onster Pipes” have been a fixture on every Exile Cycles custom for more than a decade. Big, brash, great sounding and unmistakably European Industrial–kind of like Russell Mitchell himself, the guy who designed them–they’ve defined the look for plenty of those too-cool-for-school machines rolling out of the Exile shops. One problem, though: Those pipes, just like all the bikes and trikes they were mounted to, were Exile Cycles only.      Riders of stock Harleys need not apply; Monster Pipes weren’t for them. “Softail riders would come into our shop all the time,” Russell says, “guys who’d see our pipes on magazine bikes or on the ‘Build or Bust’ TV show. They’d ask for our exhaust systems and we’d sell it to them, but tell them good luck trying to make it fit. The pipes just weren’t designed for a stock Harley.”
They are now, and Drag Specialties has them. Turns out the transformation from a custom Exile to a factory Softail wasn’t terribly difficult, Russell says. “Basically, we’ve been using the same two pipe styles for years, and many of the customs we built had Evo-style cylinder heads so bolting the pipe up to the stock motor wasn’t a problem. We just had to tweak the bends a little to get the pipes to line up, to clear everything and to run parallel along the side of the bike.      Then, of course, we had to make up some new brackets. It wasn’t a huge translation to get the pipes that we know and love to work with the stock Harley-Davidson platform.” Two styles of the Exile Cycles Monster Pipes are offered now, the Monster Drag Pipe and the Monster Shotgun and they’re available for all 1986-2008 Harley Softails. Both styles feature heavy, 16-gauge tubing construction and there are two finishes offered, Show Chrome and Hi-Temp Black. Both look great and fit perfectly.
     They’re both performers, too. The Monster’s 1 3/4-inch header pipes continue on into the big 2 1/2-inch outer body to maximize scavenging for peak performance, and that double-layer construction also does a great job protecting against discoloration. That Show Chrome or Hi-Temp Black will stay good looking for years. Each set of pipes come complete with removable louver-core baffles, polished end tips and all the necessary mounting hardware and brackets.      And to make sure there’s no mistake about what’s going on here the “Exile Cycles” logo is carved into each pipe. All this is a Drag Specialties exclusive and the price is market competitive at $599 retail.
     It’s no surprise that it’s Drag Specialties bringing all this to the aftermarket. “The word on the street,” Russell says, “was that Drag Specialties was the distributor of choice. So when I finally decided it was time to start applying some of our product, and our style, to the stock Harley-Davidsons I knew who to team up with to get it done.” The Monster Pipes are only the first of many factory-fit parts we can expect to see coming from Exile Cycles, too. Right now, Russell says, he’s literally up to his elbows in a couple of new Softails trying to figure out how to “Exile them to the max.” What he does with those R&D bikes will ultimately spin off into lots of new bolt-on parts translating the existing Exile Cycles product line to the stock Harley platform.      “Right now I can’t tell you what order it will be coming at you,” Russell says, “but that’s our game plan.” He’s starting by concentrating on the Softail models, mainly because the lines lend themselves more to the Exile aesthetic, “But we have our eyes on the Dynas and the Sportsters, as well.”
     Response to the Softail Monster Pipes has been so encouraging, expect to see Russell move right on to applications for the Dynas and Sportsters pretty quickly. “These are the very same Monster Pipes that we have been using for years,” he says. It’s the same 1 3/4-in. header straight into that giant 2 1/2-in. body with a slip in louver-core baffle and the same Exile Cycles polished billet tip. Style-wise these Harley fitment Monster Pipes are an absolutely authentic translation from what Exile Cycles has used on the customs. They’re a great way to give someone the “Exile vibe” without having to go ground-up and come up with $50,000. Today’s bolt-on riders will be able to spend a few hundred dollars here and there, over time and as they can afford to, and work their way through to end up with a convincing Exile Cycles interpretation. “The plan,” Russell says, “is to keep that first R&D bike easily and obviously identifiable as a Harley-Davidson, but by just changing those bolt-on components to something from Exile make all the style-difference in the world. We want to stop people in their tracks and have them ask ‘Can that really be the same bike as mine?’ But the ultimate goal is to make a bike with a stock Harley frame and stock Harley powertrain look as Exile as possible, using things like these pipes, for starters.” Then he starts talking about all the other parts that can come, like the Exile Cycles triple-trees, and the wheels, and the handlebars, and the belt primary and the sprocket/brake final drive. “All subtle changes,” Russell Mitchell says, “but they’re changes that make a big difference appearance-wise.” It’s all starting right now with the Exile Cycles Monster Pipes. And Drag Specialties has them.