This is going to be a lot of fun, and chunks of it are going to be more than a little contentious if past experience is anything to go by. You will not believe how many ways there are to make your American-V perform better, and even more opinions as to what you should do, why you should do it, and what results you can expect.

So you want to get into the technical side of your bike, and many of us do. The froth and glitz of the machines themselves are all very well, but we all know that inside – and not always that deep inside – our machines is the potential for so much more, and this is where we deal with that.

In Performance Tuning we will be talking to anyone and everyone who has an opinion, and more importantly experience of putting together well-sorted machinery. It might be drag racing technology of street mods to bring out the best of your motor, but you'll already know, if you've gone this far, that there are as many views on how to do this, as there are people who've done it. It goes without saying that we accept no responsibility whatsoever for the resulting speed tickets, repair bills or court orders from the Noise Abatement Society.

Engine Development is another thing ... generally. A lot of owner/riders don't want to know the detail of the motor's evolution – or are already well away of it – and don't want to read it in every roadtest, so we'll hold it here. Starting off with CCE's 88 and 100-cube over-the-counter motors, and a detailed development history of the TwinCam 88, this will build into the best first place to look if you want to know what's where, and why.

The Chassis and Handling section is set aside as the area to deal with cycle parts: from simple swapping of forks springs and rear shocks for firmer, more controlled items, through to frame geometry theory. What can you do, what will it cost and what are the likely benefits. There's absolutely no point in having the ultimate street motor if the bike can't get round corners. Compare and contrast: Buell and Sportster ... I rest my case.