Quite. First and foremost we all need to be realistic about our abilities to justify any machinery improvement. Fitness should always be number one on the list. Least not from a safety perspective as you've alluded to Bootsam. Then perhaps jettison a few easy kilo's from the machine, then suspension improvement and finally engine upgrades. Two grand on a set (or primarily the front rim) of CF wheels would be a far bigger improvement over the equivalent in head work and lightened internals. I had a rather spirited ride with a youngster on a full fat active suspension M1 (edit. whoops R1M with Ohlins fully active) a couple of months back. My paltry two valve 90 at the crank vs his 200. All I had to do to stay right in his wheel tracks was twist the throttle harder than he dared and brake a little deeper. How much HP is needed on the road? I'd like twenty more. But my money's going on lightening her first.
Honestly, I am really really lazy. Why do today that which I can put off until tomorrow. My wife thinks I could earn a place in Guinness book of records for being the most bone idle lazy bastard. I drive 0.8m to work ffs. This was fine whilst I was young and fit. Now Im getting older with aches and pains I am beginning to re-evaluate. I have to do something now. In typical fashion, Ive left it till the last minute. Being fit and strong and I will see performance gains and I wouldnt have spent a thing. Except for nipple cream and leotards.
My S2r 800 has a power commander 3, termis, spaghetti headers, K&N and I found a dyno run in all the paperwork showing 72ish BHP at the wheel (80 at the crank?)... so lots of money (paid for by someone else I hasten to add) for no real gain against the manufacturers figures. When you delve into top fuel, the engineering is almost unbelievable. For example conrods that are designed to stretch and compress to give bearings an easier time while maintaining squish at the top of the stroke, cooling achieved by dumping more fuel into the block, allowing for the actual thrust produced from the exhausts...
Cheapest way to get more BHP is trading your bike in for a more powerful one. How much does a turbo cost?
Least your bringing it back on topic Carr, we were at a point of the thread drifting over to a weight watchers thread.
Absolutely true. But changing your bike is a hobby for many of us and sometimes the changes make the bike faster. Not cost effective, possibly a waste of time and money, but enjoyable!
Don't talk about the money, my old Monster's had more money spent of it than it's worth by a significant factor. And apparently everytime I change/ upgrade something, it makes the bike worth even less -at least according to the anorak brigade! No matter, I'm thinking the fork internals will then next thing to bugger about with. LOL!
Just buy a bigger (more powerful bike), cheapest way to increase HP, and if you’ve reached the top of that tree in the power stakes then have a word with yourself, you really don’t need to get to Tesco’s any quicker
Got to agree with the recent comments in this thread. If you want more power - buy something that a manufacturer has designed to have that power from the off. They spent millions in R&D to create a certain balance of power and reliability - and there are limits to what can be achieved even with bottomless pockets. Start pushing those limits and you just get an engine that will go bang at the drop of hat. Look at a V4R - it’s an incredible piece of engineering - so close to a race bike that you have to spent 300k to improve lap times by a couple of seconds. But even with the might of Ducati engineering behind it - if you race it then it will need an engine refresh after 1500 miles. Exhaust and air filter with a map to smooth out all of the crap that the manufacturer had to put in to pass euro regs - that’s as far as I would ever go.
