What we fitted and why

Bridgestone BT012SS £250 a pair

Bridgestone’s BT56SS replacement is ideal for fast road or track day riding. It’s stickier than the BT56 and therefore won’t last quite as long, but Bridgestone still reckons on 4000 miles from the average rear. They warm up faster and offer decent wet weather performance, too. They hit the shops this week and fit all modern sports bikes from a CBR600 upwards. See your local dealer.

Power Commander Kit £249.95

The purpose of Dynojet’s Power Commander is to provide perfect fuelling at all revs and any throttle opening on a fuel-injected bike. The system remaps the standard fuel injection three-dimensionally. This means it configures a new map at every rpm in 500rpm stages, and at 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 per cent throttle openings, to give the optimum air/fuel ratio.

Sprint Steering damper £260

Sprint’s 13-way adjustable damper fits over the tank just behind the top yoke. It allows full lock-to-lock turning and can be adjusted on the move. Dampers and fitting kits can be bought separately (each item costs £129.95). They’re available from most accessory dealers.

Aftermarket Exhaust systems from £735

Yoshimura and Akrapovic are synonymous with quality high-performance exhausts, so these were among our first choices when we started our hunt for extra power. Akrapovic is ahead of the field when it comes to the R1 – it’s the first firm to offer a full performance system for the 2002 model. The massive 17.3bhp gain from the £735 four-into-two-into-one conical race system is proof they’ve got it right. Yoshimura supplied the other two exhausts. The Blade gets a £907 RS-3 full system, which provides more power than many full systems for the same bike. And the £935 Tri-Oval TRS exhaust fitted to the GSX-R gave a meaty 12.6bhp gain, without being overly loud – though none of the cans featured are road-legal.