We are the mods 2
I’ve been following Steve Cooper’s several comments about modifying modern classics with interest, as he and I are on the same wavelength. I certainly agree that if you’re owning one of these bikes to actually ride, rather than to show, there’s a lot you can do with greatly improved modern components to make your ride a lot more enjoyable – and safer – without ruining the original bike. But could someone tell the insurance companies? Try insuring a modern classic with a number of modifications (not engine work) and suddenly you neither qualify for the cheapest standard insurance policies, nor for classic policies either. You end up in the modified insurance category. And only a few companies will even quote for modded bikes… Now to my mind there’s a hell of a big difference between something akin to a streetfighter with extensive mods, bits which were never intended for that bike engineered to fit, engine work etc. and a 30-year-old bike which has had the knackered bits replaced (shock, exhaust, brake-lines etc.) replaced with modern aftermarket
components specifically manufactured to fit that model. Why don’t they see it that way? It’s about time the insurance companies caught up and accepted that people who want to use 20-30 year old bikes are highly unlikely to be riding them stock. The irony is that you can drastically reduce your insurance bill if you leave all the knackered crap on the bike and ride the deathtrap as it was made, but make it better and safer and you’re a higher risk! My own GSX-R750L is modded as such with better bits than the old, standard (knackered) stuff. Apparently that makes it ‘heavily modded’: DID any GSX-RS remain stock for more than six months?