This should open a can of worms !

Ok, on this forum we all talk of extracting those last few precious HP, paying for or sourcing suspension setup secrets from the dark side, tyre preferences/pressures, riding techniques and ego stroking !

Who of us mere mortals really need more Hp, and set upon improving the manufacturers design and R&D which cost them shit loads of $$$$$$$. Do we know more than them?

Where doe the blinging up finish, and real life sensible modifications start ? I mean (not me) but a well ridden stock bike of any type will still kick arse against modded road bikes ridden by the average Joe.

I know when I've had lower HP bikes I could wring their necks and get a big woody! My track bike has 180RWHP and I struggle to to use all the power, and probably never will.

How much tinkering is enough?

So are you a Race God?

Surely in our minds we are all race Gods aren't we???

If you have the ca$$$$h to spend then why not?

Personally ive given up chasing HP as i no theres quicker lap times to be had with just improvements in my own riding!

Theres certain things i will spend money on as they make life easier at speed such as Slipper clutch & Quickshifter, and hey, everybody loves abit of extra noise from a nice set of race cans

You're right cash does come into it.
My old mechanic had a customer who bought a Desmosidichi, with the full race pipe kit, and full set of carbon fairings and paid him to fit it all, then " run it in on the dyno" .... To save him doing it ! Two days later.....! $$$$

It's a different world for some.

Ha ha, not my friend. But amazing the things you see.
The last time I went to Phillip Island for the WSB's I saw a husband and wife ride in on matching 1198's with full carbon body work!!!

They had money, but who knows how capable or serious they were. A bit like the "professionals" going through mid life crisis... They go out and buy a new Harley, matching leathers with tassels for him and the wife, then ride it twice in twelve months and sell it!

Great for the real bikers to pick up a bargain.

I am definitely NOT a racing GOD by any means of measurement but I am a competent rider and I DO love the horsepower...
Personally I don't push necessarily for more HP, I make mods that I feel make the bike easier for ME to ride.. And hopefully this will make my riding faster.. I find the hp chasing to be especially crazy in the dirtbike world... Folks will spend thousands of dollars to get the absolute most HP for their dirtbike and then bitch about how much of a beast the bike is to control... Once again I always try mods that add to ride-ability.... And if more horsepower is part of the deal then great! But that isn't the end all be all of the mods I make..

Sensible response outlaw. The best spent money as I see it, is getting some tuition from experts, then follow that up with track days, and lots of them.
There is no down side, it's safer and your skill, ability, confidence and safety on the road improves tenfold. Not to mention it's fun and your with likeminded people and have a great day.

When you have the skill to get the best from your machine, then continue improving it with mods etc.

All valid points.

However, if you're as fast as the other guy through every corner and he's pulling a second or so on you down every decent straight you know with the same power you'd match his lap times.

Best money spent is towards education...
Valid points my good man...When is enough, enough.

I think the word sensible has a different meaning for different people.

Coz we are not race gods but merely shit we need all the HP we can get to help out.....

Me not a race god.
Nor do I need any more BHP to enjoy the SD - but it's nice to have a good map and fueling.
Don't need quicker steering or lighter bike either really.
But nearly all the other bikes I've owned in 35 years needed constant work and fiddling just to keep them running. It's become part of my life to go out and mess about with my bikes - strip them down, rebuild them, swap parts over, get to know the bike really intimately so that nothing hasn't been apart and explored and understood. But this SD, and a few others before it are a different kind of bike for me. They are well made and well designed. And also I bought it new. So it doesn't break down, doesn't need messing with, doesn't need me working on it every Sunday morning before rideouts. So for the first year I just rode it and enjoyed the new additional time and hassle free biking.

Then I realised that I was missing out on half the reason I loved biking in the first place. And also found this site. And realised that just 'cos it was a new bike there was still a place for my tinkering!!

