exhaust pipes

[perigra]

what determines how many exhaust pipes a motor vehicle has.

for instance, some single cylinder motorcycles have two tail pipes and some twin cylinder motorcycles, their exhausts join up to make one tail pipe?

[tuffers15]

There are lots of variables...

the 'look' the designer wants to acheive, some bikes have even been designed with a dummy silencer on one side to balance the look of the necessary silencer on the other side of the bike.

the requirements of the engine, eg how much hot exhaust gas it has to pass (diameter), how much back-preassure is required at the engine out-let port (length).

it's fit (to the engine and the chassis) and weight ( as a component and over-all on the weight distribution of the vehicle), if a Catalytic converter is fitted.

[Toureman]

All exhaust pipes are tuned to give maximum performance within the law, ie GP Racing cars have tuned exhausts but no silencers.

[Arlinew]

Nothing really. Use of either one pipe or two pipes on a single cylinder or vice versa is more aesthetic than functional. However, some motorcycle exhausts use two pipes to reduce the amount of noise produced. For more information visit http://4wheelonline.com/Motorcycle/Motorcycle_Exhausts.171021