Best no or low cost improvements for the S?

[roger albert]

Short paralever arm is the best handling bang for the buck after correct tire pressure, imo. Cheap, effective, reversible. Of course, Mark's caveats are worth noting. There have been many many threads on the paralever swap. Certainly a top-5 all-time topic.

[levert]

Go on a diet.
Far easier to loose weight on your heavy frame then the bike, and its free.
Aitkens works great for a few weeks, you just won't be able to look at eggs or meat again for awhile.

[Trex]

Everything mentioned so far is good, but I would include some add-ons for safety. Something like the BRAKE! rear light is easy to install and let's everyone behind you know your braking. Run' n Lites are simple and effective.

Here's a tip: - keep an eye on the 1100S parts for sale listings. Most guys here wiil offer parts at reasonable prices and they're good guys to deal with.

Also: make sure those throttle bodies are properly synched. Do a search to see how to do it yourself.

[Moki]

I normally go through the whole bike very carefully. I'd spend an entire weekend to check and tighten all bolts and screws, clean and lube everything that can lubed. Basically detail the bike to the best you can so that you know the bike by parts. With good tires and tight suspension, go out and ride, learn how the bike reacts at different situations. Treat it like your new girlfriend before abusing her.., I meant IT.

[PFFOG]

Originally posted by bradzdotcom
the most significant improvement per dollar spent on your bike would be:

putting money into YOU.

take lessons. do a track day.
when you ride safer/better, the bike goes quicker/faster.
plus, there's very little wrenching involved, no sitting on the porch waiting for the UPS guy to deliver something, and what you learn at your first track day will easily bump performance more than any bolt-on, weld-on, grind-off procedure i've ever seen.

Best advice to improve performance I know as well.

[on2wheels52]

You already found the best low cost improvement on 11/18/05.
Jim

[Rootboy]

If you are riding at night: HID
If you are riding in the city during hot summer months: Loose the Cat and all the heat it throws off.

[acidburn]

Originally posted by bradzdotcom
the most significant improvement per dollar spent on your bike would be:

putting money into YOU.

take lessons. do a track day.
when you ride safer/better, the bike goes quicker/faster.
plus, there's very little wrenching involved, no sitting on the porch waiting for the UPS guy to deliver something, and what you learn at your first track day will easily bump performance more than any bolt-on, weld-on, grind-off procedure i've ever seen.

Yah do what BradBro says, but not just any track day, Kieth Code Level 1 school, the best, you will want more and you will get past the little or no money thing quickly, get rid of the more useless things in your life like aging females and useless kids, youll have lots of money to spend on this great hobby and you will, gladly.

[PFFOG]

The other thing would be to loose as many pounds as you can.

Aside from the exhaust, the best place to do so on most bikes is from the belt line. I think I once heard every 8 lbs is equivilent to 1 Hp.

[acidburn]

closer to 2hp but that wont help as much as the lessons in piloting.

[villinski]

Thanks, gents. Some very good ideas here. I'm not necessarily after "performance" upgrades; more wondering about inexpensive ways to improve the bike in general. The business of drilling a hole in the gas filler neck and removing the black float thingy to add in the neighborhood of half a gallon capacity to the tank is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Another example is the external fuel filter mod. Both of which are on my list. May also look into venting the crankcase to the atmosphere, if it seems this would lower oil consumption. I will be doing maintenance, valves and TB synch myself, and the relative ease of working on the boxer motor is principle reason for owning the S, especially after the nightmare of $900 Ducati ST2 services.

The advice to improve my riding through training is spot on. I am definitely the lowest performance component on my motorcycle. I seriously doubt I will ever really be able to use the full capability of even a bone stock R11S. So, additional track classes are on the list. I was an MSF instructor for three years, (before I discovered flying gliders!), so I have a great deal of faith in the idea of motorcycle training. And the very quick trips around the track I took on the back of Reg Pridmore's VFR changed the whole way I look at riding!

As far as pricier mods to the bike, I know I will want to switch out the stock shocks, and maybe add an HID headlight. My front rotors are a bit warped, and I will probably pony-up for the Braking wave rotors this spring, when it gets new tires.

Thanks for welcoming me the the forum, and for all the input. What a great resource you all are.

[villinski]

Oh, yeah, I have a cheap source for OEM stork grease if you guys need some. But where can I get the Afterburner Muffler Tip? That thing's gonna look great on my Two Brother pipes!

[RoundelRider]

On the cheap "mods".......more like routine maintenance.....

Flush the brakes with fresh brake fluid. Cheap enough...about $10

Good oil change with some synthetic of your choice....about $30-$40

Mobil 1 GL5 gear oil in the trans and rear final drive. Honestly itll make the bikes transmission snick though the gears a little smoother..........I think 3 quarts will do both gearboxes......about $21-$28

Oil cooler screen.........various materials you can make this out of, from $180 wunderlick carbon to $7 mesh trashcan, to $5 gutter screen. Itll keep all the bugs,rocks and crap out of your oil cooler.

Get a friend to help ya and set your suspension sag


Money aside...............
If I had a stone stock bike, Id start with the suspension, brakes, the fun power gains

Look for used stuff........youll save a ton of money, nothing is really cheap on this bike!!!!

[Steve Carlton]

Some guys like the look without the chrome bezels on the guages. They lift right off.

Priceless.