When surfing the web and visiting I've come across some pretty radical bikes, but often it is very obvious some people have more money than sense.
This article has been written to prevent you from making the same mistakes.

- Aluminum brakeline fittings
Anodized banjo bolts may look very trick but corrosion weakens them dramatically. When exposed to the rigors of daily weather conditions they will corrode very quickly and eventually crack when not treated with WD40 after every ride, and eventually you won't. A while ago there's been a recall from Goodridge in the UK to have people trade their aluminum fittings for steel fittings (with lines ofcourse) because of the risk involved.

- Anodized aluminum bolts
These babies are so light you have to keep them from floating away. But you may never use them in stressed applications like yokes, bar clamps, handlebar clamps and rearsets to name a few. Better use stainless steel, or if you are desperate to spend money, titanium.

- Magnesium/racing wheels
We don't care if Carl Fogarty came up to you and gave you his three times world championship winning wheels. Don't put them on your road bike. Sometimes "Not for road use" makes sense. Magnesium weakens dramatically when it corrodes after some paint has chipped off. Besides the risk of the material racing wheels are weaker by design too. Some people remove the reinforcement seam running along the center of the rim to make them look more racy, but these are there for good reason. On a race bike it's all about inertia and unsprung weight while a roadbike needs strength. Don't tell me you never ride your bike onto the pavement. Lately I saw a homepage featuring a Hayabusa with Technomagnesio racing wheels owned clearly by someone with more dollars than brain cells. He talks about the lack of inertia but not a word about strength. People who sell these wheels to make a quick buck should have their shops burnt down!

- Racing discs
"I've bought these state-of-the-art 320mm discs with eight pot calipers and when you apply the brakes my eyeballs pop out against the inside of my visor, but they need some warming up before they bite". While racing on a closed circuit you're either accelerating hard or on the brakes and the brakes don't get a chance to cool down. That's why "standard" brakes often overheat on the racing track. But even when you're a very fast rider on the road the brakes get plenty of time to cool down on the straight pieces of road.
That's why you'd better get a good set at a breaker. The later Kawasaki 6-pots and Yamaha brakes with the blue anodized calipers are the best choice at time of writing, and make sure you get matching calipers and master cylinder!

Happy spannering and keep your money in your pocket before you've made use of your brain!