I also ran the bypass and stock pipes. The sound was altered to a little deeper resonance. Performance wise it didn't really improve until I got a Tuneboy and opened the secondaries up and got a better tune installed. That really let the ponies run. As to the sissy bar you should have your misses try out sitting on a model with a low and a high and see which suits her better. Where it hits her back will change if you change the stock seat to a touring gel. The GiPro is easy to install looking at other threads, but there's no standard mounting bracket. You might get hold of Flip at Flipmeisters and see if he's working on a bracket for the GiPro for Rocket bars. A fuel guage is only as good as the calibration. Triumphs fuel gage on my old Trophy was way off until I reset it. There are some "how to's" on resetting the gage so it is more accurate to the tank's volume. If you do most of your own wrench work you can set the bike up pretty inexpensively, if not, you'll be having the dealer do some pricey mods to make it suit you to a tee. Not to worry, it's worth every nickel.