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Hi guys,

My Falco is in the dealers at this very moment for its final service under warranty (20,000 miles). They have phoned me to say that the steering head bearings are a " little notchy" and do I want them changed. I hadn't noticed anything amiss.

The genuine bearings are £86 plus about £60 for fitting. Apparently a claim under warranty would not be successful according to the dealer

Seems a short life and expensive bearings. Anybody got any experience. I am not a wheelie merchant !

As an aside I've still got at pair of mint Falco stainless Quills for sale.

£86 plus £60 for fitting.

Fuck that I would buy a set of tapered for whatever thay cost (£20-£30 maybe) and do them myself

Hi Rich,
Not sure if your quote includes VAT. The price with Aprilia Yorksire -
http://apriliayorkshire.co.uk/catalogue ... e=Steering
does not include VAT or delivery, so if yours is inclusive, it's a bit cheaper.
I have seen bearing kits go on ebay in the high seventies, so for Aprilia items it seems about right. I have never changed mine, although at just under 20K miles there is some play in mine as well, although mines older than yours, 2001).
I have read numerous stories about them never lasting long because they were not greased well initially, so might be worth having another pop at them over the warranty.
I know there are some tapered bearing conversions on the market from somebody, but not sure where. Hopefully somebody else might come in on this one, as I might try them if anybody has any good views on them.

sheeet!!

I have my mot tomorrow and i have checked everything apart from them and I have 27k on the clock.

Haven't noticed anything untoward. Do i just pull and push and shake the forks all about to check any play?

Yeh, two main ways to check for play -

Get front wheel in air and just do the pull and push bit to feel for play.

If they are gettin bad, you will hear a click if you just push the bike forward and pull front brake on hard.

To check for notchy bearings again get front wheel up so you can move bars from side to side and listen carefully/feel for any notchiness.

As far as the MOT goes unless its pretty bad or clicking when pushed as above, it's hard to test a Falco properly, with no centre stand and (if standard) a crap side stand. My tester doesn't try too hard with the Falco, but with my old CBR1000F he puts it on the centre stand, has me sit on the pillion to lift the front and has a real tug at the front forks! Hope it's OK.
Good luck with the MOT !!!!

i'd get the bike home and check your self first or some one you can trust, just get the bike of it's front wheel and check for any play and smoothness when swinging the bars from side to side. a tenner says there ok.

Can't speak for the cost or quality of the replacement bearings you've been quoted for but I would say that £60 to fit them isn't too bad really.

It's a lengthy job and you'll need special tools like a headset press although you can make your own I guess.

I would do it myself personally but only because I 'm a masochist who enjoys tackling such things. Also DIY means you get to see how well they are fitted and how much grease is applied. If you take your time it's also an opportunity to give everything a good clean up whilst it's all apart. A dealer won't do that !

Ritch, you could try here for replacement ones but they might need the part numbers off the old ones...
http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/


I found mine to be notchy with less than 10k on the clock ...I only noticed this when I took the forks out, ...and managed to get some from italy (fleabay)

Had the same issue on my CBR at about 18k. I didnt notice a problem either but let them do it anyway. It seems an easy way to make a little cash at MOT, who is going to say no and ride away without a ticket ? Or am I just a cynical bugger ?

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the helpful comments. I didn't have them changed this time.

The service dept said they were already taper rollers, although this does not agree with the photos in the Haynes RSV manual. Apparently the dealer had tried to obtain substitutes when Aprilia could not supply but without any joy.

Hi Guys,

There is a tooth fairy !

The dealer has just phoned me back to say that Aprilia had recently revised their warranty system and he thought he would give head bearings another try. Surprise, surprise thay have accepted the claim.

Well done for customer service.

The guy to contact is Paul at Speedaway Motorcycles, Black Heath, West Midlands.

That's nice.