I'm sorry i can't answer your question. I will say the second picture cosmetically looks much better to me. Those fuckers are big and take away some of the beauty of that motor.

 

I believe the thought process was that it was to help lower exhaust pipe temps.

The "cool factor" is +10 to me. I like them.....

 

As far as I know the fins are cooling fins....but unless the fuel mixture and everything is right....I don't think they will prevent the pipe's color from changing.
Looks-wise, what about a clamp with a smaller fin?

 

Finned clamps should do the opposite thing that exhaust wrap does. Namely, decrease the density of your exhaust gasses and slow down their exit from your head.

Don't know how much effect they have in the real world, though. Aside from their appearance (if you like that kind of thing), their use seems counter-intuitive.

 

man, im not much of a debater but, sporticus - by your theory, all of the thousands of motorcycles that came from the factory with finned clamps for decades would have been better with fin-less clamps and exhaust wrap???

i doubt they have any effect on exhaust temps but probably helps cool the absolutely hottest part of any air cooled engine.

as far as my opinon on the looks goes: i dig the stock style. little fins look just right. not too big, not too non-existant....

 

That theory would hold true only if you assume that every part of a machine is there for purely functional reasons. Why didn't every engine from every factory take full advantage of port and polish work to make the cylinder heads as efficient as possible? Like I said, I have no idea if finned header clamps create an actual advantage or disadvantage, so I don't know if this qualifies as a debate - just armchair posturing from someone who is anything but an engineer.

man, im not much of a debater but, sporticus - by your theory, all of the thousands of motorcycles that came from the factory with finned clamps for decades would have been better with fin-less clamps and exhaust wrap???

i doubt they have any effect on exhaust temps but probably helps cool the absolutely hottest part of any air cooled engine.

as far as my opinon on the looks goes: i dig the stock style. little fins look just right. not too big, not too non-existant....

 

A lot of early unit triumphs with push in heads didn't have clamps right?

Seems like as long as your pipes are held on with SOMETHING you'd be okay with whatever that something was.

-BK

 

i hear you man. good point. i agree - not a debate, but a discussion. man, id like to see this topic discussed on the britbike board. probably goes on for pages like spark plug & oil threads.

 

Thanks for the input ! More I think about it i've come down to two different theories...maybe the cooling fins were added to the header clamps in the first place as a cosmetic thing , just to give the engine some detail and maybe to make it look newer compared to earlier models and later big fin accessories were just someones idea of good looking replacement and dress-up-part...the exhaust gasses will heat up the pipes anyway, fins or not , so the cooling happens only at the head stubs. Maybe the idea was to make head stubs last longer when the temperature didn't get that hot with better cooling on that particular area?

Maybe the idea could solve out from some old sales brochure or catalog? Has anyone seen these in old parts catalogues?

 

Maybe the idea was to make head stubs last longer when the temperature didn't get that hot with better cooling on that particular area?

We have a winner. This is not nearly as complicated as some of you guys are making it. The point is to suck heat out of the head and exhaust spigots, not the exhaust. Also, the finned clamps keep that head heat from soaking the pipes any mor ethan they already are.

If you think about how thick a head spigot is, the exhaust gasses are never really close enough to the clamp to get any real cooling effect. Not to mention they're hustling past it at a pretty good clip.

 

Here's a stab in the dark outta left field. What if they just keep the clamps cooled so that they don't expand and slip?