My Ascot had the black chrome Mac pipes on it when I got it.
You can retain the centerstand IF you cut off the extra widget that sticks off of the stand on the right side. I'm not quite sure what the purpose of that piece is, but it works fine without it. My bike came without a centerstand, but I found one on ebay, modified it, installed it, and it worked fine.
I really didn't like the tone of the Mac pipes on my bike. They were very loud and raspy and backfired a lot. The pipes do have interchangeable muffler cores. My pipes came with "street" baffles which are actually baffles, like in a standard car muffler. One guy told me that the "race" baffle Mac sells (used to sell?) is actually quieter and mellower sounding. It's a perforated core wrapped with fiberglass. If I could have found a set of those I'd have bought them.
The main thing I didn't like was loss of cornering clearance. The front pipe hangs considerably lower and a little further out than the stock pipe. I found that it was really easy to drag in hard right hand turns.
After I'd had my bike about a year I bought a stock exhaust cheap on ebay and installed it. I've been happy with the stocker and I'm glad I made the change. I even bought what was apparently the last NOS front header pipe that Honda had in stock in the U.S., so I have a nice, non-rusty front pipe. A friend of mine tried to order one only a month later and was told they were no longer available.
I sold my Mac pipes to an Ascot owner in Canada, along with my modified centerstand. (I found another stock centerstand so I've still got one on my bike.)
YMMV.
Hugh
