[geospencer]

There is a saying that "What you don't know can't hurt you." I guess that's true but you can also say that what you don't know can't help you. I've always assumed that any motorcycle that I buy is pretty good "out the door". I assumed that about my Paul Smart. I know a lot of you are shaking your heads . . . you who are tuners and track day folks . . . but I just ride and wax.

Then one day at a Dealership Motorcycle Day I actually got my bike's suspension set up. Wow! That made a big difference.

Then when it was time for the big service (belts and all that stuff) the service tech decided that the bike wasn't running as good as it should so he re-tuned it. Double Wow! That made a great big difference.

Finally, after almost four years of ownership I replaced the OEM tires with Michelin Pilot Sport IIs. Triple Wow! That made a huge difference.

Lesson learned - Never assume your bike is as good as you can get. There is always room for improvement.

 

[GTRossi]

yup.

bikes out of the factory are set up for anybody which means they're really set up for nobody...

good rubber, a decent tune and setting up adjustments wherever possible to fit your own build, riding style, conditions, etc. is a bigger deal than most folks realize.

my wife was shocked when i took "a perfectly good motorcycle" and tore it down to the frame for a re-build. now i'm aware that i'm a bit extreme in this department, and much (most?) of what i did was for fun and to make the bike look/feel the way i like, but the personal/performance customizations made my bike so truly "mine" that i could never look back.

the best part is the amount of sleeping potential in these bikes just waiting to be brought out with a little bit of attention

 

[DGJ]

I agree. fine-tuning your machine for your personal use is key.

 

[MajorSoftie]

New tires always are a revelation. The deterioration in handling as tires wear is so slow that it is virtually imperceptible. When new rubber is mounted, it is always a massive improvement. Going to better tires makes it even better, but if you had even gone with new OEM's, it would have seemed great.

 

[geospencer]

New tires always are a revelation. The deterioration in handling as tires wear is so slow that it is virtually imperceptible. When new rubber is mounted, it is always a massive improvement. Going to better tires makes it even better, but if you had even gone with new OEM's, it would have seemed great.

I think you are right. New OEMs would have been a big improvement over the old tires . . . but I don't think that the OEMs are as sticky as these new Michelin tires. I miss "the look" of the OEM tires but I don't miss their sometimes strange handling characteristics.