Show me da bling!

These days when I wander through a bike shop admiring the objects of beauty – and no I’m not talking about the sales staff! I find the bikes appeal just as they are, with the possible exception of many exhausts. Why is it that exhausts just seem to get uglier and uglier these days? Ker..ching – Akrapovic designers/engineers must be in seventh heaven whenever a new set of wheels comes out and their beauty is marred only by the equally stunningly bad looking exhaust lol.

When I bought my Fazer I thought he looked great as he was -even the cans or rather their external coat looked pretty nice. The fact that my hair dryer sounded louder was just a minor detail that could easily be cured by a nice set of Akrapovics.

As far as I could tell, that was all that was needed … yeah right 😉 If anyone had told me that I’d spend almost two and a half grand on parts alone I would have fallen on the floor laughing. Yet little by little it’s been necessary to my comfort, safety, and ok I’ll admit, down right vanity, to change a little thing here and a little thing there.

 

First it was the seat – and to be honest that was a necessity. There should be a law against manufacturers being allowed to classify a plank of wood covered in wafer thin sponge as a “seat”. I knew EXACTLY whenever I hit the 49miles mark on any route as the fidgeting from loss of sensation in my arse was excrutiating!! Make way for the BAGSTER comfort seat. Not only did this bad boy come with gel in all the right places, but I was enchanted to find I could choose from a variety of colours, trims and writing! Yep I was in seventh heaven – and my bum has always thanked me 🙂

Then I got tired of having to say a prayer every single time I braked…and nothing happened for what seemed like an eternity (ok maybe three seconds!) so braided hoses it was.

This was quickly followed by not one but three different changes to lights – first there were smoked lenses for the indicators, then I went for clear lenses and finally I decided that the actually size of the lights was something Dumbo would have been proud of and went for mini indicators! Temptation then followed when I happened to be at the NEC one year – and a company just happened to be bringing out tail lights with built-in indicators. Well how could a girl resist 🙂

Truly beauteous bits and pieces have made their way onto my baby including a colour coded hugger, belly pan, radiator cover and fender extender. Winter arrived and I got tired of the lack of cover from the standard screen and went for a PUIG touring screen, then as soon as winter was over, sought out a PUIG double bubble, first in black before preferring the light tinted one 🙂

I’d like to say it ended there but there are some things that a girl just cannot be expected to live without…and the icing on the cake has to be my heated gear – WHY should I be cold???, the Autocom system for my SatNav – well when you’re as geographically challenged as I am it’s a necessity! Of course a Scottoiler as I truly hate lubing the chain and the piece de resistance – a Stebel Nautilus Compact Air Horn!! At at 139 decibels and road legal compared to a usual motorbike horn of 110 decibels,  it CERTAINLY gets the attention of idiots who want to pull out in front of you lol 🙂 🙂

Final addition was a Baglux tank cover and a SHAD top plate and topbox – having already tried out two sets of panniers, five tailpacks, three magnetic tank bags and three bagster rucksacks – Well finding the right combination of luggage is vital 😉

And to think I almost forgot – I’ve got heated grips courtesy of my family 🙂 Does bling count when you haven’t paid out for it? Have I finally reached the end of my search for bling??? Hmmmmmm it’s definitely a case of wait and see!

It’s clear that I am not the only one afflicted by the need to personalise my pride and joy.  I got sent some pics by friends who are very proud of the changes they have made to their bikes and  I am pleased to be able to put some of them up on this site.

Why not share what you think about blinging your bike? Take part in the poll and let’s find out 🙂

Ride safe 🙂