Self-gratifying/investment?

[Cajun]

Midlife crisis?, i assume the tassles were part of the dress up parts?

Dress up Parts
Rear hugger
Exhaust Polished
Exhaust Repacking
Rearsets powdercoated
Exhuast Bracket
Speedohealer
Stoud Dash
Dash Front Cover
Air Horns
Exhust Polished
Intergrated tailight
Fender elemtor
Rear interactors
Headlight protector
Tinted D/b Screen
Lightweight ram air ducts
-----
list of what i would call dress up parts.

not even in my 30's ages until i have to buy a harley

and at least i allowed to ride young man.

[skidMark]

Dress up Parts
Rear hugger (34,300)
Exhaust Polished (44,500)
Exhaust Repacking (44,500)
Rearsets powdercoated (15,0000)
Exhuast Bracket (15,300) $34
Speedohealer (28,300)
Stoud Dash (44,500)
Dash Front Cover
Air Horns (3,700)
Exhust Polished (44,500)
Intergrated tailight (44,700)
Fender elemtor
Rear interactors
Headlight protector
Tinted D/b Screen
Lightweight ram air ducts
-----
list of what i would call dress up parts.

not even in my 30's ages until i have to buy a harley

and at least i allowed to ride young man.

What's a rear interactor?

You may be allowed to, but at least i am good at it

[Cajun]

What's a rear interactor?

You may be allowed to, but at least i am good at it

my disylix one, you know the one you wanted to buy for your bike

who said you any good? if you keep getting caught by the 50 your not that good.

[skidMark]

One of the attractions of the Hornet 900 to me was that it is a good and easy platform to personalise.

Handlebars first..... turn signals (Honda ones were severely gay) ...... mirrors (goodbye Mickey Mouse)...... remove the stickers (I know I need to wear a helmet)..... muffler tips altered (good grief there is now a noise)....tail tidy in the works......hmmm seats a bit plain..........hmmm a wee hand beaten alloy flyscreen would be a nice project........then there is fancy springs .....

I enjoy it - my wife does not understand it.

Remember the factory made your bike as a mass produced item to met a budget and global regulations. Go on change a few things to make it yours.

If its done carefully you can always change it back to stock when selling (I have a growing box of Honda parts).

Yeah you can always change it back if need be, thats why i am sticking to changing frame colour etc on my katana, may ditch the turbo idea i dont think the old GS crank and stock internals would handle it.

[skidMark]

my disylix one, you know the one you wanted to buy for your bike

who said you any good? if you keep getting caught by the 50 your not that good.

They dont catch me, i stop and wait for them to catch up and the bike wont start.

Honest.

[Maha]

An investment in happiness for sure,which is what bikes are all about.

Nicely put!!!

I think you'll find that they actually try to meet the needs of the broadest range of target customers that they can. For instance the suspension on your bike may be suitable for me, but not for you, or the next guy. Bike's aren't like cars where one setup will meet the needs of 99% of the market.
If you buy a bargain bin bike you get bargain bin parts. And if you want top line suspension standard on your bike then you will pay for it. You can't expect any manufacturer to make the same bike in skinny/average/fat person suspension options, or to have a bike that has suspension to cater for every person that will every ride it as it is out of the box.

Well thought out reply Gareth....great explanation. (I sound like a teacher marking a report....)

Plus Kiwis seem to love to tinker with things.

Aint that the truth.

TOTAL RUNNING COSTS
Fuel Cost $4,295.76
Services $1,028
Maintenance $2,637
Hot up parts $3,236
Dress up parts $1,309
Tires $2,890
Suspension $892

TOTAL RUNNING COSTS $16,287.81


Cost of Buying bike $16,349

TOTAL OUTLAY $32,636.81
--------------------------
thats in 4 1/2 years ownership 50,000kms

Why do mods? many i have picked up cheap/second handy, some i wanted to do, some i didn't really think about doing, but found cheap so did them.
Were they all needed? No. (some yes)
Have some made difference to bike performance/handling? Yes some have, some have not.
Some mods have just to tidy up looks, and not made any peformance in area, of the bike.
Am i gonna get anything extra when come to sell it? No
i could recover some of money if i decided to sell some parts of later.

But meh, i have done all the work on my bike myself, some input by friends or other forums for some things. My bike is very unquine, and different.

The nature of bike modifications varies quite a lot, so obviously the reasons for doing the mods will vary as well.

I bought my bike brand new, and starting changing things around almost straight away, and am continuing to plan further mods. They are generally comfort/touring related things (nice seat, big tank, luggage racks), rather than performance/bling type mods

I couldn't find a bike that was going to do exactly what I wanted it to, so I bought something close enough, and started fiddling with all the bits that needed improvement.

I don't expect any of the mods would increase the value of the bike, but, I didn't buy the bike to sell it, I bought it to go touring on gravel roads, so I'm happy to throw away a little bit of money to make the bike better at doing that.

I hear what you're saying, personally I dont really see it as throwing away money. The seat on my Honda (for instance) is fine, no problem with it, but sat on on the other day, one you guys may done actually and it felt fine also. Do I need a new seat?...not really, would be nice to have cool looking seat with pipping and embroided bits, but I cant see the point in it right now.

