FWIW- I took ownership of my 696 back in early September 08'.
I just hit 6000 miles on the odometer, so I have a pretty good feel
for the stock pipes. I have been procrastinating on swapping pipes
(Termi's/Arrows)
since day one because I will be putting on a bunch of miles
in a short time period and i will not not get the money back on resale.
Also the rumor of only "minor" performance gains with the swap. As a bonus
I like the look and sound of the stockers. I get many compliments on
them actually. Where am I going with this you ask? I just happened to
stop bye my Duc dealer in Ft Lauderdale and bumped into a fellow 696'er
in the parking lot. We were checking out each others mods and I asked
him about his Termi's. He said "see for yourself" and let me take his for
a short ride down the street
. I don't think I broke 40mph, but I was sold
in the first 10 feet. Big difference in off the line power, how much... don't
know, but it was VERY noticeable and the sound... dear god it was beautiful.
Thank you again if you happen to be a fellow member. That was very cool
of you to let me do that. While I can not speak for the many iterations of
slip-ons on the market; I can say the extra $200-$300 for the termi's
(which gets you a new ECU and air filter in the process) is now for me a
NO BRAINER when I finally do it.
Hope this helps someone.