OntarioVStar

The emissions label on the inside lid of my trunk says to use 91 octane, but for the few cents more it costs, I always use Petro-Canada 94 octane, (used to be known as Sunoco Gold 94, and is only sold at stations that used to be Sunoco until Petro-Can bought them out a couple of years ago). The engine runs great, tons of power, excellent mileage and no worries about ethanol gumming up the works. I drop down to 91 octane in my lawnmower, snowblower and weed whacker, just to avoid the ethanol and only use 87 in my Impala because it's got the Flex Fuel engine, which is designed to withstand the negative effects of ethanol. All 87 and 89 octane gas has 5-10% ethanol in it now, and once you've seen what even that little bit of ethanol can do to an engine that's not designed for it, you won't buy anything less than 91 or 94.

You mentioned handling... While my bike was up on the bike lift when I was installing the Barons rear lowering kit, I checked the date the tires were manufactured, (week/year shown where the DOT stamp is). The front was only a couple of years old but the rear was 6 years old! To play it safe, I bought a new front and rear tire, but instead of replacing them with the same Dunlops, I bought a pair of Avon Venom-X tires, (sticking with the OEM sizes for both). This was based soley on good reports I'd heard about improved handling of the RSV with the Avon's. I bought the reinforced version of the Venom-X's, which Avon touts as being designed for heavy touring bikes and man, what a difference over the Dunlops, especially on the turns! Just some food for thought if you want dramatically improved handling and you happen to be in the market for a new set of tires.

I installed a Hagon rear shock last year that I ordered from Hagon USA in California, (which is run by world champion speedway racer Billy Hamill and his wife Christina). Great to deal with!! I got the upgraded version for about $469 + about $50 shipping (to Canada). Put about 3000 kms on the bike since the install and it works great. Also ordered a set of Hagon front fork progressive springs, which I hope to install before summer hits. As for brakes/rotors squealing with the OEM pads, get a set of EBC double H sintered pads. No more squealing and the bike stops on a dime!

I lowered my bike last year myself, not terribly complicated if you have a few hours to kill on a rainy Saturday. I installed the Barons 1" lowering kit on the rear and moved the forks "up" through the triple tree by the same amount. This way there's no change in the geometry, but it makes the bike feel 200lbs lighter. Another poster said it's like having power steering and that pretty much sums it up. It seems to drop the centre of gravity just enough to make a whole world of difference. I installed an aftermarket handlebar with Barons 1" risers, so there's no issue at all with the air valves making contact, (not to mention no more neck or back ache thanks to a decent set of bars). I'm 5'9" and I found the seat a little wide too, but I cured that by simply taking the seat off and removing the seat cover, then winding duct tape as tight as I could around the front section of the foam, (starting about 3" in from the very front of the seat), then stapled the cover back on. (Didn't want to slice the foam in case I ever sell the bike). One thing you'll need to watch though is the kick stand. With the bike sitting a bit lower, it stands up too high with the stock stand, so I just picked up a Road Star kickstand (with spring) for about $10 on ebay, but before you install it, put one end of the spring in a vice and put a screwdriver in the opening at the other end, then "bend" the spring so it opens up enough for you to insert some pennys or dimes in between a few of the curls in the spring otherwise you'll never get the spring wide enough to connect to the bike frame and to the hook on the kick stand. After you get everything connected, just lower the stand and the coins come right out. Hope this helps