04/19/2026
I‘ll explain more on this Gen 2 m-8 cylinder head photo at another time.
Why add performance products To your motorcycle?
To make it faster? Ok.
To make it more fun to ride? Terrific!
To beat your friends in a race? Great!
To have an impressive number on a piece of paper? Well that’s just stupid.
I’ve voiced my opinion on this before. The largely recent trend of the need for a dyno sheet with a number on it is disturbing. It’s the big topic and plastered all over the internet is (some realistic, some bogus and inflated, and some quite fanciful) dyno results like it’s some badge of honor. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy a good healthy engine and dyno number, but the dyno is, was, and always will be just a tool. A tool for tuning and development. The numbers themselves have relatively little to do with actual performance. (Shhhh, listen quietly and you can hear the keyboard warriors lose their minds and click-clacking away with hate).
I’ve just got done watching a video from Brian Lohnes called “Harnessing Hell” parts 1 and 2. That has inspired me to write this. He talks about clutch management of top fuel dragsters but the concept is the same. The engine horsepower was not the deciding factor for who won races. It was how much power made it to the ground and how good the driver could handle it.
Want to be laughed out of a room go to a group of racers and show them your dyno sheets and say that proves you are fast.
Back in the day there was not widespread dyno usage. You proved yourself on the street or better yet on the track. You practiced you skills (yes, skills). Tuned the car (motorcycle) for the track and conditions. You worked at it. Honed it. Perfected it.
Today. None of that seems to exist anymore. Some piece of paper says I’m fast so it must be true. Sorry. Real life doesnt work like that.
Im not saying don’t modify your bike. I’m saying modify it to fit you and what you are going to actually use it for. Don’t get caught up with internet dyno numbers. I’ve seen plenty of big powered bikes that were slow turds and/or riders that could not hope to utilize the power they had and spent crazy money on. Further, Big powered bikes usually mean big headaches as well. Just as with everything once you start pushing the limits of the design things like comfort, rideability, and reliability all go out the window.
My suggestion is to first practice being fast. Real practice. Preferably with some sort of timing system like a draggy unit or actual drag strip. Modify in stages getting use to working with each combination. Learn the bike. Learn what it wants and when. Strip weight away. I can’t stress that enough. There are so many bikes out there with 120-140 ft/lbs of torque that are so weighed down with garbage they barely move. Especially when not ridden correctly.
That’s why the picture of John Milner and Falfa racing. Falfa had the big dollar big horsepower car that he could not control and he wrecked. John wins with his small block and experience. That type of thing happens in real life. Don’t be a Falfa. Be a Milner.
