I have spent about an hour reading fork oil change threads 'cos I am considering changing the fork oil as it's probably never been done and should be quite easy.

With all that reading I have decided on K Tech's recommendation of 10W oil with 145mm air gap. My question is: do I or do I not need one of those damper rod holding tool thingies just to change the oil?

The manual says yes but some peeps are saying 'no special tools needed'.

The adjuster screws can be released but you'll need patience and a lube of some kind. Place a car jack or blocks under the exhaust, take the front wheel off the bike and rotate the bottom of the forks so that the adjusters face forward. This will allow the lube to run down into the adjuster. I would avoid wd40 as it swells the rubber seals. Use a large screw driver that fits well to avoid damaging the screw heads.
As suggested already you may need to apply heat to the adjuster.

Jim.

I was trying to avoid removing the forks so your idea means I won't have to. A recent track day highlighted a few things to do so while I do them I will try what you suggest.

This is a bit extreme but works in some cases, have you tried heating up the whole area while applying graphite penetrating spray..?

Got pics of the fork tube bottoms..?

I haven't tried this but it may come to it unless someone can advise about removing the whole thing.

No pics at the mo.

When I bought the my Gen1 it had a stainless rad guard fitted - lovely. However I recently found that the bottom screw lugs on the rad have broken and one of the pips on the top is broken too. It was about to fall off - the day before a track day too  .

I am thinking of tying the top of the guard to the rad mounts using stainless wire (maybe lockwire - is it suitable?) and the bottom lugs to the frame tubes. For this I am tempted to use cable ties as wire will damage the paint but will they stand the heat?

Any thoughts out there in Foccer Land?

I went out recently (first time for a couple of weeks). I noticed the front tyre felt a little soft. Feel came back so I didn't worry too much. Next day I checked the pressure and it was 10.5 . Are these tyres that strong? That is impressive. Usually I would notice when pressure drops 2-4 psi or so.

All done at last Hoorah . Now 16 tooth front and 46 tooth rear. Taken it out for a couple of spins today and here is what I have found:

At low speed the engine is less stressed so less cog swapping needed.

At medium speed not much change as the bike is fick as quck anyway.

At high speed the improvement in overtaking grunt is very noticable (big grin).

There are only two minor downsides:

I found myself looking for another gear once, only once mind.

I will have to get used to the fact that the speedo is now wrong.

All in all an excellent mod IMHO well worth it. And I have a nice gold coloured Renthal sprocket too  .

BTW For anyone else thinking of changing the gearing the chain length was ok but would not allow a third tooth added (I presume mine is standard length).

Thanks yoshiwolves. Finally got round to ordering them today. Slightly pricier than I would have liked but they were in stock!!!! 

Happy bunny 

36 mm

 

i put 2 on the back, reacts like a trials bike in the first 3 gears, but now always looking for 7th gear.

I presume chain length / wheel adjusters are ok with this?

Why do you want to lower the gearing? Must admit I'm confused by this.

Our Gen 1 1000 already feels geared too low as standard - it doesn't need to rev so highly at everyday road speeds to still have plenty of overtaking poke without having to drop a gear. Using it at the Nurburgring I didn't notice any shortage of acceleration/responsiveness, again on standard gearing.

So, I'm interested in what you want to get from putting a smaller sprocket on the front (other than slightly accelerated chain wear)?

I was just asking the question without feeling the need to justify myself  .

My thinking is this: unlike hijacker I mean woodwizard    I rarely do motorways or sustained high speeds. The vast majority of my riding is rural a and b roads. I totally agree there is no shortage of oomph in the old girl but given that the top speed is in the region of 170 mph the top quarter or third is never used. Therefore why not sacrifice some of this in favour of yet more acceleration?

I went out today and avoided using top gear and for me it was fine even on dual carriageways. I even figure that if I am bimbling along at 50 or so behind a queue I could change up and rest the engine a little.

Also I was at Snetterton this week and everyone pulled out of the corners faster than me (might well be more to do with me as a first timer).

I am still interested to hear from people who have done this mod.

I need to replace my sprockets on my 2003 Gen1 thou and I am thinking of lowering the gearing. Is a tooth down on the gearbox sprocket too much? Is the chain long enough to fit round a 46 tooth rear sprocket? Will it make the bike feel any different? Any thoughts in general?

BTW what is the size of the sprocket nut, please? Just need to make sure I have all I need before I start.

Waahaahaa!!! According to www.yamahamotorcyclespares.co.uk a complete outer leg from Scamaha is £387.97  .




I wish it were funny as I guess I'll have to remove the forks one by one and try to loosen the adjusters. Not a very impressive design flaw.


FWIW I have emailed Yamaha but am not expecting anything  .


Thanks for the info, steeeve66.

The fork compression damper adjusters are both seized on my Gen1. There have been suggestions about freeing them up but I am considering replacing them. The parts list I have does not show the adjusters so I have a few questions:


Do the whole assemblies just unscrew from, and then screw in to, the fork leg (surely they locate with some mechanism)?
Are they expensive to buy?
Does anyone have a parts list which shows them?


Have not started the job yet but the bike shakes it's head sometimes and I don't know where the adjusters are set  .