Forum Research - The History of the Falco

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Forum Research - The History of the Falco

#1 Post by D-Rider » Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:18 pm

Background:
It has been suggested by Fausto that we pool our knowledge and document the history of the Falco - as best as we can piece it together.
This will help us understand the (minor) differences between models and act as a reference as to when changes were made.
I guess it could expand to commonality with the mille from which it was derived.

How we can do this:
Inevitably, threads where we pool our knowledge become a bit of a mess so the intention is to have this thread to collect and discuss our understanding and once we have some useful info, I'll collate it and put it into a new thread.

If we're to make this as good as it could be, then everyone's knowledge is important - please post up what you know - with links to pictures or other evidence of facts
Please indicate your level of confidence of "facts" - that will help us to identify which things are uncertain and where we need to confirm things.
Also, if you disagree with some info please don't be afraid to say so - we want to get this as accurate as we can - don't be afraid to challenge the views of established members if you think they are wrong - I've seen some generally accepted "Falco truths" exposed (such as the myth that you can't fit a Falco-specific Ohlins shock with a mille swingarm).

I guess were primarily after facts about the standard Falco rather than mods .... but we can start work on them once we've got the history sorted.

Lets get to it !

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#2 Post by D-Rider » Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:22 pm

I've had a quick think of things we might include.
I'm sure I will have missed things so please add to the list.

For all of these things we need more details and dates, pictures and anything else we can think of.
  • Falco start of Production

    Falco end of Production

    Falco basic spec sheet - dimensions / power / torque etc

    The oil pipe recall

    The sidestand switch upgrade

    The intake snorkel change

    The change from Showa to Marzocchi forks

    The rumoured upgrade of the blue Sachs shock

    The change of switchgear

    The removal of the switch to turn the headlight off

    Colour variants - including when the frame was coated rather than polished. I've got a link that shows the colour variants - need to identify which were sold where

    Graphics changes

    The USA / rest of world stands

    Other market variants (eg California emissions stuff, different intake restrictor plugs, different headlight variants etc)

    The clutch upgrade

    The oil grade service bulletin

    Rumoured improvement in seat comfort

    Clever details like the luggage strap points doubling as swingarm bobbins

    When they stopped including tank props with the bike as standard

    The Falco Fighter kit

    Falco Official Luggage kit

    The official shock remote pre-load adjuster

    The Falco R (USA marketing exercise)

    The nordics market snow chains

    The oil filter / oil filter housing change

    The Official SL cans.

    The upgrade of the slipper clutch one-way valve

    Starter relay upgrade (to another that still not that good)

    The clutch oil jet upgrade (75 to 60)

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#3 Post by Aladinsaneuk » Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:31 pm

the grey import stuff - re headligthts etc

the performance bits - as in the official derestrictions that dealers did - the whys and the reasons for it etc


specific oils used for year/colour

clutch oil jet is up to 40 btw :)


Let's face it, you wouldn't go to a nurse to get good advice on a problem with a Falco - you'd choose an Engineer or a mechanic...


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#4 Post by D-Rider » Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:37 pm

Aladinsaneuk wrote:the grey import stuff - re headligthts etc

the performance bits - as in the official derestrictions that dealers did - the whys and the reasons for it etc


specific oils used for year/colour

clutch oil jet is up to 40 btw :)
Nope the 40 oil jet was never a standard Falco part - it was introduced with the new shape RSVR engine.
In my opinion this should be categorised with the mods from other Aprilias stuff - eg the various shock and swinger options.
I see this as a phase2 - we need to concentrate on the standard stuff first or we'll loose our direction.
As I say, just my view.

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#5 Post by Aladinsaneuk » Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:57 pm

fair does on that view


Let's face it, you wouldn't go to a nurse to get good advice on a problem with a Falco - you'd choose an Engineer or a mechanic...


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#6 Post by paddyz1 » Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:22 pm

Add this to the list


Throttle body linkage upgrade/update??

I have seen this on Aprilia Yorkshire but i don't know anything about it or if it is standard fit on later falco's.

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#7 Post by D-Rider » Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:29 pm

paddyz1 wrote:Add this to the list


Throttle body linkage upgrade/update??

I have seen this on Aprilia Yorkshire but i don't know anything about it or if it is standard fit on later falco's.
New one on me too (you got a link?)- yep, one for the list.

Going to be a challenge trying to find out more about these things.

Think we'll get as far as we can from those of us here ... but then I've a cunning plan forming to try to sort out some of the things we don't know ....

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#8 Post by wavey » Fri Apr 03, 2009 12:45 am

Good idea, sort of a one stop info shop.

How about a brief history of Aprilia as an intro, similar to but shorter than these

http://www.aprilia.com/en-US/Pages/Company/History.aspx a Piaggio biased history

http://www.speed-sports.com/aprilia/history.html

http://www.motorcycle.com/manufacturer/ ... cycle.html



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#9 Post by Falcopops » Fri Apr 03, 2009 12:34 pm

Here's a datasheet I captured years ago. I've got it in PDF format that I converted to this jpeg to get it on photobucket, let me know if you want the pdf emailed

Image

Here's a direct link to the photobucket image

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#10 Post by D-Rider » Fri Apr 03, 2009 1:44 pm

Cheers Dale .... and a picture of a blue one like yours at the top too.

jpeg quality not fantastic but still readable - maybe I'll have a word with Martin and see whether he can host some of the stuff (like linked pdfs) on his website - I think it could be a good thing for both his website and the forum.

EDIT: Ah, just looked - this is already on Martin's website - we'll link to it there
:smt003 :smt004

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#11 Post by Aladinsaneuk » Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:00 pm

colours

i think this is the correct order of them but as for the years....

Black 1999/2000
Red 2000/2001
Silver 2001/2002 ?
Blue 2002/2003 ?
Yellow 2003?
Bronze 2004?
Green 2005?


Let's face it, you wouldn't go to a nurse to get good advice on a problem with a Falco - you'd choose an Engineer or a mechanic...


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#12 Post by Falcomille » Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:25 pm

Mine's Yellow, 02 on the plate but the label on the frame near the battery has a hole punched in 01....

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#13 Post by paddyz1 » Fri Apr 03, 2009 4:07 pm

D-Rider wrote:
paddyz1 wrote:Add this to the list


Throttle body linkage upgrade/update??

I have seen this on Aprilia Yorkshire but i don't know anything about it or if it is standard fit on later falco's.
New one on me too (you got a link?)- yep, one for the list.

Going to be a challenge trying to find out more about these things.

Think we'll get as far as we can from those of us here ... but then I've a cunning plan forming to try to sort out some of the things we don't know ....
Item 2 'throttle body revision kit'

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#14 Post by D-Rider » Fri Apr 03, 2009 4:31 pm

Cheers Paddy


As for the colours, this one answers that (although the black and red probably need revising to '99 .... not sure when the grey {or as people call it, silver} one was introduced - I'm guessing that it was probably 2001 along with the blue and YellowDuck's special):
http://www.twowheelparts.nl/home/defaul ... 00&lang=nl

Image
Last edited by D-Rider on Fri Apr 03, 2009 11:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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#15 Post by Fausto » Fri Apr 03, 2009 5:07 pm

I asked ....

I got.....

I thank you.

One thing I am not sure about. The brake lines. I recall having read that they are of a superior construction and so don't need replacing with braided hoses after a few years. Am I right about this? Certainly my 8 year old pipes work well enough.
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