Most significant performance upgrade

[RIQUE]

If you had to list the most significant performance upgrade on your bike it would be.....which?

[shreddr]

for the engine, the Wossner kit, for the chassis, the BST wheels.

[chewie]

lvl 1 - California Superbike School

[Rick Lee]

Practice.

[Markus 57]

Originally Posted by chewie

lvl 1 - California Superbike School

Had a friend that I mountain biked with, he spent enormous amounts of money to save 55g of weight on seat posts and the like. I told him to drop 15 pounds of body weight and that he'd be way better off as a rider and also have a savings account with actual money in it. He did and he was.

[peter f]

Originally Posted by RIQUE

If you had to list the most significant performance upgrade on your bike it would be.....which?

Numero Uno : Replacing the Ohlins with WP 4618/4014 spin (and setting up - hopefully- the shocks properly).

PS: The art of pointless : spending time, lots of money and effort with that &@#&@&@ RapidBikeSomething gizmo.

[Chris Canning]

If it's an 1100s, a Verholen ajustable para arm,you can practice and do as many track days as you like,but it won't make an 1100s steer any quicker a Verholen will or if your happy not to have any ajustment a GS arm.

[Nitro]

Turbo!

[shreddr]

Originally Posted by Nitro

Turbo!

hey, how is that project coming along?

[flatbutt]

sprockets, suspenders.

[Steve Carlton]

I think you ride an R1100S, don't you RIQUE? If so, I'd say paralever (or better yet telelever arm ala motoyoyo) and Ohlins. Exhaust if you want the sound (you won't get much power). Seat.

[RC51DRAG]

Originally Posted by chewie

lvl 1 - California Superbike School

Any riding or trackday school imo is better than the miniscule performance increases aftermarket mods provide esp. when you compare $ per bhp - ouch!

Plus a riding/track school keeps the skills with oyu as oyu move from bike to bike and they never depreciate in value compared to those aftermarket bike parts.

If you sell it and you run into someone like me who prefers as stock a bike as possible when buying used, those parts will get pennies on the dollar out of my pocket.

Aftermarket mods that make sense to me include comfort oriented items to make your level of comfort higher so you can ride longer and more comfortably. Look at endurance racing bikes, that's a big focus as well as performance.

Suspension, standard these days works very well for 90% of the riding done but when spent a reasonably priced aftermarket set will improve the bike but il est trés chere.

Pipes are just for sound only imo, no real (world) performance gain. Buy a slip-on and save some bucks if you don't care for the stock sound.

[Sofatester]

Originally Posted by RC51DRAG

Any riding or trackday school imo is better than the miniscule performance increases aftermarket mods provide esp. when you compare $ per bhp - ouch!

I'll subscribe that.

But the problem is, improving your riding skills will always increase the personal demands for technical improvements.

So in the end, the ones that get hooked on track day trainings (and that's a very addictive activity) will feel an irresistible need for better shocks, different torque arms, maybe different A-arms, more lightweight parts such as expensive lightweight wheels, racing fairing, triple clamps, handlebars, better brakes and of course better exhausts, additional electronic devices for injection/ignition as well as all the other horse-power-gaining aftermarket motor hardware.

It's the same as with all addictions: You can hardly stop and it gets costly.
Carry on !

[Nitro]

Turbo! Track days are for pussies, just race the darn thing like you stole it and you'll be fine! And a RC51 so I can still ride while turboing!

[SeabeckS]

Originally Posted by RIQUE

If you had to list the most significant performance upgrade on your bike it would be.....which?

Uh, by trimming off 57 pounds of excess weight!

Cheers, Bill J

[Chris Canning]

[QUOTE

Suspension, standard these days works very well for 90% of the riding done [/QUOTE]

If your used to after market shocks,stock stuff boarders on pathetic.

[R111S]

It might be a total waste of time/money but if you must make improvements...

My '99 R1100S Modification List - Total Mods: 30

Engine:
1) K&N OEM replacement Air Filter
2) Z-Technik Exhaust System - Stainless Steel w/Titanium Mufflers
3) Air Snorkel restriction widened w/Copper Tube Insert
4) E3.64 Spark Plugs
5) R1200 Left Cam Chain Tensioner Upgrade
6) PCV Hose Guard Strip on ABS Carrier Cage
7) Used YamahaBond #4 to seal new Oil Level Sight Glass
8) BMW Engine Valve Cover Guards
9) O2 Sensor (Bosch P/N: 13474)
10) Charcoal Canister Removed

Chassis:
1) Wilbers Suspension front and rear
2) Rear Suspension Mud Guard - Black Closed Cell Foam
3) ABS Module Reset Switch
4) EBC "Double H" Brake Pads FA407HH front and FA363HH rear
5) Spiegler Braided Steel Brake Lines
6) Panasonic SLA Battery LC-X1220P
7) Brake and Clutch Levers rotated forward
8) Put Foam Block Vibration Dampers inside Relay and Fuse Boxes
9) Added Rubber Inserts to tighten up Fuel Tank Front Mounts
10) Drilled three Vent Holes in Fuel Tank Filler Neck
11) Rear Wheel Center Hole Plug (Wunderlich P/N: 8160270)
12) VW Lug Nut Covers on Rear Wheel Lug Nuts - Painted Silver
13) Front Fender Lower Extension made from R1100RS front fender
14) Corbin Seat w/detachable Backrest
15) Stebel Nautilus Dual Tone Air Horn - 139dB

Lighting:
1) LED Rear Taillight plus 555 Timer Brake Flasher Circuit
2) LED Rear Running Lights (red) inside Blinker Housings
3) LED Front Running Lights (yellow) inside Blinker Housings
4) HID Headlights (H1 and H7 Bulbs) - 5000K 35W
5) Driving Lights (H3 100W Bulbs) mounted on Mirror Stalks

[OwenM]

It's not just about outright speed, how the bike feels as well as how confident and comfortable you are riding it is really important to some of us.

Standard non Ohlins suspension is not good new and after many years will be have degraded. New quality shocks with the correct springs and setup will transform the bike.
When you sell the bike take them off and sell separately to recover most of your investment.

[chewie]

Dont confuse a track day with Superbike School they are not the same thing - after all Superbike School is about discovering the art of cornering not outright speed. If you have done a Superbike School you will know.

You can see that when you look at perfectly tuned machines on this very forum bikes that have 3/4" chicken strips on the rear tyres - they may be a performer in a straight line but obviously are not comfortable in cornering how ever good their bike is set up for cornering...

I'm just saying that the bloke in the mirror needs the performance upgrades too.

and Chris to keep things in persepective - no amount of performance upgrades including paralever arms and the ultimate suspension are going to teach you how to ride better either - it's all relative.

[nidah]

Getting off my arse a year ago after 15 years without a bike and turning cash into a bike