[Cajun]

some of my parts i brought i see as sorta throwing away money,
did i need spare set of rims?
did i need a seat of race fairings?
did i need the race fairings repaired and painted?
did i need a spare engine?

Others are good investments
full race system
ohlins rear/steering damper
racetech front

[skidMark]

some of my parts i brought i see as sorta throwing away money,
did i need spare set of rims?
did i need a seat of race fairings?
did i need the race fairings repaired and painted?
did i need a spare engine?

Others are good investments
full race system
ohlins rear/steering damper
racetech front

you hsould gather more bits and make a complete racebike, ya already got all the hard to source goodies!

[Maha]

Bling appears to have almost no resale value ON THE BIKE. It seems that to get your money back on the additions that you have made, one has to take it back to standard and sell the bling-bits separately. It follows therefore that it's not an investment and falls into the self-gratification or wanking category.

The Triumph is wanked in the seating and suspension areas and I get sufficient gratification from that. The DR however is a complete kaleidoscope of solitary sin.

The seat on my Honda (for instance) is fine, no problem with it, but sat on on the other day, one you guys may done actually and it felt fine also. Do I need a new seat?...not really, would be nice to have cool looking seat with pipping and embroided bits, but I cant see the point in it right now.

This is what I sadi in an earlier post Neal, love your way with words...
The DR however is a complete kaleidoscope of solitary sin.

One of the attractions of the Hornet 900 to me was that it is a good and easy platform to personalise.

Handlebars first..... turn signals (Honda ones were severely gay) ...... mirrors (goodbye Mickey Mouse)...... remove the stickers (I know I need to wear a helmet)..... muffler tips altered (good grief there is now a noise)....tail tidy in the works......hmmm seats a bit plain..........hmmm a wee hand beaten alloy flyscreen would be a nice project........then there is fancy springs .....

I enjoy it - my wife does not understand it.

Remember the factory made your bike as a mass produced item to met a budget and global regulations. Go on change a few things to make it yours.

If its done carefully you can always change it back to stock when selling (I have a growing box of Honda parts).

Not a huge outlay for excellent results.... keeping it simple. I dont like the mirrors on mine, they may have to change, I know exactly what my elbows look like!

[vifferman]

I enjoy it - my wife does not understand it.

Remember the factory made your bike as a mass produced item to met a budget and global regulations. Go on change a few things to make it yours.

If its done carefully you can always change it back to stock when selling (I have a growing box of Honda parts).

You sound much like me, Mr B. Even as far as "the wife does not understand it".
She made me buyt the bike, and it was the first bike I've had that was OUR bike. Then I started to "tinker with it" (her words), i.e., improve some of the things I wasn't happy with, and all of a sudden it wasn't 'our' bike anymore, and I was in trouble.
Heh... the reason I chose this particular bike in the first place (had a choice of about 5 VFRs) was because it already had some of the things I wanted to put on it, and wasn't sure if I'd be able to justify them, like the Satantune zorst and heated hand grips.
Nothing I've done to it is has been irreversible, and some (like disabling the PAIR valves) I've changed my mind about and returned to standard. Everything else (apart from the paint scratches and battle damage) has - to my mind - improved the bike in some way.

[Bonez]

Its it looked upon as an investment or is it more self gratifying?
Will leave expenditure out of it now.

More self gratifying more than anything else .

You can come out even or close to getting your money back buying used. For example my GB400. I paid $1400 for it around three years ago. Apart from the normal things to keep it running and road legal I've spent naff all. Goes everywhere I need to go. Its on its second set of tyres and I've done 30,000kms on it so far, around town and long distance stuff(done 20,000kms plus on the CX which cost me $300 and a bit on the 550f in that time as well). Market value is around the $1200-$1600. I'm not going to sell it as I've had a hoot of time on it as you know but I'm not going loose much if anything if I do sell it.

Basicly comes done to what you want from a motocycle. As long as you're happy doing the changes why not go for it.

[martybabe]

My bike is all about me, it's the only thing I own that's truly mine. I don't have the skills, money or facilities to make a bike, so I have to buy a mass produced item then set about making it the way I want. It needs to handle, stop and look the way I want it to, it's an on going and costly venture but it's my hobby, every time it improves, at least from my perspective, it makes me feel good. How many things do we own that we can say are better today than yesterday.

I think maybe, I have a desire to create my own bike, I've carried an image of that bike in my head for 40 years, till the day comes when I can make that bike I shall just keep on tinkering, polishing and 'improving' the bike I have.

So yeah, for me, self indulgence/gtatification but I enjoy it and I've sure as hell indulged enough people in my life time to deserve a little self indulgence.

[Roj]

Pretty much go for the self gratifying answer, I have to use a car for work so my bike is only for fun...

[MadDuck]

You buy a brand new bike, why not leave it as it is?

...because stock standard just does not have enough "bling"

[keithbuckby]

I think it is for personal satisfaction, my bike might look original now, and I am proud of that, but as time goes by I will change it to what I like (and as budget allows). after all beauty is in the eye of the beholder