All I know is that I started riding on the street a LOT more last year compared to this year. That being said any day with no snow is amazing for me .
Yeah you got suckered in to some of that for sure. I agree about the tires aspect. But brakes and suspensions, although very important, on modern sport bikes they are all good. If you want to do track days cheaper and not spend thousands on upgrades, all you have to do is have a suspension tuner dial them in for your so everything feels as it should. Most charge around $40-$50 for that because it only takes half an hour to set sag and put your compression and rebound damping in a decent spot. But yeah, I've seen guys that run not just A group, but at the top of A group on bone stock bikes, except for they put a set of good DOT's or slicks on.