Cheers for the notes Trebus,


I think I am reaching the same point as you. I had a good run today constantly adjusting,


I found best for me, was reducing R6 shock to 3 preload only, reduced rb/compression too.


Front, 0 preload, and others way soft, with 10w oil, I think you are right, 7w oil + a little preload and dial in the comp/rebound is the best compromise.


Hopefully this is my last oil change


Still chasing, low speed jerkniess, on the MOT front wheel braking fluctuation came up same as the rear. from having poor powder coating, the discs were not put back flush, manually skimmed them and pulsing at the levers is pretty much undetectable now. Got me thinking though, the discs were a bit of bodge (remember I had to get the rear wheel helicoiled as I found they ruined one of the rear disc threads) Im wondering if they cooked the front wheel bearings in the oven and never replaced. I cant feel anything wrong with them doing the usual checks and nothing caught my attention with the wheel off, might just replace them anyway.


After that I can only think of fueling or chain. Front fork action does not feel bent, all appears good with straight rule.

Yeah im thinking of trying 5w again. Im on 10w (recommended by K-tech) but still the ride is too harsh, high speed damping is very poor, low speed is fine but the bike feels jerky around town.


So far im at 10w oil, forks 10mm drop, R6 rear shock. Settings are all near the middle of the range, preload setting 1/4 on the forks, not much preload on the rear. But I think I will get to the same point, slacking off the front, I just run into massive brake dive once the settings start to feel better.  Thinking of doing a caliper overhaul on the front and bleed them to make sure its all as good as It can be to help with the brake dive.


Im slowly backing off all settings as I ride but its still way out from where I want it to be. Every time I jump on and ride, my first sense is how jerky and unsettled the suspension is. My basic divvy is sadly a much smoother ride... I experience the 'magic carpet' feel a lot more on that, that the suspension is constantly working under me, the fazer I can feel every tiny bump/undulation and big holes are a massive bang and throw my out the seat a little...


Went through and pulled the plugs and HT leads today also, want to rule out its a ignition issue causing jerky feeling. All is fine there.


Found a few stuck links in the chain and worked those out, but cant feel much improvement.


I'd love to ride a stock one back to back with mine, to get a idea if this is the baseline, or I still have no found the issue on mine.

Sounds as though there’s an issue. Been laid up with old fuel?

I was thinking of reviving this thread yesterday. Was going to ask how the forks were? Got some k tech linear springs to fit in mine but still torn on doing a revalve. There seems to be no instructions available for the K tech kits despite being able to buy them.

Thanks for the replies guys.


Could be fuel, but my hunch is HT lead currently. Is there a best practice for getting at the plugs without removing the AIS/Rad? or best just to get on with it and drop the rad/ais to get in there.


I did't end up getting springs from K-tech, just bushes/seals/oil as I was going to wait to see how the R6 shock performed before doing front springs. I think once I get other issues sorted, I would be happy enough with just new springs in the front + the R6 shock. Its not perfect but most likely good enough for my need I think.

Pilot Road X's are well worth the money.


I am currently running conti-motions on the Fazer, a much more 'budget' tyre. 3k in and they have been absolutely fine so far, wet and dry. Not quite as good as PR X's in heavy rain, but that is reflected in the price (getting on half the price of road 5's). It really depends on what you want out of the tyres for the price. Long last commuting? Sport touring? Good weather scratching?

Cheers for that mate. Does seem like a minefield....




I think if I go for new internals on the stock forks im going to end up at the budget of R1 + springs.  So R1 seems to make the most sense then.

Right,


Finally got a MOT on it again after helicoiling the wheel/new disc/pads on the rear. Rebuilt forks back in, although K-Tech put a 10w fork oil in. Took it for about ~140 miles around the peak district.




Night and day difference from those knackered bushings... no more hard knocking through the bars and jerkyness. I am pretty happy with it now.


However, I can see down the road, wanting to improve the setup. I can really notice it wanting to run wide in tight corners, really have to consciously muscle into the turn more on some sharp bends. Now its roughly back to stock, id say for me, its still cant really handle small bumps/pot holes well at all, decent enough on good tarmac/fast roads, apart from the running wide in some circumstances.


up on Snake pass


https://puu.sh/E6sat.jpg

Bit of a update


Finally got to the forks after having to get 2x helicoils to put a new rear disc on it.


Ive split and cleaned them. Not as bad as I thought they might be, there is some burring on the stop and some small here and there but no big grinding marks.



https://puu.sh/E3Hqu.jpg



The old bushings were absolutely shot. (new on the left)




https://puu.sh/E3Hqs.jpg
https://puu.sh/E3Hqt.jpg

Now I want to reassemble but I am stuck. Haynes says simply put the inner with the damper rod/oil stop and put the bottom bolt in.... I cannot for the life of me get the bolt to bite the thread. Not the problem of the damper rod spinning, I cant even get the bolt in. Ive tried many times carefully placing them together with not much luck.


The other problem I found was 1 of the replacement bushings seems bad. The replacement lower bushing on one stanchion, will now not go into the leg without a huge amount of resistance, way too much, would require hammering in rather than pushing in by hand. These were pyramid parts, and while I got OEM fork seals, feel like I should have got OEM bushings too....


Debating to get a new bushing, or take it all to k-tech dissembled and get them to put springs in and rebuild them.

This problem is exacerbated by not changing the fork oil regularly and the wear becomes so bad that you can apparently feel knocking sensations coming through the forks, almost like the head bearings have gone?

Yes exactly, feels like bad headbearings or a chain with stuck links.


Yeah I think R1 front end is on the cards.... going to split and rebuild as I need it for a trip in a months time, ill update this thread with some internal pictures when I do it to see if/how bad they are.

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!