| Pretty much confirmed what I'd thought myself. After all, if I'd wanted something to cover in tasteless brightwork I would've bought a Harley or a Gixer that I could've covered in purple anodized bolts.
I wouldn't want to do anything that spoiled the essential character of the bike, but I have already started collecting a few bits. My thinking was to spend money on performance oriented upgrades first and when they're sorted I will turn to the cosmetic bits.
The first thing that I noticed when I rode the bike was that the brakes felt truly awful after the one-fingered stoppers that I've got on my ST (where I've got upgraded P34 callipers on it) and I had a couple of moments where I outbraked myself when I forgot that I need at least half as much braking distance again as I do on the ST. So I've now got master cylinders from an ST4S that look the same as the originals but will pump more fluid. I've also splashed out on a set of billet brembo callipers, so hopefully I will have complete confidence in the brakes once they're fitted.
I felt it was slow to turn in so I've got a little job dropping the forks through the yokes by about 12mm - which is free at least. If that's not enough I'll add some of those ride height adjusters to the rear. I'll also try and get the suspension K-tech'd if I can afford it for handling nirvana - cos I suspect that well set up Showas etc are probably just as good as Ohlins for riders like me.
I would love a set of lighter 5 spokes, but I'm still a bit suspicious of mag wheels and their corrosion resistance - I don't want to get paranoid checking every tiny scratch for corrosion so I will probably make do with ally (although they probably won't offer any advantage weight wise over the standard 3 spokes). I quite like carbon wheels but I think they're out of keeping with the bike - and bloody expensive.
In an ideal world I would like to track down a crashed ST4S like the one bike-enders were flogging on eBay. Couldn't afford it at the time but I'm saving pennies. Then my ST2 can wear all the 4S suspension, wheels, ally swingarm and Ohlins and I'll have a 4S engine...hmmm...wonder what i could do with a 4S engine, any ideas Rob?
After that, a set of high level Sils, a nice set of rearsets and a QB seat unit...plus a set of track bodywork and I'll be happy.
It may end up costing me as much as an SP4/5 in the end, but the way I see it I should get SP performance levels without having a bike that was so rare that i'd feel I had to ride it with kid gloves  |