Modifying bikes has always been a part of owning and riding motorcycles as riders attempt to make bikes faster, better handling, look better, or just be the exact bike they want.
There are lots of examples of great motorcycle modifications…there is also a fairly long list of highly individual ideas that risk devaluing the bike, making them worse to look at and affecting the ride experience.
Of course, these are all highly subjective. One man’s meat is another man’s poison, and all that, but these are six modifications our team would think long and hard about…
Tasteless or terrible airbrush artwork
There’s not a lot out there that can match the skills of a top airbrush artist. The way they can make airbrush artwork look almost real can work to make a custom bike look both individual and awesome. And then there are the awful ones that make it look as if the paintwork has melted after being parked too close to a bonfire.
Artwork is always a matter on individual taste but when the subject of the airbrushing is both tasteless and badly executed, it’s a double whammy of both making the bike shocking to look at and near impossible to sell on in the future.
Cut slicks
There’s always one rider who thinks hand-cutting a set of racing-specification slick tyres for their road bike is a great idea because ‘their mate down the pub told them it was’! Let’s put this one to bed forever. It isn’t. It’s also illegal because competition slicks are specifically built to only be used on track, aren’t homologated for use on the road and, most tellingly of all, have a label stating ‘NOT FOR ROAD USE’ on the sidewall.
It doesn’t matter if you cut some grooved in the surface, they remain illegal and are in no way any kind of performance enhancement for a road bike, because they’ve been designed to work at a very high temperature. Race teams use tyre warmers to get slicks up to temperature, and then the pace of the riders keeps them up to operating temperature. On the road they won’t get hot enough to grip and a set of perfectly legal road tyres that also work on track are a far better (and legal) option. Tyres like Pirelli Supercorsa SP and Dunlop D212 Racers are race developed, road legal and stickier than a very sticky thing and work brilliantly on road and on track. They’re also designed to have a much wider operating range than slicks…
Super loud exhausts
Many riders like to be able to hear a bit a more of a fruity exhaust note from their bikes and fitting an aftermarket exhaust is an ever-popular modification to make to almost all types of two-wheelers, from scooters to superbikes.
Done right, this is an attractive modification that can enhance your ownership of the bike and make the bike more attractive when you come to sell it.
However, there are also exhausts on sale that are so offensively loud they make children cry and adults flinch when the bike goes past at 15mph, but sounding like it’s doing 250mph! Not only is this the sort of thing that will have the police interested but these nasty, badly-engineered exhausts almost always harm the performance of a motorcycle because they have been designed with no idea of the way to manage the hot gasses leaving an engine.
Messed up suspension settings
We’ve all met someone who knows what they are doing when it comes to setting up suspension. The sort of expert who can bounce a bike up and down while sat on it and loudly profess they know exactly how the fully adjustable suspension should be changed to make it handle better.
Unfortunately, the number of people who actually know what they are doing is much smaller than the number of people who think they know what they are doing.
Badly adjusted suspension can not only make the bike handle badly, but it can, in extremes, be dangerous and increase the chances of an accident so unless you know what’s you’re doing, might be best left to real experts.
There are lots of suspension set-up professionals who can work with the standard suspension to make it work better for you, the type or riding you do or help you choose some upgraded suspension and fit that to your bike.
Stretched swingarms
Unless you are heading down a drag strip on a regular basis, the chances of you needing or benefitting from a longer, stretched swingarm are non-existent.
The idea of a longer swingarm is to give outrageously-powerful drag bikes a fighting chance of getting away from the dragstrip start line without flipping the bike over backwards. Bearing in mind some of these drag bike have hundreds of horsepower to tame, and often make use of a wheelie bar at the same time, a road rider pulling away from the lights outside Argos isn’t going to need it.
The one thing about dragstrips that remains the same across the world is the fact they are dead straight so a bike that doesn’t turn or go around corners doesn’t matter… and it will matter on the B660 when you cannot make it around a corner.
Stickers. Everywhere
You know the sort of thing we’re talking about. Not just a couple of tastefully applied stickers somewhere discreet but overall enhancing the bike and making it a little personal to the owner.
We don’t mean stickers from the places you have visited or stayed when slapped all over a pannier or topbox; that’s got some traveller kudos.
No, what we’re thinking of are those bikes out there where they have been liberally covered in all manner of stickers, from any source at any angle and generally making the bike look a lot worse for the trouble!
Just remember, less is more when it comes to the application of stickers on the fairing of a motorcycle. Chances are it will affect the resale value of your bike too, as prospective owners will most likely be wondering what horrors are being masked by the ad hoc placement of graphics.
Don’t agree with our round-up of a few of the worst? Let us know on our social media channels.
Remember too that modifying your bike may well affect your insurance premium. Ensure that you inform your insurance company of any modifications you are making to your motorbike.
