NOTE: THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS COPYRIGHT 2011 BY James Bell Jr.
ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED.
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It's kind of funny when you compare the off-road sports and the shooting sports. Many people that participate in the shooting sports are also avid off-roaders. ATV's can be used during hunting season in many states - sometimes even for active hunting. Sometimes folks just use them to get to their favorite backcounrty shooting area. They can also be used in other facets of the shooting sports in many areas. In fact, there are plenty of similarities between ATV's and firearms.
Just like firearms, ATV's can be quite loud. There is often a good deal of noise out of the muffler on most ATV's, which tends to be more obvious than the noise from the engine itself. That noise can be counter-productive when participating in many activities. When hunting, stealth is a big plus. When involved in Search and Rescue, too much noise from your machine can disconnect you from your surroundings, and keep you from hearing potentially important things. The noise generated by ATV exhausts is also one of the primary complaints that "tree huggers" have when it comes to trying to get trails and backcountry areas closed to motorized vehicles. Whatever your situation, a little less noise is often a good thing.
Just like you can find for firearms, there are also sound suppresors (silencers) for ATV's. Just like a sound suppressor for a firearm, they don't make your ATV completely silent, but they do greatly reduce the report you hear out the end of the barrel (or muffler in this case). Another good thing is that - unlike a suppressor meant for a firearm - there is no $200 tax stamp needed or Federal form 4 paperwork for an exhaust suppressor. You can just go out, buy, and install a suppressor on your ATV. It's that easy.
There are a few options out there for ATV sound suppressors. We did a good deal of research on the various products out there - and are very pleased to be recommending The Silent Rider. It's made in the USA, available for just about every machine out there, and it really does greatly reduce the noise from your ATV.
When you order The Silent Rider, you just need to make sure that you order the unit designed for your ATV. They have a number of different models that are sized correctly for your ATV by brand, model, and year. Their website details all of the available models. For our 2008 Honda TRX-420FE machines, the model number for The Silent Rider is BT-12R.
You will note that a few of them require a screw-on or a weld-on adapter for the end of the muffler, if it doesn't already have a flange that's suitable to mount The Silent Rider. Our particular test models - The 2008 Honda TRX-420FE - have a flange on the muffler that works.
The Muffler Flange on the Honda TRX-420FE
Another similarity with firearm suppressors, in some circumstances a sound suppressor for your ATV may affect performance. With the ATV Silencer, this comes into play mostly at high altitudes with larger engines. It is designed to add only minimal backpressure - but when you go to order your ATV Silencer, you will find that their website mentions factory modifications for units that will operate at high altitudes (which they define as altitudes over 6000 feet, sometimes lower on the largest engines). These modifications reduce the backpressure even more. We tested The Silent Rider on our 2008 Honda TR-420FE machines (420cc) at altitudes from 4100 to over 6400 feet, and didn't have any factory modifications made to ours.
When you get The Silent Rider, it comes in a white box, packed well in foam, and including all necessary hardware for the model of TV it's designed for.
The construction itself is great. All of the welds looked good, and it is painted black. A real plus is the integrated, welded-on heat shield, versus the add-on (extra cost) heat shield offered on competing products.
The Silent Rider
The included mounting hardware consists of a set of 2 each - clamps, bolts, washers, and lock nuts.
The Mounting Hardware
Installing the Silent Rider is incredibly simple. On our machines, we needed two 9/16" wrenches (or a 9/16" wrench and a 9/16" socket/driver), and about 5 minutes.
First, take the two rubber-coated clamps and place them into position on the supports for the rear rack. These will be attached to the bracket/hangers that are factory welded onto The Silent Rider. You will need to pull the clamps open and then squeeze them shut around the support.
Next, place The Silent Rider into position, making sure you get a snug fit on the back of the factory muffler. Twist it back and forth a few times to get it tight, and then set it level.
The bolts will go through the clamp, and the bracket/hanger on The Silent Rider. Then the washers and lock nuts go into place to hold it all together.
Tighten it down with the two 9/16" wrenches, and you are done.
If it takes you longer than 5 minutes, you did something wrong.
