Leo Vince SBK Full System High Mount Exhaust

Want your SV to say "Vroom-Vroooooom!" in Italian? Mount a Leo Vince full system exhaust. This stylish pipe offers the SV a significant performance boost as well as a great sound.

I purchased this pipe upon recommendation of two employees of the Suzuki dealership where I purchased my bike. Both are SV owners and they'd ridden numerous SVs with various aftermarket pipes. They were both crazy about the Vince pipe.

It took me about two hours to install the full system. It would have been less, but the instructions were in Italian. Since my Italian isn't too good, and Leo Vince's American distributor wasn't able to provide a translation, I had to follow the diagrams and figure a few things out for myself. It wasn't that hard. The only difficulty I had was with getting the old header pipe off and the new one on the back cylinder. There isn't much room to work there, and you need a set of nimble fingers, as well as a socket wrench with a long extension and flex head, to do the job.

 I knew it was time well spent, though, when I fired the bike up for the first time. The Vince has a lovely sound, a large cat's purr at idle that breaks into a throaty roar when you add throttle. Goodbye kitten, hello lion! This is a much more fitting sound the for SV's little powerhouse.

Riding the bike with the pipe is a real joy too. The power comes on stronger and sooner. You especially notice the difference when you hit 5500 RPM. Leo Vince's dyno tests show about a four horsepower gain to the bike. I can believe it, but I am more impressed with how the pipe puts power into the RPM range where a street rider can use it. It's a noticeable difference.

Leo Vince says you don't need to do anything to make the pipe run well with the SV. And, to some extent, I would have to agree with them. My bike was "popping" and "backfiring" a little after throttle let-offs below 5500 RPM, but it was running well. Still, I wanted peak performance and was willing to lay out $150 to my local mechanic to get it.

Since Vince's only suggestion for carb modification with the pipe is to shim the needles .018 to .020 (something they suggest for the SV even without the pipe) I had my mechanic try this first. Most of the pops/backfires went away. Additionally, the shims also smoothed the bike's power band somewhat. But it was opening the carb's air/fuel screws to three full turns that really did the trick. No more pops or backfires, and even more power down low. Now I had great sound, excellent performance, and killer streetfighter looks.

And speaking of looks, one of the things I like most about this pipe is the muffler's supporting brace. Vince provides a sturdy, high-tech looking bracket that mounts to the passenger peg to hold the muffler. This is a far stronger and more attractive mounting system than what you find with other aftermarket pipes. Most use a cheap looking, plumbing-like hanger from the bike's cargo rail to support the muffler. Ugly! Worse yet, some high mount systems require you to junk the passenger pegs and/or the stock turn signals.

Any negatives to the pipe? Yes, it's very expensive. The pipe lists for close to $800. Fortunately, it can be had for a little over $600 through a reasonable shop or via mail order. (Vince has a slip-on standard mount that is about half the price too.) But you really do get what you pay for here. This is a solid and sexy, performance-oriented pipe that goes on easily and sounds great. 

(Photo, dyno readings and audio file provided courtesy of Leo Vince's American distributor Indigo Sports. www.leovince-america.com)

About the author: Mark Timney is a freelance writer and new SV rider. He lives in Harrisville, NH, and is a professor of journalism at Keene State College. He can be reached at mtimney@cheshire.net.