Congratulations on your new bike. Ask
Beekeeper all those questions, he should be able to help you to make your bike work well for you. The roads in SW MI have lots of good places to ride, and Allegan Co. has some topography to it that places like Mt. Pleasant in the center of the state doesn't. I bet you've been to the 'Little Red Barn' in Hickory Corners, the Gilmore Museum? There are some good roads in the Gull Lake area, not so-much for top-end rush, but up & down, and curves, I like M 37 too between Hastings and Grand Rapids, and around Yankee Springs Recreation Area.
Look for RaWarrior's sticky for new VMax owners, lots of great info.
http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=21240
SS braided brake lines and HH pads for the front should give you confidence in your brakes to work well all the time. Change your fuel filter, and you might consider doing the same to your forks, and adding Progressive Suspension or Race Tech fork springs (Race Tech is according to your 'ready-to-ride' weight, PS is one size fits all) and one or the other of RICOR, Race Tech, or YSS fork cartridge simulators, wave-washer stacks you use to replace the damping tubes' function, easy to do and that should help your front end greatly. Add a good pair of rear shocks in the 13" stock length (any shorter and you compromise your cornering clearance) and you should have the suspension good to be exuberant in the curves, and w/the benefit of added control.
I'd stay away from engine mods until you have at least a season of riding the way it is under your belt. It can benefit more from suspension tuning than from performance mods. And then there's the radial tire conversion, requiring at a minimum a new rear wheel, you can get by w/the stock front and a radial properly-sized to it. My suggestion for the front is to resist the urge to go wider in the front (if going to a radial), and get a stock width tire which is radial (when you add a radial at the rear) because the wheel is already a bit narrow for a radial tire, and going wider than stock will compromise the tire footprint even more.
People spend $$$$ on their bikes, but there's no reason to do that out of the gate. Ride it for a season, consider the mods I mentioned if your brake pads need replacing, and if you want to make some easily-accomplished suspension mods which will give you confidence in the bike. The only 'death-wobble' I know-of comes from worn or out of adjustment components and bad tires. A new pair of quality bias-ply tires will make your bike ride much-better, and those Battleax tires are a good choice. I use them, but as radials.
Read the stickys, lots of good info for killing wintertime evenings.
unk:......Tom.
