I know this system has been discussed elsewhere in the forum, but I've taken the plunge and fitted one and this is my experience.
When I bought the SSS second hand it had a dilapidated Delkevic system with a massive titanium silencer which, although it sounded good, looked out of place to my eyes. I was looking at the usual Akra and Termi pipes but stumbled across this set up with twin side mounted silencers which looked a lot more factory but sportier: Ducati Supersport 939 Vandemon Side Mount Titanium Exhaust System 2017 – Vandemon Performance They also sell an Akrapovic-like "wheelbarrow" type system for the 939. Unfortunately, they are not offering anything for the 950 yet.
Vandemon are an Australian based company that sell a range of systems for many bikes. Their premium stuff is fairly expensive, but the pricing is more reasonable for other bikes. They seem to be skewed towards performance rather than street and in fact supply the Yamaha R3 exhaust for the Australian Supersport 300 race series.
I was impressed by the quality look of the system and was not disappointed when it showed up. They claim to use a unique welding process and high-grade titanium but all I can verify is that the welds and pipes look like a work of industrial art! Interestingly they supply no instructions for the installation but do provide tiny stickers on the matching pipe joints to make sure you get it right. (see image below) Also included are the clamps, springs, bolts, an O2 sensor blanking bolt (optional to use) and a spring tool, which was very handy.
As you may have already noticed the Vandemon system replaces all pipes except the rear header for some reason. The biggest PITA with the whole exercise is getting to the front header studs to get it off. Briefly, after removing the fairings you need to undo the oil cooler and support it while its hanging by its hoses, remove the big bracket that holds it, remove the battery and box, plus miscellaneous wires and things. Only then can you get to the 3 nuts, 2 of which are reasonably accessible but unless you have some tricky small uni jointed socket set, the third one has to be turned by sliding a small 10mm spanner sideways onto it then turning it a few degrees at a time. It is an exercise in patience... Also, I should mention that if you are starting from the stock exhaust you will need a servo buddy / eliminator.
After you get the front header on and bolt the O2 sensor back in, the rest is fairly straightforward. It uses all the stock mounts except for the left-hand side cat support tab and adds a mount to the rear peg bracket to support the silencer assembly (which is one piece with the crossover section) TIP: The L shaped silencer support bracket points UP, not down, and hides behind the rear peg. It took a little time to get the pipes aligned correctly but they were all within a few mm on first fitting. TIP: Before tightening everything check for alignment of the half-acre carbon fiber heat shield bolts as 2 are on the silencer section but the 3rd is on the front link pipe.
So, got it all back together, gave it the mandatory wipe over and started the bike. The note was snarlier, raspier and louder than the old exhaust. More treble and less bass - which probably should not have been a surprise given the old system had one massive outlet instead of two smaller ones. If it sounded like a muscle car before it sounded like a Ferrari now. Took it for a ride and had mixed results. The upside was that at high rpm it spun freer and quicker and sounded like Armageddon. The downside was that it now had something akin to turbo lag in the mid-range. The low and mid-range torque was definitely weaker. Not impossible to ride but definitely not the strong mid-range surge that characterizes the 939. It also now had overrun burble that sounded more like a whip cracking than pops.
I wrote to Vandemon and they recommended having the bike tuned with the db killers out to cure this. TIP: Stuff a rag into the silencer before trying to remove the small grub screws that secure the db killers. You will drop them in. Vandemon also confirmed that additional baffling would only make it worse. Unfortunately riding in my neighborhood without db killers in not an option, its already loud enough, and I didn't really want to go the complexity and expense of fitting an RB EVO or Power Commander and then having it dyno'd. All the feedback told me it was running lean with this system and a bit of research suggested that the larger diameter pipes mean lower exhaust gas speed = less efficient scavenging = less torque. I tried a Booster Plug in the hope of enriching the mixture enough but without success: Anyone actually bought a Booster Plug? | Ducati SuperSport Forum (ducatisupersport939.net)
I spoke to the local Ducati dealer and also trawled the net. Seems Vandemon have a reputation for building "airy" track focused pipes that definitely need some remapping / tuning. The dealer recommended UpMap short of going the full RB Evo / PC so I eventually bought a T800+ and installed the D181 FR map which is recommended for the Termi system with db killers removed. The DIY process of reflashing the ECU with the T800+ has been covered in this forum and I'm glad to say it went very smoothly for me.
