ust to recap..
had a year old cb1300 04 back in 05 that handled superbly. on sticky Pirellis it even lapped a few cbr6s in the twenty minute laps at a rockingham trackday
fast forward to this year and I bought a nice clean 14,00o mile 13 that's runs superb and handles pants.
tyres are past tjeir best, but theres definitely something more to it.
ridden in isolation its okish (sorta) but if I go out on me gen one fazer thou (mct set up front and back, uprated springs front and back) then jump on the cb I nearly bin it on the mountain road down into wales.
So today, finally, I get it to mct and Darren unearths some nasties..
First off, water has got under the dust seals and rusted/expanded the metal in the seals along with coating the circlips in white gunk. seals are still holding, but wouldn't have done for much longer. secondly, the left hand leg is in an appalling state internally, whilst the right is typically (for a honda apparently) pretty good. turns out the seals are different, one isn't oe, and whoever changed it (probably not long after it was new according to Darren)then used cheap fork oil that over time became more and more congealed until it quite literally turned into grinding paste consistency. so ive got one leg that's got 14k wear and another that's got 114k wear on the slide and guide bush. they are fooked, well past the wear limits.
at least I know why it was so bad..
anyhoo, its all good. mct has as always, all quality parts in stock, everything is cleaned, polished and re assembled with new parts, quality fluid and new springs (Darren checks the old springs on a specialist machine to calibrate and determine the exact spec so he knows where to go to with the new ones)
air gap set, settings done, static sag checked and its tickety boo.
rear shocks...didn't need anything other than setting up properly (ive always been crap at doing my own suspension) and its test ride time.
I honestly havnt got the words..
bill came in at £435, and honestly, its worth tha twice over. its a new bike. and now a bloody handy tool too..
anyhoo, heres the specs in case its of any interest...just gotta get new rubber now...
