Most bike owners want to add a personal stamp to their machines. Aftermarket motorcycle parts make this easy no matter what your technical skill is. However before slapping on custom chrome everywhere, you want to have a plan. You want your bike to have a consistent look and feel, not a patchwork appearance.

Design the entire bike

As you shop for custom motorcycle parts, you will find a piece here and there that speaks to you. It might be a set of motorcycle fenders or chrome motorcycle tanks or something else. If you just snatch up these parts and slap them on the bike then you may have a cool spot here and there, but the overall image will be weak.

Instead, use these individual parts as inspiration for an entire design. Think about how each piece compliments the other, how they fit the lines of your motorcycle, and how they match the image you want to relate. A unifying theme makes the whole bike greater than the sum of its parts and will lead to a custom creation that will turn heads.

You don't have to have a complete design plan at this point but you want some idea of your goal.

Now that you see the whole, look at the pieces

Once you have a design concept, start mentally taking the bike apart.

Start with the front end. Replacing the wheels or forks will create sweeping changes in the look of the bike, but smaller details like axle covers add subtlety that really separates you from the crowd.

Move your focus along the bike to the engine, the dominant feature of the machine. Chrome motorcycle parts like lifter block covers really draw the eye and tell everyone that you aren't riding a stock bike. Of course the engine is more than just pretty and there are many custom motorcycle parts that will improve performance.

The other important component in this area is the seat. Unless the bike is just for show, you want to consider your comfort. Options for seats and handlebars can make riding your motorcycle an even greater pleasure.

Now move along to the back end of the bike. Here again you have both functional and decorative choices. You can add bags for cargo capacity, a comfortable seat for a passenger, or you can strip off the function and chrome out the back end to leave a dazzling final impression.

Shop for the right parts

Once you have the design details down, it's just a matter of finding the right custom motorcycle parts to fit. The custom job doesn't have to cost more than the bike did, either. You can find discount motorcycle parts that are high quality additions to your street machine.

Take the time to make a plan so you will have a bike that is an extension of your true self, not an off-the-shelf carbon copy of every other one out there.