Fired the bike up again and immediately noticed that the note was less barky and also deeper. Also, it moved off with a stronger feeling at low rpm. Whilst I'm not entirely convinced it has restored 100% of the low range torque it has certainly improved it. The big payback however is how strongly and fast it pulls from about 4000rpm to shift light. Suddenly I was finding myself having to quickly grab another gear and then using the brakes a lot harder than I was used to. It was almost intimidating - I was happy! So, it seems that the more aggressive of the two available UpMaps (FR) can take advantage of the Vandemon pipe with db killers in and certainly releases more performance. It wasn't surging or idling strangely, and the overrun burble was back to pops rather than cracks. I'm sure that a well dialed in PC or RB Evo set up could be even better but for now I finally have a rideable bike with a better-looking exhaust with better performance as a bonus. When the wallet recovers I may buy and try the other UpMap for Termi (FD) but I'm not sure it will enrich enough to feed the pipe. Thanks to the forum I'm aware that isolating the O2 sensors may help to bring the low-end back Competition Werkes Exhaust | Page 23 | Ducati SuperSport Forum (ducatisupersport939.net) and I'll update this Vandemon thread when it happens.
Congratulations if you managed to read all of this post. Hope it has helped somewhere!
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When I bought the SSS second hand it had a dilapidated Delkevic system with a massive titanium silencer which, although it sounded good, looked out of place to my eyes. I was looking at the usual Akra and Termi pipes but stumbled across this set up with twin side mounted silencers which looked a lot more factory but sportier: Ducati Supersport 939 Vandemon Side Mount Titanium Exhaust System 2017 – Vandemon Performance They also sell an Akrapovic-like "wheelbarrow" type system for the 939. Unfortunately, they are not offering anything for the 950 yet.
Vandemon are an Australian based company that sell a range of systems for many bikes. Their premium stuff is fairly expensive, but the pricing is more reasonable for other bikes. They seem to be skewed towards performance rather than street and in fact supply the Yamaha R3 exhaust for the Australian Supersport 300 race series.
I was impressed by the quality look of the system and was not disappointed when it showed up. They claim to use a unique welding process and high-grade titanium but all I can verify is that the welds and pipes look like a work of industrial art! Interestingly they supply no instructions for the installation but do provide tiny stickers on the matching pipe joints to make sure you get it right. (see image below) Also included are the clamps, springs, bolts, an O2 sensor blanking bolt (optional to use) and a spring tool, which was very handy.
As you may have already noticed the Vandemon system replaces all pipes except the rear header for some reason. The biggest PITA with the whole exercise is getting to the front header studs to get it off. Briefly, after removing the fairings you need to undo the oil cooler and support it while its hanging by its hoses, remove the big bracket that holds it, remove the battery and box, plus miscellaneous wires and things. Only then can you get to the 3 nuts, 2 of which are reasonably accessible but unless you have some tricky small uni jointed socket set, the third one has to be turned by sliding a small 10mm spanner sideways onto it then turning it a few degrees at a time. It is an exercise in patience... Also, I should mention that if you are starting from the stock exhaust you will need a servo buddy / eliminator.
After you get the front header on and bolt the O2 sensor back in, the rest is fairly straightforward. It uses all the stock mounts except for the left-hand side cat support tab and adds a mount to the rear peg bracket to support the silencer assembly (which is one piece with the crossover section) TIP: The L shaped silencer support bracket points UP, not down, and hides behind the rear peg. It took a little time to get the pipes aligned correctly but they were all within a few mm on first fitting. TIP: Before tightening everything check for alignment of the half-acre carbon fiber heat shield bolts as 2 are on the silencer section but the 3rd is on the front link pipe.
