Morning all, Just posting to seek out the pearls of wisdom that are contained within this glorious community. I've a 2005 620ie that is utterly stock - I've had it since August and done just over 2k miles on it with it still being used daily. I love it lots and have no intention of getting shot; plan is to run it till it can run no more before retiring it to the farm where my Dad told me the dogs of my childhood disappeared to when they were too old... ! I'd like to start tweaking/improving it and am essentially looking for suggestions; such as cans, suspension/forks, mechanical and electrical, aesthetic, tyres for the wet, the dry and the indifferent. It's lovely as it is however, anything that could build upon that would be good. I don't pretend to be a mechanic so would be utilising a ducati garage (up the road) to do anything more complicated than wiping the dirt off the headlight. Cheers legends
You’ll be surprised at how much you can actually do yourself and if you’ve never done it before it’s a great learning exercise and expands your personal skills & knowledge tremendously. These bikes are very easy to work on. The first thing you would benefit from is to set up the suspension for you, being totally stock as you say, it highly likely isn’t set for you, except by dime miracle of coincidence. Despite my words above, this is probably best done in the first instance by a suspension specialist. With properly set up suspension, decent fresh tyres (I don’t know how old yours are) and fully functioning brakes, you’ll notice a world of difference. I’d work on those before any tuning/engine mods.
An Öhlins 916 shock drops in (just), ST2 adjustable forks, PC3 (dont tank PC5 is available), stage 2 filter.
I'll keep it forever or this one is a keeper is a lie most of us have used at some point to kid ourself Given it's a 620ie, the point where you will spend more than it is worth will hit you quite quick, so be realistic. A suspension set up using existing suspension matched to you can be had for as little as £75-£100. After that funnily enough I'd get it serviced properly and replace the brake fluid. You'd be surprised how many owners of bikes always assume the previous owner changed tired old brake fluid. Then I'd probably spend some pennies on a track day or two. A well ridden well serviced bike, even a smaller one, can do wonders if the bike is right and has a confident rider. Decent tyres would complete the set You're not going to see massive bhp increases on the 620 so don't spend your money in the wrong areas
Cheers for the answers Suspension will be the thing: I’m a bit of lump (18st) and I very much doubt it was set for that so will get that set. @noobie In seriousness no, it won’t be kept forever but I will have it for a good few more years and will want it as peak as it could be for that time so yes, like you effectively say: basics - suspension reset, brake fluid, tyres and I like the idea of a track day. Silverstone is not a million miles away from me so I’ll look into that
This isn’t meant to be unkind or taking the Mick etc, the best/cheapest upgrade would be to sell it and buy an 800 or 900, that way you get better suspension,brakes,engine, absolutely everything in one hit, trying to upgrade a 620 will never be cost effective or end up as good as a larger capacity Monster.
dead right... ive a 620 monster and i keep looking at things to do to get it the way id like it but it makes no sense to throw money at it for the reasons youve stated... BUT! i have the bike already and hate selling stuff, and if i got a bigger one, id only want to custom that so id still be waxing money.. the 900 would be a better base to start with though for sure...
Errrr, I wasn't but thanks. Sorreeee for not being clear. OP Mr @Stiffy I assume a similar year? If so, @Mark9 has a very valid point, you may have reached the point of diminishing returns and your money may be better spent on a newer, larger engine model. Or even an older, larger engine model eg an original M900, the value of that will only go one way. Having said that..... suspension, brakes, tyres first & cost effective, never cheap.
I've spent more on my bike than it would ever be worth; looking at other owners posts on here its a common problem!
I still think after S,B & T a bigger engine one would be better. But I know, we lavish our bikes with the attention and money that our other halves can only dream of, and of which our other halves have no knowledge about. Also, you'll notice I said 'other halves', being PC, just in case it's him, her, they, it, or whatever the feck else is used these days.
P4’s mate..seriously, like going from drum to disc brake enough to drop to one disc and stop better than standard two discs...but after seeing a mate have a disc explode with this set up I went back to 2
think i have a set of p4's in the workshop somewhere.. i know i got a set of something i bought a few years back coz they sounded good!