I also realised that I needed to break the "virgin, pristine, new bike feeling", so I spent a whole summer going on track days and pushing things and managed to crash at least three times. High speed gravel traps, hard tarmac and my first high side soon gave me loads to work on and the reason to pull things off and replace bits. Then things got a lot more interesting and fun and I started to really enjoy SD ownership a lot more.

It's a good bike but it can be made a lot better! Not that my riding ability notices - just that I have something to do other than ride it. I also don't have much chance to ride this year because of the new twins and work commitments but I can still get in a few hours every week, (just), and I can go out and fiddle and mess about and keep my connection going. We might all call it bling but for me it's just a modern way of messing about with bikes that don't really need me to keep them running sweet.

It appears most of us are on the same page.

My point was if you mod your bike either HP or suspension, tyres, brakes etc thinking that will automatically make you a better or faster rider... WRONG! happy days!

The difference is competence breeds confidence, and that is half the battle of improving. A thinking rider pays attention through hightened senses and concentration. This gives feedback for us to make descisions and choices in a split second, over time and experience one hopes to improve.

We all like to tinker, some more than others. Some just can't help themselves, whether they are improving the machine or not. I know a guy, we call him the eBay king, his blade has shit hanging off it everywhere. I don't
think it looks that good, but he loves it.

So keep playing around and enjoy your bike and try to make the right modifications for you. If money is no problem...then go for it, you're fortunate.

Me i class myself as an average/good rider,i know my limit's and very rarely ride outside of them. I'm not really into tinkering with my bike's that much,i do do a lot of maintenance on them though so they are always in tip top condition and ready to rumble.
Today i've fitted at long last a Motobox and removed the SAS system,purely as it allows me easier access to my spark plugs and cylinder heads. I've owned the bike from new (07 SDR) and haven't really felt the need to mod that much for the riding i do.(can's,crash protection and brake/clucth lever's + todays Motobox) I would add a quickshifter and a slipper clutch if i did more trackday's or decided to go racing,but for general road riding "for me" it would be a waste of money.

I do know quite a few rider's though who think that the more they mod their bike's (not talking SD's here)it will make them a better rider,each to their own,if they've got the spare cash then why not. We all know though that money can't buy you skill/talent,it can only buy you instruction and bling which may or maynot make you a faster rider. 120 BHP or whatever it is my bike's got is more than enough in reality

Late last year i had this quandary , so i decided to buy an S1000RR , I still got passed by a whopping bloke on an SD on a track day!! , Anglesey is to short for the beemer to open its power , even with TC on...
I also have a mate that can do 1:50's at Oulton and Sub 1.45 on an old CB500 Twin at Cadwell.

don't get me wrong I like the BMW and its so fookin fast its scary , sure it's nice knowing not much else on the road can keep up , however when I reflect on what I use it for I've probably wasted my money , IMHO I still think the SD is a bit dated , but I will swap it for a new SD when it finally appears.
I also will still be getting an SDR in the summer as a 2nd ride as I miss the character of the bike.....

P;S I am a million miles away from being a race god , but unless I half my body weight there's no fookin chance.

i am nooooo race god, i can ride well enough to hold my own on the road, that said though, i have a mate, he's in his 50's and he can ride, well. we were out on a mountain ride and there was a young guy tagging along on the latest tackle, my mate was on an R80 BMW with a blistering 55 hp, the young guy was trying to help my mate by pointing out that his brake light wasn't working cause his brake light didn't come on once on the downhill run of mt. mee, the young fella had good eyesight, he was at the back, way at the back, and my mate calmly squeezed his lever illuminating the brake light and gave a wry smile.
horsepower is one thing, knowing how to use what you have is another, aside from this SD i got as a basket case the last road bike i bought was in '03, it's still plenty fast enough and is more capable than i am. Bear in mind though, these are toys, how we play with them is a personal thing, i love keeping mine as clean and tidy as possible, i do all my own work and i ride them hard, however you enjoy yours is fine with me, except for adding chrome, that is strictly forbidden......see the above post with tassles etc.....

paul