After you get it installed, fire it up. You will see that the difference is immediately notable.
Just as a real sound suppressor for a firearm doesn't really make ithe firearm as quiet as they do in the movies, no real sound suppressor for an ATV will make it silent. What they do is reduce the noise to an easily managed level. The Silent Rider does this by greatly reducing the higher-pitch sounds, the pops and pings, and also the overall exhaust noise itself. It does this to the point where you can hear the engine louder than the exhaust. This reduces your sound footprint, and makes you far less noisy at any appreciable distance.
The factory lists it at up to a 60% reduction. I don't know if we got it that low as our sound meter broke. It is being repaired so that we can get some hard numbers. I'll update this review once we have it back - but I can tell you that it is much more quiet when you are standing right next to the machine, and at a distance it is FAR more stealthy. It is a clear, significant reduction that we were more than happy with.
We tested The Silent Rider out to altitudes over 6000 feet and didn't notice any difference in performance between a Honda TRX-420FE equipped with The Silent Rider and an identical Honda TRX-420FE without one. Both accelerated the same, and the climbing power was about the same. However, the machine with The Silent Rider was far more quiet for both the rider and the folks around it than the machine without it. In fact, when riding the machine with The Silent Rider, you could hear the other machines around you - even over the engine noise of the machine we were riding.
So yeah, it makes a BIG difference.
In terms of durability, we were also very impressed. We have a side-loading ATV Trailer that holds two machines. It's easily towable behind a Jeep Wrangler, and it has integrated ramps that make loading and unloading quite simple - or so I thought. One the way back from our last trail ride, my brother-in-law drove the ATV up onto the trailer, and then right back off of the other end. I forgot to tell him to have it in 4WD going up onto the trailer - it makes braking at the top much easier. I felt terrible that I forgot to mention that.
When the ATV (with my brother-in-law on it) drove off the end of the trailer, it was front first. Fortunately he was cool as a cucumber on it, and kept it under control so it didn't roll on him. But when the back end of the ATV dropped off onto the ground, The Silent Rider hit the edge of the trailer.
It pushed it up, and pivoted it up off of the muffler flange, and the bracket/hangers got a little bent. There was also a dent along the bottom of the heat shield - but no damage to the ATV. I was a little worried about how The Silent Rider would perform after that, but I was very happy that my brother-in-law wasn't hurt. I've had an ATV roll on me, and my shoulder felt it for quite some time after.
When I got it back to the garage, I unbolted the brackets, bent the hanger brackets back into place, and it fit right back onto the ATV. The function was totally unimpaired, and all of the welds held tight. I started the machine up and it still worked just fine. That's QUALITY construction for you.
The Silent Rider after taking an unintentional beating - it still worked after the hanger/brackets were bent back into place!
You may also notice a brown stain on the top of The Silent Rider near where it connects to the muffler.
What is that?
No, my brother-in-law didn't crap himself when the ATV went off of the trailer. The American Trails Cargo Bag we have on the back has some VERY long straps. When they are cinched down on our Honda machines, there is a bit of a tail hanging off of them. The Silent Rider got hot enough to melt the strap on that ride. It wasn't a problem when it was just the muffler, but The Silent Rider added just enough overall length to be able to contact the very end of the strap when riding. That melted nylon didn't hurt anything, but double check any straps you may have hanging off of your machine when you install one.
Removal is very simple. Loosen those botls/nuts and it comes right off. Even on the models that use a weld-on or bolt on adapter, The Silent Rider itself comes off just as easy - only that adapter is permanent, and it doesn't alter any output from the factory muffler.
The Silent Rider is a well-made product that does what the manufacturer claims. You can't ask for much more than that, but the integrated heat shield (versus the extra one other makers want to sell you) and the ease of installation make it a no-brainer in my opinion. It makes you more trail friendly, and it makes you much more stealthy than a non-Silent Rider-equipped machine. As soon as we can afford to, I plan to install one on our other TRX-420FE, and on any other machines we may own in the future.
It's well worth the cost.
Check out our first comparison video with it here
-- James Bell Jr. - HondaGunner.com / ATVGunner.com / JeepGunner.com