedged in.

So its finally on, and yeah it looks okay, but you know it doesnt look any better than a standard one, that would ahve fitted easier and been cheaper.

Would I recommend V & H exhaust, would I hell, I would recommend not touching them with a bargepole.

This standard kit needed the following to actually fit a standard bike.

Sold as complete system by alchemy bikes, wasnt V & H's faultHad to grind inside of muffler to fit link pipeHad to shorten link pipe to be able to line bracket with mufflerHad to have a specially made rear downpipe, as it did not fit standardOne bracket on muffler was too wide, making fitting difficult.
All in all, its been a real pain in the ass, for a standard kit, it was badly made and did not even fit together with its own parts.
                                                                                                                                                                             

Ye gads Tamaz!

Sounds like they have a very fluid definition for their understanding of the term "standard"! Full marks for perseverance though
                                                                                                                                                                             

Well done Tamaz for finally getting there!   Hope it was all worth it and you find an increase in performance.   Just out of interest, did you have to remap your engine?   When I fitted my V&H Shortshots I had to fit a performance filter and a FuelPak.... absolutely necessary to cope with the difference in backpressure. Performance wise I can't fault them as the power increase in the low to mid range is very impressive.. and as for the sound - WOW!   Quality wise, I agree with you - a lot to be desired... My black (supposedly) ceramic painted heat shields pitted the first time out (albeit in winter weather) and are now totally rusted, hence my decision to cover them in heatwrap at Christmas.   Please let us know how you get on with them!                                                                                                                                                                             

Thanks guys,

Yep, got K & N filter and a rejet kit. I am not going to do the rejet myself, its just a bit beyond what I am going to try. Still some stuff to go on getting it on the road, but its coming together.

Glad I am not the only one who had problems with V&H, misery likes company ;)

I've fitted V+H kit to customers bikes plus my own since about 1990 and never had a problem. These were naked or sports bikes though and tended to be top end of their range.   the Virago's exhaust is a PITA at the best of times and I know of a few replacements that don't fit from the box. I think you just had a bit of bad luck there Tam