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So I thought I'd start a thread summarising my work over the winter on my Falco, both for my own benefit and hopefully for others as a reference.

I haven't ridden her for over a week and with the weather being so cold, nights so dark and the usual Christmas goings-on I thought I'd start my work a little earlier.

Not much to report as yet... garage sorted out and rear end of bike stripped. Tomorrow night will be removing the front and side fairing prior to checking valve clearances.

You may ask why taking fairing off? Well there is loads I want to do/look at and the way I see it I'm going to be clumsy/scratch something so remove what I can to avoid dissappointment!

Pics below... before and after rear end strip... more to follow and no-doubt I'll be asking loads of questions :)

Couple of tips from previous experience (I'm assuming this is the first time you've done any of this:

- The fuel tank is a pain in the proverbial to remove as it soen't have a tap and has two fuel lines. Depneding on how much work you are planning to do, I lifted mine off and put it on a workmate by the side of the bike so that your not always working underneath it.

- When removing the rocker covers, you will require allen key sockets and wobble drive extensions to get to the bolts. Be very careful with the front one on the front cylinder as this tends to corrode and may shear when you try to crack it off - not easy to rectify.

If this is teaching you to suck eggs my apologies but a couple of things I have picked up from experience.

thanks for info - i agree re: fuel tank, i tried to remove it when doing some work three or four months ago and also ended up putting it on a workbench next to the bike - why couldn't it be as easy as a Suzuki or Yammy tank? Removing the tanks on both my 07 Bandit and 02 Fazer was a breeze!

Planning on doing something similar with mine over the winter months. Just a general tart-up and rectify of a few things.. Also fit some bits n' bobs that i've had on the list for a while. Once the workshop is finished and I get started, i'll start a separate post for my bike.

I'll be looking closely in at what you're doing. Something tells me you'll be finding the pitfalls and honey traps before I do, which should then enable me to miss/avoid them..

I don't mind making the mistakes first

This is my general maintenance/service work planned:

Valve clearances
Spark plug gaps
Air filter refresh
Engine oil & filter
Balance throttle bodies
Clutch slave seal, 0.4 jet and braided hoses
All calipers removed and spruced up, all new pads and braided hoses front and rear
Replace fork oil and seals
Possibly send Maxton shock off for a service
New sprockets (Talon 15/42) and chain (DID gold x-ring)
Various replacement nuts/bolts/washers/o-rings
Clean all electrical connections/battery terminals
Replace heat shield on bottom of tank
Replace coolant
Main beam modification
Possible wiring mod near rectifier if required
Replacement side stand

General tidying up:

Remove, clean and polish downpipes
Remove swingarm and mirror polish
Complete engine degrease etc. etc.
Remove scratches from front light unit & screen using plastic polish

Tarting up:

I have the s/s radiator grill set, may spray them gold...
Remove radiator fans and spray gold :)
Possibly add a belly pan
Possibly add gold bar ends
Possibly dark tint double bubble
NEON lights under side fairing :)

If you are going to the trouble of getting the plugs out I recommend replacing them with iridium ones.

I felt they made a noticable improvement and it's not a job I want to do very often.

Fitted them a couple of months ago... DENSO something or other if I remember correctly... and at the time I only bought two, then realising I needed double that

Are those your snorkels, or are you just pleased to see me?



It was far to cold to do anything else last night, so I've set to work removing the many scratches from the headlight lens using the NOVUS plastic polish range. Its a three pack system used for removing heavy, then faint scratches and final polishing. Seems to work well, but you do appear to have to use quite a lot!

ah, been there, i had to change that bit of butter above the snorkels.

I believe the headlight lens has some kind of coating on it, so you'll be rubbing that away.

Special coating u say? Not any longer... well not on one side anyway lol

What does this special coating do? It definitely is not anti scratch or self cleaning lol

Anyone got any pics of a red falco like mine (silver frame) with gold pc wheels?

One on here with silver wheels[/img]

rick wrote: It was far to cold to do anything else last night,

Wimp!

Last night I was working outside on the house until 11pm ... on Saturday night (reported on Sunday as the coldest November night for 17 yrs) I was working out there from 9am until 1:30am ..... rectifying electrical work that I'd originally done properly but had been messed about with when we had our extension done a few years ago. they did a good building job but hadn't noticed that they'd bodged some of the electrical work.
The reason for all this is I'm installing an electric roller-shutter side gate to complete the "Southern defences" .... complimenting the big fence (or "Northern defences") that I put in earlier in the year.

I have man flu... can I have some empathy please ;)

On the upside half of both the screen and headlight has had the scratch remover treatment with some success... off work tomorrow so will finish this in the am and may well tackle the valve clearances tomorrow!