Bikes, Hints'n'Tips > Fazer 1000/FZ1 corner

Fazer 1000 Suspension woes and more

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Tim270:
Hello gents!


Looking for some guidance.


I have a 1st gen 2005 fazer 1000. 30k on it, completely stock apart from a slip on.


Having a big problem since I got the bike, the front end is constantly bucking and juddering. Feels like having a chain with a bunch of hard spots in it(not the case), but I am pretty positive its the front forks. They cant seem to keep up with any small bumps in the road at all and giving a really jerky ride.


I have changed the oil (to 5w) and it helped a fair bit, but going softer on all the settings made it so divey during braking I had to adjust it back to being harder (and back to reacting to every tiny undulation in the road). When I rebuilt them, the fork caps had a bunch of witness marks somehow (??). The fork travel felt notchy at the top of the stroke pumping them by hand.





Is it worth rebuilding the stock forks with new bushings, or just bite the bullet and move to the R1 front end? I cant decide to if its worth throwing money at the stock setup to try and fix it or just move to new forks.


Any input would be much appreciated. Bike is intended for touring, It is basically a boneshaker even over smooth tarmac, throwing me out the seat over any serious pot holes (coming the conclusion to move to a better rear shock.) Im about 11 stone/70kg with gear if it helps.


Cheers!

unfazed:
Sounds like to much compression damping, try these as a base setting and work from thereFront: drop forks 5mm through yokes.
Compression: five turns back from max.
Rebound: six turns back from max.
Preload: maximum.
Static sag: 24mm.

Rear: compression three turns back from max.
Rebound: maximum.
Preload: 10mm of static sag

Stinka:
I just got mine sorted, it was dangerous . Had the forks rebuilt with stiffer ktec springs by bikerz in stoke. Firm but comfortable. Fitted early bronze s1000rr shock, easy job, and it’s awesome now. Rear is an inch higher too

kebab19:
General rule: the longer you're keeping the bike the more you should consider investing in the suspension.

Plenty of rear shock options all over this website.
Forks - if you stick with the standard compression / rebound damping units and standard springs, the front will never feel great no matter what way you twiddle 'em. There's the cheapo RavenRider fork mod but it sounds like your issues are coming from the damping as opposed to the fork springs.
Hyperpro springs and 2.5w oil (with reduced air gap of 130ml) is the best cheap option for the standard forks: probably £150 about but with 30k up on the clocks you might also need to replace the bushes & seals - more like £225.

If you spend more money you can go Racetech dampers & linear fork springs for around £400 (if you fit them yourself) or £600+ for or Maxton to re-do your forks. Disturbingly, Maxton appear to mod the standard damping units as opposed to replacing them with something superior.  K-tech use replacement damping units...
I rebuilt mine Racetech comp / rebound valves, bushes, linear springs & new fork seals but as you have to strip, change & modify the fork inners, it's not for the casual tinkerer. The modded forks are great now but it's a fair bit of effort.

After that your best option is a replacement front-end, but that ain't cheap either...

ogri48:
dude you need the forks cleaning out properly and new fork oil at the very least. At that age/miles if it aint been done the sludgy oil will be like grinding paste, and it will make the bushes wear the inner walls of the fork legs like a die grinder. If that happens they are scrap. Mines an 04, and its a yearly service thing now, and even with just 12 month old oil its focced. If you get them apart youll be able to look down the inside of the fork tube and see any distortion indicating wear. Best bet by far is to send the legs to Darren at MCT, he'll sort them proper.

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