Why you should definitely customise your motorbike

I get bored of things easily and motorbikes are no exception. After getting a new ride it isn’t long till my excitement fades and my love for the bike wanes. In recent history this is because I was on bikes that I was never truly in love with to begin with. They were good bikes, but I was biding my time while I saved my pennies for my dream (and current) mistress, the Tuono V4. But as I cast my mind back I can see a disturbing trend, I get bored of bikes I am deeply in love with too.

When I first started riding I had a few different bikes that barely lingered longer than a fart in the wind. But my original Tuono suffered the same waning fate and she stirred my heart like few others. Why? After years of wondering I think I’ve found an answer, I didn’t customise her.

When I bought my 07 Tuono she was everything I had ever hoped for. She was in fantastic shape, had a great set of cans and had only been in two relationships, you could say she was the perfect catch. I had her for a couple of years and the only thing I did was install an Ohlins rear shock. But while things had been going great to begin with, the honeymoon phase of the relationship eventually come to a close and things started to get stale. My Tuono was no longer that sexy new girlfriend who got my heart racing but an old brooding wife who’s love for me died after years of forgetting to take the rubbish bins out and looked at me disapprovingly as I cracked my 7th beer for the afternoon while killing time waiting for the MotoGP to start. I was a shadow of the man I used to be and I started to look elsewhere, bikesales.com.

Why did I start to look at other bikes? I had let things get stale with my Tuono, I had neglected her. I had always wanted a GP shorty exhausts for the Tuono but I never did. I could have freshened up the suspension and got it set up for me but I never did. I could have installed a quickshifter but I never did. I could have bought a rear seat cowl to clean up the looks but I never did. This isn’t to say that I wouldn’t have sold the bike eventually. But I can safely say that customising and personalising your bike makes you appreciate it and gives you a further sense of attachment.

Take Project CBR for example. Compared to the latest and greatest its a piece of shit. But if someone was to try put it down at the track I’d be offended. Why? Because I’ve built her from the ground up. While I only ride her once a month she isn’t a mistress but a long term girlfriend.

Recently I have been getting a little bored of my Tuono V4 but I won’t be making the same mistake I did years ago. This time I will be getting that new exhaust, the suspension set up and make the bike everything I want her to be. Down the track if the relationship is getting stale I’ll stop, reassess and think about what else I can do to rekindle that magic.

Keep it OnTheBackWheel people…