Well I had my heart set on buying an sv650s this year with my big raise but since I'm getting married I have other expenses.  So looks like I'm going to do some more mods to my bike.  I'm thinking steel braided brake lines, exhaust, and whatever else I can think up.  I'm thinking of buying the exhaust from Dennis Kirk but I figured I check here first.  Well back to work. Oh one more question if you drop down to a 14 tooth sproket what does that do your gas mileage?  
P.S.  :guns:  Winter SUCKS!!!!!!

starcycle seems to have it the cheapest...

MAW Online had the V&H for 265 I believe. That's the cheapest I've found...

Not sure what that would do to gas mileage, Im sure it wouldnt help though.  You might consider the path Im going to take though.  Im going up 3 in the back which is the same as one down in the front, then I plan to go down one in the front.  If you plan on a long trip you can just change the front one out quick for a sprocket with more teeth.  Not sure how it would really work, but it sounds good on here.

parts411.com has it for $255.  But you have to check out the shipping costs sometimes they vary to a great degree, so that  a more expensive part will actually save a bundle due to cheap or free shipping.

CLICKY

Dropping one tooth on the front took me from 52-58 MPG down to 45-48 MPG one-up riding and two-up riding mileage went from 40-45 down into the low to mid 30's range.

I changed back to the original sproket set up because I think it had better performance with the original.  I had to shift sooner with the smaller sproket at lower speeds.  My accelleration seemed to be better with the larger sproket because I could wind out the RPM's farther (speed wise that is). Others will swear by the smaller front sproket, I just didn't care for it.

Is installation of the Vance&Hines exhaust as simple as removing the stock one and putting the new one on or are there other tweaks absolutely necessary to make the GS run nice and clean? What kind of performance increases should I expect from it? Does it make the GS sound any better than the stock exhaust does? Also, if I purchase it from here or here, is there anything else to buy to complete the install?

Thanx for the quick responses. You've all been so helpful.

whats the differance between 98 exausts and 02?

roguegeek, it's my understanding that once you have a free(er)-flowing exhaust like vance&hines, you need to re-jet the bike.
this is because the bike will run leaner. (more air comes in the faster air can leave)

Yea You'd have to rejet and worse ... you'd have to remove it to take off the oil filter, but he that's not a problem cos it will rust and crumble between oil changes anyway, so it needs painting anyway ... dont even ask me how I know ... and of course you have to be super super gentle when taking it off else it will crush in your hands ... Dont as k how I know ask The guy that bought it from me and had it break as he was fitting it or somehting ...
Cool.
Srinath.

Yea I trash the V&H as well ... just telling it like it is ... You'd rarely see me trashing Yosh ... though I believe its not as good as the stock for quality and resistance to rust and thickness ... still ... Yosh is 100 times better. The D&D that jetswing sent over was nice too ... well made and lovely looking ... if a shade delicate, handle with care sorta way ...
Cool.
Srinath.

In Cali my VH is great..I also live in LA like you rogue, I have a 97 with a V&H on it, and I LOVE it..the sound is awesome, changing the oil is a non-issue, just loosen the header bolts, and no prob. I don't have any rust issues, probably cause the air out here is so dry. My bike is rejetted, with an advancer on it as well, and a drop in UNI filter. The exhaust was on the bike, so I've never even heard it without, but I can't imagine...get the Vance and Hines, install is just pull off old, stick on new basically...the system should include the mounting bracket. Do you have somewhere to work on the bike? I don't, but let me know if you'd want to do some wrenching sometime..I do all mine in the garage under my apt building.