Sito+ review- BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY
Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 2:05 am
It finally got warm enough here for me to want to bother putting on the Sito+ exhaust I've had lying around. My subject pretty much says it all if you don't want to read the full review.
First off, the Sito+ looks similar to a stock exhaust piece. Stamped out of sheetmetal, painted black with high temp paint, same general shape. It you are looking for something chrome and showy, this is not your exhaust.
Contruction quality looks good, but not quite great. Quality is around the stock piece, which means welds are functional but ugly.
Compared with the stock piece, you can start to see where the power increases come from. First, the headpipe tubing is a larger diameter. Second, it omits the catalyst. Third, the muffler size is a bit larger than stock.
Installation was a bit harder than I realized it would be, but the big part of that is I thought it would be a 5 minute affair. The main issue is that there is almost but not quite enough clearance to get the support bolt for the muffler off with the back wheel in place- missed it by about 1/4". Compounding the issue for me is that I was not expecting to need to jack up the bike to remove the wheel, so everything got a bit tougher to get the wheel off.
In a nutshell, this is what you need to do to switch exhausts.
1. Remove both cowls.
2. Remove spare tire.
3. Jack up the rear of the bike to a level sufficient to remove the rear tire.
4. Remove the tire.
5. Loosen the exhaust pipe clamp.
6. Remove the support bolt and remove the stock exhaust.
7. Put the Sito+ exhaust in place, making sure the headpipe has slipped over the engine exhaust pipe while threading the support bolt.
8. Tighten the exhaust pipe clamp.
9. Install rear wheel
10. Install spare
11. Test drive and plug chops/jet changes to tune.
It is about 1 hour of work to do, and needs nothing more than a few metric wrenches (13 and 17 mm).
Out of the box, the support bracket on the sito+ was a little too tight to fix the frame mount. I had to give it a couple whacks with a deadblow hammer to widen the bracket so it would fit over the crossmember- very minor adjustment. Otherwise the fit was perfect.
Performance wise, this thing is nuts. Currently I have no other modifications done to my Stella.
Torque is increased all over the powerband, and the scooter has a much higher rpm range. Around the rpm point where power used to fall off, it is still pulling harder! The scooter is still docile and well mannered off of idle, but simply has a lot more grunt all over. Lots and lots of fun to ride. I haven't done a top speed run, but it hit 50 mph MUCH, MUCH easier than it used to.
Sound wise, it sounds slightly louder, and the tone is definitely more agressive. The putts you here on a stock muffler turn into pops and crackles- not to an annoying level, but just enough to tell you that it has some more attitude. I can't see people complaining about noise with this one.
Finally, I believe the scoot is putting off more smoke, and definitely more scent than it used to, probably because of the cat removal. IF this bothers you, take note. I may consider buying some of the scented injection oil now.
To sum it up, this pipe is an awesome, awesome deal, and gets you a healthy performance increase. DO IT. BUY IT NOW.
First off, the Sito+ looks similar to a stock exhaust piece. Stamped out of sheetmetal, painted black with high temp paint, same general shape. It you are looking for something chrome and showy, this is not your exhaust.
Contruction quality looks good, but not quite great. Quality is around the stock piece, which means welds are functional but ugly.
Compared with the stock piece, you can start to see where the power increases come from. First, the headpipe tubing is a larger diameter. Second, it omits the catalyst. Third, the muffler size is a bit larger than stock.
Installation was a bit harder than I realized it would be, but the big part of that is I thought it would be a 5 minute affair. The main issue is that there is almost but not quite enough clearance to get the support bolt for the muffler off with the back wheel in place- missed it by about 1/4". Compounding the issue for me is that I was not expecting to need to jack up the bike to remove the wheel, so everything got a bit tougher to get the wheel off.
In a nutshell, this is what you need to do to switch exhausts.
1. Remove both cowls.
2. Remove spare tire.
3. Jack up the rear of the bike to a level sufficient to remove the rear tire.
4. Remove the tire.
5. Loosen the exhaust pipe clamp.
6. Remove the support bolt and remove the stock exhaust.
7. Put the Sito+ exhaust in place, making sure the headpipe has slipped over the engine exhaust pipe while threading the support bolt.
8. Tighten the exhaust pipe clamp.
9. Install rear wheel
10. Install spare
11. Test drive and plug chops/jet changes to tune.
It is about 1 hour of work to do, and needs nothing more than a few metric wrenches (13 and 17 mm).
Out of the box, the support bracket on the sito+ was a little too tight to fix the frame mount. I had to give it a couple whacks with a deadblow hammer to widen the bracket so it would fit over the crossmember- very minor adjustment. Otherwise the fit was perfect.
Performance wise, this thing is nuts. Currently I have no other modifications done to my Stella.
Torque is increased all over the powerband, and the scooter has a much higher rpm range. Around the rpm point where power used to fall off, it is still pulling harder! The scooter is still docile and well mannered off of idle, but simply has a lot more grunt all over. Lots and lots of fun to ride. I haven't done a top speed run, but it hit 50 mph MUCH, MUCH easier than it used to.
Sound wise, it sounds slightly louder, and the tone is definitely more agressive. The putts you here on a stock muffler turn into pops and crackles- not to an annoying level, but just enough to tell you that it has some more attitude. I can't see people complaining about noise with this one.
Finally, I believe the scoot is putting off more smoke, and definitely more scent than it used to, probably because of the cat removal. IF this bothers you, take note. I may consider buying some of the scented injection oil now.
To sum it up, this pipe is an awesome, awesome deal, and gets you a healthy performance increase. DO IT. BUY IT NOW.