The conversation becomes quite straightforward, with only the results being conveyed.
“It improved dramatically,” “I should have done it sooner,” “Unbelievable performance,” and so on.
But when you only hear the results, it can feel like something that was at 100% performance suddenly jumped to 150%.
So? What was it like in the first place anyway?
I think the same applies to everything.
“I made a lot of money the other day.”
That kind of talk.
First, how much is “a lot”? And compared to what is it a gain? It’s very difficult to say.
When you only hear the results, you often just think “oh, I see.”
Spending money tends to make you a believer
I think everyone experiences this. It can’t possibly be bad…
I paid so much money for it…
It must just be my poor taste.
When you spin negatives as positives and promote them, it spreads like ripples.
Basically, take stories at less than face value—use them as reference only.
Even manufacturer claims are better taken with a grain of salt.
Not everything has been personally seen and experienced by one person. Even numerical data might differ between inspection time and production time.
Remember the Kobe Steel falsification scandal a while back?
It’s reassuring to remember that humans do this work, and nothing is ever perfect.
Custom modifications you can’t go back from
When placebo effect kicks in hard, humans end up liking everything.
It’s a common story with soft wear items—”it improved dramatically after replacing it.”
You hear it a lot with spark plugs, engine oil, and air filters.
Spark plug replacement is interesting when you compare different types.
Install a new standard plug, then a new iridium plug,
then standard again, then iridium again—that kind of comparison would be more credible.
Of course it should feel better going from an old plug to a brand new one.
This works fine with reversible parts, but many things can’t be undone.
Human perception is pretty unreliable too—we tend to beautify things we liked.
You know how it is? You remember some taste from long ago…
But when you actually eat it now… it’s different.
Whether the standard was better or the old suspension was better—it’s all feeling, so it’s really hard to say.
At our shop we work on a lot of similar bikes, but honestly, each individual one feels different. Even with identical maintenance, they don’t turn out the same—it happens all the time.
Motorcycles, being collections of parts, deteriorate over time.
If it runs normally, I think that’s fine.
Sometimes I’m surprised to see people riding in a state that’s not normal…
It’s really tricky (´∀｀*)ufufu
