Gen 5 exhaust question, Catalytic Converter

I'm curious and have not been able to find an answer based on forum searches, is there a reason to or benefit from removing the catalytic converter from these bikes? Can anyone explain what possible detriment there could be to simply gutting the stock cat? I've seen a few threads about replacing stock headers with new headers sans catalytic converter, just curious what benefit there could be?

 

less weigh, less heat, more sound.
hp ... who knows

 

I have a Y2K which obviously came with the cat on the exhaust. That was swapped out for a '99 header, which was catless. The '99 have a slightly larger diameter. Can't remember exactly, but its like 2 or 3mm. Does it affect sound or performance? Maybe. Don't know.

There are O2 sensors on the Y2K header. If you gut the cat, that may present some sort of a conflict with the FI mapping. I removed my O2 sensors, and completed the loop by installing (and I'll have to find this part number and get back) a Radio Shack "X" ohm resistor. I'm almost positive it was 330 ohm. It was like $5 for a package of 5, and I only needed 2.

 

Yeah if you find those numbers I would like to dig into this a little further.

 

Here are what the 02 sensors look like. They plugged in on the left side of the bike. Once removed, you'd insert the resistors into the female end on the bike.



The part I used from Radio Shack was a 330-Ohm resistor.
1/4 Watt. 5% Tolerance.
Part # 271-1315

Good luck.