Growing electrical issues

I got a 99vfr last summer and the guy had done of bunch of upgrades to it which is what caught my attention. Mostly for the seat and raised bars but there was also a bunch of other stuff like a louder horn, better shocks, windshielf, exhaust, mirros, chain, and some unnecessary stuff like an iphone charger and an auxiliary power input. But he must not have fully known what he was doing cause a month after having the bike Ive been having issues with it killing the battery. At the end of the season it died on the highway and basically I slowly lost lights and eventually my gauge needles just dropped and then the bike died. I left it all winter, got a new battery and it seemed okay again but the speedo and rpm gauges still dont move and my lights are going again. Basically I have no lights at all unless I turn on my highbeams and then I still have no brake lights so I stopped riding it and Im in way over my head for fixing it myself.

My guestion is whether I should go to a dealer or find a local mechanic and hopefully save some money. I live near the gta in ontario. I had a guy take a quick look at it and he said its most likely got to much stuff drawing power off the battery and he said some things didnt look grounded properly and other things looked odd so Im hoping it will only be some smaller rewiring and not cost too much.
I sure know how to pick em the reason I bought the bike ends up being the reason I shouldn't have.

No expert here (they'll post later), but it sounds like a wiring issue primarily.  I didn't want to do any of the work myself, but did it and learned a ton.  Get a good multimeter, start reading threads and test all your connections.  It'll take a few weekends if you don't know what you're doing, but you'll be confident in the bike you get as a result.  

If you take it to a mechanic, most of your money will be spent on diagnostic time and if they have to do tedious rewiring.  Frankly, as the VFR's wiring wasn't great in '99 anyway, you're better off not having a mechanic replace with OEM and instead improving the wiring yourself.  Again, there's many threads on this and I did a bit of improving the connections and grounding myself.

Ya the thing is I live in an apartment with almost no tools or space to do it myself and feel like Id rather have it done in a day and pay then mess around myself and not really be sure I can go out all day without something happening.

Paul, based on your response to realist and understanding your situation; I'd humbly recommend going to a good independent.  One I can recommend is Z1 Cycle.  They are north and east of Mississauga, but they always did excellent work on my 5th gen when I had it.  They know VFR's and can do everything on them.   If they can't sort it, I'm sure they can advise who can.   Hope this helps.

http://www.z1cyclete...aintenance.html

Many people here tried to convince me to do it myself.  I won't try to do that other than to say, give the mechanic an hour to diagnose and check in with you before they go further.  In all likelihood, they'll find the problem in less than 30 minutes and then count the diagnosis cost to the repair.  If it's essentially a simple fix, but tedious, you can decide if you want to take it on.  If it's just wiring, it'll depend what wiring needs the help.  Some are easy to get to and close up the bike if you have to quit for the day.  Others, not so much.

Thats a good idea. Ill go to Z1 cycle thanks for the shop tip. Ill have them check it before I go full out and pay them. The shop in streetville had a change of owner and the new guy I talked to a few weeks back said he wasnt familiar with VFRs so I had no intention if giving him the bike. Z1 sounds good. Maybe they'll find its something small that I can play around with myself.
thanks guy!