Things you've bought for your bike that have surprised you!

[KungFooBob]

I was surprised that the fake carbon fibre top yoke protector I bought didn't instantly add 15bhp.

[Cousin Jack]

MRA screen for the VFR, in place of the double bubble it came with. Massive improvement in comfort at speed.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

A Yoshimura slip on exhaust for a YZF750, it knocked at least 10mph of the top speed, which wasn't the desired effect and was surprising for an expensive exhaust.

[Bigyin]

The thing with suspension is that the bike manufacturers have no idea who is going to be riding the bike, so set it generically for a 10/12/14st rider, unless you buy a Yamaha, who set the front for a 10st rider and the rear for 2 up!
They build in the cost factor for you to change it, otherwise having a bespoke set up for every owner would push the costs through the roof!

The Multistradas with adjustable front preload come out of the factory with less than a full turn put in so it dives on the brakes like a U boat captain hearing "ALAAARM!!!!" .Through the owners forums they suggest 1 full turn for every 15kg of rider weight then back it off half a turn. Guess what, it works to transform the bikes handling and makes it so much more settled on turn in as well. The factory setting would be fine for a small child never mind a tiny Italian test rider.

The rear end comes out of the factory too soft as well but i upped that using the electronic adjustment as there isnt a manual adjustment. A lot of owners change out the rear shock for aftermarket replacements.

[Whysub]

I've said it before, best bang for buck mod I've ever made to a bike was ductile iron front discs on my old Fireblade, The difference was astounding on track.

Had iron discs combined with Harrison Billet 6 pot calipers on my RR-S 'Blade. F***ing awesome.

[Whysub]

A £23 end can from AliExpress on my 1997 CBR600 to replace the standard endcan. Weight saving was immense, sound difference very little. Still looked good after commuting through a winter.

[The Spin Doctor]

Petrol. Put some in a GS500 that hadn't run for eight years and after spinning it over a few times, it started up.

Turned out that the 'big blow up' which had brought the bike to a halt spewing clouds of smoke had been fuel contaminated with diesel.

I only found out years later when I drained the tank and chucked the old fuel into my current bike, and found that bike also stopped in a cloud of smoke. Suitably diluted with fresh fuel and a new battery, the 'dead' bike started again. I did another 50 or 60k miles on it before it dropped a valve for real!

[Scootabout]

Malossi variator kit for the Burgman 400 made it a lot more lively, especially from take-off. It released the full 32 bhp

+1 for Nitron, on the Tracer 700, although I found getting the suspension right on that bike quite difficult and was still fiddling with it when I crashed it - no, not literally, or else that would indeed have explained the crash.

Powerbronze screen with extension, and 'mouse ears' (you need to be in the know) for the V85TT, has made 70+ mph cruising much more comfortable.

[Ian]

Honda 175 twin front wheel with twin leading shoe brake which I fitted to my Bantam. What surprised me was going over the handle bars because I forgot to attach the torque arm