SP Engineering – Carbon Tri Oval
Like most things in life one mans meat is another mans poison and I suppose there are as many opinions about after-market cans as there are cans themselves.
I actually don’t think the standard exhaust on the 2014 Z1000 SX look too bad. In fact I think they look half decent but on balance I fancied fitting a pair of after market cans and when I looked around the cans on offer from SP Engineering ticked the boxes for me on two counts: they looked nice enough and they were at a very decent priced (around the £360 /€450 mark).
Of course many people would say you ought really go for a full system but for me this made the aesthetic changes I was looking for at a good price. The cans themselves are made in the UK and the pair come with the appropriate link pipes, removable baffles as well as the straps and clamps to get them mounted. Size wise they are pretty compact when compared to the OEM fitment and come in at 125mm x 95mm in diameter and a sleeve length of 300mm
The finish is nice – polished stainless steel with a real carbon wrap. It’s also pretty convenient that you don’t need the added expense of fitting a power commander or of having the engine remapped, and I can confirm that I haven’t had any fuelling problems since fitting them.
In use they provide a deeper tone that the OEM pipes without being too loud to cause unwanted attention. I ran mine initially with the baffles in but have since taken the baffles out – you should note that if you do fit the baffles and then remove them you will need to purchase a couple of new nylock nuts.
I can’t honestly say that I have noticed any change in power although SP Engineering claim they have a proven increase of 4.5BHP to the mid-range. They may well do but I can’t say I have noticed … but maybe that’s just me.
Fitting: I found the cans were really easy to fit and fitting doesn’t require any special knowledge or tools – and I would have thought that most tool boxes will have the: spanners, sockets and allen keys to do the job. The cans come with simple easy to follow fitting instructions.
The left hand pipe is a very rapid task and a simple swap over, the right hand pipe is a little different as you need to slacken off the black trim at the bottom of the fairing – 45 minutes is ample time to get the job done at an easy pace and enjoy a coffee at the same time.
You do need to make sure that the OEM gasket is re-used and unless it’s damaged this shouldn’t be a problem at all.
If you have the Z1000 SX tourer you need to know that these cans are not compatible with the OEM panniers luggage system – this is due to the angle and length of the pipes. Mind you I suppose you could somehow force them to fit and melt away your panniers and contents.
I have the Tourer but decided it really wasn’t an issue for me to swap the pipes over a couple of times a year when I want to use the panniers – but if you use your panniers on a frequent basis then you may want to look at different pipes.
On a service level then it’s probably worth mentioning that I needed to speak with the guys at SP Engineering as I had some problems with a tail tidy that I had bought from them which turned out to be incompatible with my bike model) and to be fair they went out of their way to find a suitable solution and I was pretty impressed with the lengths they went to and the level of service provided and so on balance am happy to recommend them.
The pictures below are from when I fitted them first time and from when I swapped them over before trip with luggage on.
Note: I had originally described these as the ‘stubby’ cans they are of course the Tri Oval, post amended accordingly