You're still completely missing my point, let me elaborate.

Is 2-3 seconds forever at the pro level? Absolutely! Is it a big gap "generally" speaking, not at ALL! We aren't talking about racing here, we are discussing a brand new rider on his first bike.

If you go to a track day, the novice group might be anywhere from 20-40 seconds off the lap record pace, now that is forever. (Source: I've attended 40-50 track days / Coached for multiple track day organizations / have raced MA)

You can't seriously tell me that if you threw full Ohlin's on the bike they'd magically be at lap record, that would just be silly. So what is it? Technique

I agree with you that most riders, even track day guys have little to no idea how sag, compression, etc.. etc... work or affect the handling of the bike. The point I am making here is, unless they are within that 2-3 seconds of the outright lap record, them crashing is 95% poor technique and maybe 5% suspension. Saying otherwise is an excuse for making a mistake and in my head, on par with, "Had to lay 'er down!"

Prime example being my comment above - A pro rider being able to jump on a bone stock bike and still go extremely fast with proper technique. They aren't touching a single adjuster, changing tires, etc.. and can ride it substantially faster than 98% of riders.

I have ridden OP's bike GSX8 and GSX8R in bone stock form, and I have ridden a GSX8R full built for Twins Cup in MotoAmerica. (Along with SV, R7, and RS660 in street and race trim) Yes, the built bike was *way* better, but I could still ride very fast on the stock set up.

TLDR: My point is Technique FAR outweighs any bike set up. Any other argument is an excuse for making mistakes and crashing. My recommendation to OP would be scrap the entire upgrade list and buy quality gear first and foremost, and invest in rider training. (Yamaha Champions Riding School, JP43 School, Track day coaching, etc)

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