First-mods R7 — the street stage 1 everyone argues about

First new bike I've ever owned, so I did the reading before I did the spending. Every R7 thread ends up at the same five-item list — tail tidy, sliders, levers, tank grips, slip-on — and the only real argument is the order. I went protection first, because the classic new-bike story is dropping it in a parking lot in month one, and a $110 set of sliders is cheaper than one fairing panel.

The middle of the list is ergonomics, and it's the underrated part. Levers because the stock clutch lever has two positions: too far and way too far for my hands. Tank grips because the R7's tank is slippery plastic and gripping with your knees under braking takes the weight off your wrists — eighty dollars, and it changed how the bike brakes more than any other line item here.

The slip-on is where I'll be honest the way nobody on the forums is: Akrapovič doesn't make one for the R7. The exhaust is one piece from header to muffler, so it's a full system or nothing — about $1,580 for the race version, twice everything else here combined, for 3 kg and a claimed 5.9 hp. I chose nothing, for now. The fender eliminator and flushmounts cleaned up the tail, which the R7 badly needs; keep your stock parts in a box for resale time.