So, got it all back together, gave it the mandatory wipe over and started the bike. The note was snarlier, raspier and louder than the old exhaust. More treble and less bass - which probably should not have been a surprise given the old system had one massive outlet instead of two smaller ones. If it sounded like a muscle car before it sounded like a Ferrari now. Took it for a ride and had mixed results. The upside was that at high rpm it spun freer and quicker and sounded like Armageddon. The downside was that it now had something akin to turbo lag in the mid-range. The low and mid-range torque was definitely weaker. Not impossible to ride but definitely not the strong mid-range surge that characterizes the 939. It also now had overrun burble that sounded more like a whip cracking than pops.
I wrote to Vandemon and they recommended having the bike tuned with the db killers out to cure this. TIP: Stuff a rag into the silencer before trying to remove the small grub screws that secure the db killers. You will drop them in. Vandemon also confirmed that additional baffling would only make it worse. Unfortunately riding in my neighborhood without db killers in not an option, its already loud enough, and I didn't really want to go the complexity and expense of fitting an RB EVO or Power Commander and then having it dyno'd. All the feedback told me it was running lean with this system and a bit of research suggested that the larger diameter pipes mean lower exhaust gas speed = less efficient scavenging = less torque. I tried a Booster Plug in the hope of enriching the mixture enough but without success: Anyone actually bought a Booster Plug? | Ducati SuperSport Forum (ducatisupersport939.net)
I spoke to the local Ducati dealer and also trawled the net. Seems Vandemon have a reputation for building "airy" track focused pipes that definitely need some remapping / tuning. The dealer recommended UpMap short of going the full RB Evo / PC so I eventually bought a T800+ and installed the D181 FR map which is recommended for the Termi system with db killers removed. The DIY process of reflashing the ECU with the T800+ has been covered in this forum and I'm glad to say it went very smoothly for me.
Fired the bike up again and immediately noticed that the note was less barky and also deeper. Also, it moved off with a stronger feeling at low rpm. Whilst I'm not entirely convinced it has restored 100% of the low range torque it has certainly improved it. The big payback however is how strongly and fast it pulls from about 4000rpm to shift light. Suddenly I was finding myself having to quickly grab another gear and then using the brakes a lot harder than I was used to. It was almost intimidating - I was happy! So, it seems that the more aggressive of the two available UpMaps (FR) can take advantage of the Vandemon pipe with db killers in and certainly releases more performance. It wasn't surging or idling strangely, and the overrun burble was back to pops rather than cracks. I'm sure that a well dialed in PC or RB Evo set up could be even better but for now I finally have a rideable bike with a better-looking exhaust with better performance as a bonus. When the wallet recovers I may buy and try the other UpMap for Termi (FD) but I'm not sure it will enrich enough to feed the pipe. Thanks to the forum I'm aware that isolating the O2 sensors may help to bring the low-end back Competition Werkes Exhaust | Page 23 | Ducati SuperSport Forum (ducatisupersport939.net) and I'll update this Vandemon thread when it happens.
Congratulations if you managed to read all of this post. Hope it has helped somewhere!
As mentioned way up above, I didn't feel that all the mid-range response had returned even with the FR UpMap. I made good on my threat and loaded the FD (db killers IN) map instead and I'm a lot happier with it now. The slightly wheezy mid-range response has all but disappeared and the bike feels much more like it did originally, albeit with a stronger top end. I probably should have studied the maps' torque curves first! (as below) The FD is definitely more linear in torque delivery and the FR actually takes a dip between 3 and 4000 rpm as well as having less total torque in this range. The FR is faster on top and the bike seems to get a mild second-wind kick above 6000rpm. My plan now is to do everyday riding with the FD map and use the FR only if I do a track day. It just feels stronger and more usable sub 6000 rpm with the FD map and this is of course where you spend a lot of time on the street.
