Best Sportbike Mods

Sportbikes have come a long way since the Suzuki SRAD days for sure. Still, the reality is there are still a few essential mods any rider needs to do before they spend any real time in the saddle. With this quick tutorial, Van runs down his "Top 5 Must Have Sportbike Mods" to help you get your bike all dialed in and ready to ride.

Wrenching on your own bike is one of the core principles of sportbike ownership and STG is here to help whether you are a newb or an ASE certified expert. End of the day you would be amazed at what can be accomplished with a basic set of tools, proper motivation and an ice cold six pack.

Mod #1 is so important you should order the fender eliminator BEFORE you pick up your new bike and install it in the parking lot of the dealer. Over the years everything on the bikes has gotten smaller except the rear fenders (pretty sure they are bigger now than they were 15 years ago). If you show up to a group ride or bike night with a stock rear fender on your new bike there is a 67.3% chance you will be asked to leave. No worries, STG is here to help you avoid all possibly uncomfortable moments associated with a stock rear fender.

We offer fender eliminators from several manufacturers: Competition Werkes, Driven Racing, Graves, Hotbodies Racing, Vortex, Yoshimura and more. If you do not see what you are looking for on the site please reach out to Team STG and we will dial you in. Each of the brands we offer has their own style and offers a different look. We have several Fender Eliminator Install Videos on the site.

If you are reading this and you don't have a maintenance charger installed on your bike, stop what you are doing and order one right now! The reality is most of us do not have the opportunity to ride our bike as much as we would like. Periods of inactivity are tough on a battery and can find you in a no-start condition when you are all pumped up and ready to ride. Missing a ride because your battery was dead is no bueno and easily avoidable. Installing a maintenance charger on your bike extends the life of your battery, and helps to prevent premature battery failure.

We offer several options that will all get the job done. Prices start just over $30, making this a real no-brainer. The Battery Tender Junior 12V @ 0.75A and Yuasa Battery Charger and Maintainer are both excellent options for standard lead acid battry maintenance. If you are interested in a light weight lithium battery the Ballistic Performance EVO Power System comes with a charger and health monitor included to keep that battery ready for the next ride.

Sportbike exhaust systems have evolved right along with the other key performance categories. Stock OEM systems have gotten so good that the horsepower gains found with replacing it with an aftermarket system are not as big as they once were. The truth is, increased horsepower is only one of the many reasons most riders eliminate their OEM exhaust. We could get all technical and talk about torque curves or weight reduction but we all know the 2 best reasons to install a kick ass aftermarket exhaust are to make the bike look cooler and make more noise.

We offer exhaust systems from several manufacturers: M4 Performance Exhaust, Akrapovic, Graves, Hotbodies Racing, Hindle, Yoshimura and more. If you do not see what you are looking for on the site please reach out to Team STG and we will dial you in.

Just like your signifigant other sooner or later your bike will make a bad decision and throw itself on the ground. Installing a quality set of frame sliders can help protect those expensive OEM fairings, and increase the likeihood that you'll be able to just "pick it up and dust it off". If you are riding the bike on the street only, look for a set of sliders that stick out a bit from the fairings as this works best for driveway drops and slow speed stuff. For track day duty we recommend a slider with a lower profile as these perform better in high speed crash scenarios. Swingarm spools are also a must-have as they allow you to lift the back of the bike with a rear stand. Bar ends are a purely cosmetic mod but you have to admit they can really dress the bike up.

We offer frame sliders, swingarm spools and bar ends from several brands on our site. Woodcraft, Driven Racing, GB Racing, Vortex, Shogun and more can all be found on our site.

Replacing those rubber OEM brake lines with a fresh set of stainless steel braided brake lines will take the braking power and feel of your bike to the next level. This mod has the best overall performance and value ratio of any mod you will do to your bike period. Anyone who argues this fact either has no idea what they are talking about or they are just looking to wind you up a bit. Over the years we have installed several brake line kits on our STG Project bikes, covering the install and brake bleeding procedures.

Our go to brand for motorcycle brake line kits are Spiegler Stainless Steel Braided Brake Lines. Spiegler Brake Line Kits are custom made to order in Ohio with a short 1-2 day lead time before we ship them out to you. With a Spiegler kit you can choose the color of the brake lines, brake fittings and banjo bolts at no additional charge. The colored line kits are a great way to dial in the braking performance and style of your bike.