I bet Honda figures that 50% of the market is going to dump the stock exhaust can no matter what, so they design the cheapest legal option to get the bike out the door. As a btw, the 5th gen exhaust cans bolt directly to the 8th gen and visa versa. Cool! I admit I went and looked at one, and its quite an attractive bike. I like it, but for the damn VTEC. -- Maybe there might be a future 5/8ths VFR coming to my garage in the future.