Dellorto 16.16 SHA review

I recently have had enough with the NT and RT (Dellorto clone) carburators, and dropped 70$ on a real Dellorto 16.16 SHA from treatland. The NT is low tech and I could never get it to provide the performance I wanted, and the RT had a defective pilot jet that I bored out to clear. It idled, but ran unacceptably rich. 6MM dellorto jets are impossible to find, and while attempting, the float bowl developed a nasty seal leak and started peeing a gas/oil/methanol blend all over everywhere.

Not pleased. So I threw down for real Italian aluminum.

I threw the stock NT jet in there, mounted it up on my bike, everything hooked right up, took it out today. Mind you, I had done everything possible beforehand to nail down the problems this bike had been having, so once it finally got a fuel air mix it liked (And a bigger throtte body) performance all around has gone up measurably.
Performance at the top end has gone from the generous side of 'Acceptable' up to 'Terrifying'
I'm going to have to clock this thing, but suffice it to say that previously, I was encountering 4 stroking once the bike had accelerated as far as it was going to go.
Now I'm seriously afraid of winding this bike out all the way, and this is a 50cc.

Verdict: If you've done everything else to your bike and you want a beautiful carb, spend the extra 30$ over the RT and get the real deal. You'll pass this carburator on to your grandchildren.

I have a 14.12 Sha that is going on the girlfriend's motobecane. The only difference between the carbs is the sizing. The 14.12 has a 14mm throttle body, but only a 12mm venturi.

This means that you can disassemble the carb, remove the atomizer, and drill the carb body out to 5/8" (Drill press, step it up from 1/2, to 9/16 to 5/8") which will give you nearly 16mm of bore. Clean it out, re assemble and rejet.

The air/fuel mix screw probably isn't nessasary. Jetting your carb properly is nessasary. And there isn't a carb jetting good for top end and one for low end, there's just one proper fuel air mix for your motor, the Dellorto SHA has three openings in it's jet tube that open as the throttle slide ascends.

The choke option is a matter of preference, I prefer the click choke that has a lever on the carb.

Furthermore (And let me make this perfectly clear) A bigger/better carb is not going to create power out of nowhere. Having a consistent, 'just right' air fuel mix is key to having a powerful, efficient, high revving motor. But Every System has to be tuned to take maximum advantage of this. Electrical, Crankshaft, Intake manifold, Head, Piston, Porting (!), exhaust, Everything.
Taking a stock HT motor, throwing it on a cranbrook with a bunch of 'performance' parts bolted on won't be as impressive as taking a stock HT motor, porting and 'finishing' the crap outta it, and mounting it up to a nice quality bike.

So In that case I'd reccomend the SHA 16.16 to anyone who's determined that their carb is the choke point in their motor, or is looking to build a high performance motor from the ground up.