How to best give older bike “tight/new” feeling?

[newgensti]

I would also consider that frames stretch over time.. Race teams hand pick frames that are all close to the same and swap them out at intervals. Some practice on the fresh chassis and race on them once they have a few hours and settle into the sweet spot. Guys putting hundreds of hours on a chassis are ultimately stretching them out and changing the geometry. A few mm can change the handling and feel for sure. The bikes become more chopper like the longer they are run and this completely changes how the forks work as they will want to bind more the more raked out they become.. You can replace every bushing, bearing, seal, fluid on the bike and it will never be just like new because of this. You average rider is not using anywhere near the potential of the bike though so its usually a moot point.

To get it as good as you could I would do all the suspension bushings and bearings to start, servicing suspension regularly makes a huge difference. Learn to do it yourself and save a ton of money.. When racing I rebuilt my forks and shock every 20 hours or earlier if they started leaking. One mud race is all it takes to get dirt under your seals.

Setting front forks correct on the axle and torquing all front end components is huge for feel too.

Basically for feel, if it moves or pivots it needs attention regularly.

[singletrack56]

Muffler repack, new top end, sharp teeth on foot pegs, replace shifter tip.

[RodC]

Suspension maint as everyone else said.
Grips
Throttle cable
Foot brake tip

If there is slack in the clutch or brake lever, correct that.

Check all the bearings and joints for the rear brake pedal, those get a lot of slop.

New fluid for the brakes, and rebuild the master cylinders if needed.

Rebuild both master and slave for the clutch. Upgrade to the new style 9.5 MC if you dont have it.

[KTMKim]

Give the bike as much love and attention in your maintenance program as you do riding the piss outta it!

[Irishcoffee]

I just replaced the crank and bearings in my 19 yr old CR250. Made a noticeable difference.

[Fred Garvin]

Check and Re torque as necessary any/all hardware. Check for loose spokes and re balance both wheels. Dry Slide cables and lube all pivot/moving points. New chain/sprockets if necessary and replace the swing arm/chain guide. Plus all of the good ideas from above.

[Weekend_warrior]

I would go through the chassis and replace any bearings with play (linkage,swing arm, shock, stem, wheels), rebuild suspension, new rear break lever pad, new shift lever end, go with sharpened pegs or new as well as grips. As for the motor a fresh muffler repack and top end will give it back that snap.

[Picklito]

Fresh suspension and tighten/true the spokes. The wheels DO get soggy, and the new bike feel goes away.

[P-Schrauber]

Regular maintaince and the bike will always feel fresh.

Most important and neglected parts are in my experience the steering steam and the swing arm bushings.
Then rear suspension bushings and bearings which will last as the steering steam und swing arm bearings if they had been cleaned and relubed with fresh grease.

Then the wheel bearings and a look at proper tensioned spokes do the job too.

The firm suspension of a new bike can only be found again with new seals and in case of the fork with an additional professional grinding and new seals and gliding bushings.

If the engine does rattle then you have exceed the service and maintaince limits to far, the same if there is a feelable gap between joints of the bike.