Galassetti is an exhaust manufacturer that's been around almost as long as I've been alive. Their exhausts were fitted to many of the scooters that were zipping around Rome in the early 90s and they are a household name in our circle. I took the Rising Star's "silencers" over to them so they could make some new baffles (this is after seeing it done on the Gilera 300 chopper at the Old Irons rally in 2017) in an attempt at reducing the noise levels, which are far too high otherwise. I think I've said this in the past: I really don't mind a motorcycle being loud if that noise comes from a properly tuned engine in all its components, including its exhaust system; but I do think it should not be obnoxious, especially if one is to ride that motorcycle for anything longer than 20 minutes (loud for the sake of being loud is just childish and absurd). For the Rising Star this is absolutely essential and is one of the three main things I had identified as a "must fix" item (the other two being a larger gearbox sprocket for better cruising speed, and sorting out the front brake for overall enjoyment of the machine, and my own life). Those three things are what made this motorcycle not enjoyable, so it was very important to sort them out.
There's only so much you can do with these silencers: they are small in size, meaning there isn't much room for packing soundproofing material, and they're shaped like trumpets, meaning they are going to be loud by design. Still, they're better than they were before.
Galassetti's solution was to remove the existing baffles (which were small, completely ineffective and stuck solid) and fabricate new ones that reach all the way down to the bend in the silencer, while also extending past the opening: this is so that sound can actually exit the silencer rather than reverberate inside it. They do look a little weird at first, but it's fine really, and what matters is what they sound like. Obviously still loud, but far less disruptive than before and once back on the bike I noticed that if you get carried away with the throttle, they produce a wonderful full-bodied roar, but if you just cruise along where the engine is turbine smooth, they are nicely muted and just burble along, which is even better. I would go as far as to say that the notes they produce are conducive to a calm state of mind for relaxed cruising with no distractions, it's just you and the road, surfing on a soundwave of British horsepower.
It took them a little while to get it done, though in fairness I didn't rush them at all and they were very cordial whenever we spoke on the phone. When I collected the silencers they asked me to come 'round with the bike so they could see it and hear it, and said that if there was anything they could do to further tune the baffles, they would be happy to help. This was also not a terribly expensive fabrication job so all in all I'm happy I went to them.
As I have mentioned in the past, this is a hard, tough and uncomfortable bike, and yet together with all the other little improvements, I believe this bike is reaching its final form, and it is even better than what we started with: it is still rather uncomfortable, but the overall quality is now such that it feels smoother and therefore more enjoyable, more capable of tackling the open road in search of those elusive spots among nature that we love so dearly.
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