Falco Winter Work

[D-Rider]

Looks fairly simple to me. May even have some bits already lying around at work to get one made.. Now all I need is the fork.

I've got my marzocchi forks - you can borrow them as long as you don't knacker them.

A rear shock spring compressor would also be good

[Willopotomas]

Looks fairly simple to me. May even have some bits already lying around at work to get one made.. Now all I need is the fork.

I've got my marzocchi forks - you can borrow them as long as you don't knacker them.

A rear shock spring compressor would also be good

Herein lays the problem. Ideally I'd like a knackered fork to play with. As you know yourself, research and development can render otherwise perfect working items useless.

Rear shock spring compressor.. Can ye not use something along the same lines as a car one?

[HisNibbs]

Reading up a bit on forks tonight ready for oil and seal change tomorrow. Whats all this about regarding the number of rings showing at the top of the leg above the yoke? It seems standard is three but race track is 4... whats the difference? Has anyone gone futher than 4?

Yes Rick. The front end felt vaugue to me with 3 rings showing. I jacked up the ride height on the ohlins to near max and that improved things a little. A while back I also dropped the yokes down the forks and am now showing 5 rings clear. Much better, no compromises realy just able to feel the front tyre bite when pitching in and able to cut a tighter line if i want to.

[rick]

Ok quick update, will post pics later, coolant changed and fork oil but not seals. Oil was black! Also dropped forks to 4 rings so looking forward to trying it out :)

[rick]

Ok so coolant changed using Ken's instructions and it worked a treat... instead of a cobalt blue its now a girly pink



Then I moved onto the forks... I decided that since my seals weren't weeping I'd give the whole fork removal a miss and just drain the oil, again using Ken's instructions (and some more on the Aprilia Forum). The bike was on the Abba stand and the front jacked up under the front exhaust allowing the forks to be fully extended. This is the current setting on the forks before any work was done:



Which is 5 lines preload and 3 lines showing above the yoke. The rebound and compression are both stock (1.5 out and 1.0 out respectively). When I had the bike from Andy the compression was fully in and I found this too harsh. I intend to retain all preload and rebound/compression but will be dropping the forks by one extra ring.

I wound the preload right out and undone the fork caps... this was pretty hard and I did end up scratching the anodised caps a bit, but nothing a bit of TLC won't cure. I then jacked up the front wheel to push the forks up and out of their casing.



At this stage I'm ready to change the oil... I completely wound out the compression and removed the valve using a 14mm wrench... careful to catch all oil with a container. The volume drained from both legs were similar, 430ml for the left fork and 425ml for the right. I let both drain for maybe 10mins and then pumped (gently) each fork to get as much out as I could. Guess what the colour was?





Yup... horrible!

So I cleaned everything up, replaced the compression valves and set the compression to 1 turn out. Now I had three options... either fill up each fork with how much was drained, fill up and measure oil level from top of fork using values suggested by other peeps (e.g. Ken's site and the Aprilia Forum), or just fill up with recommended volumes and not checking. I opted for the following:

1. Fill up the forks with how much oil was drain -10ml
2. Measure the oil level in each fork at four positions and find an average
3. Compare this average value with Ken's suggestion (8cm) and guys on Aprilia Forum (7cm).

And thats pretty much what I did! Here is some fresh oil... 5W Morris oil from Griff... loverly!



Both legs are set exactly to 7cm oil level (that is, the oil level is 7cm below the top of the open fork) and I checked both three times, all values were consistent. I then released the jack from the front tyre to extend the forks, being careful for the fork caps not to catch as they fall down. I tightend the caps, set the preload and rebound to my previous settings and then loosened the yoke bolts to drop the forks. This was well easy, basically jacking up the front wheel again and hitting the top yoke with a rubber mallet to expose one more ring. This is how it is now:



So correct me if I'm wrong... this is four rings showing?

All in all a good day... plus I had breakfast in bed, lots of presents and now a roast and on my second bottle of Vino... being 32 today ain't so bad

[Willopotomas]

Congratulations all round.. Sounds like you've had a pretty decent birthday!

[Kwackerz]

Loads of progress! reckon she'll feel a whole lot different once you get her out on the road again Happy Birthday by the way!

[rick]

Yeah really looking forward to getting on her (oo-er missus)... its been around 3 weeks since she was last rolled out of the garage!

Next on the (major) to-do list:

1. Clean front calipers, fit new pads, fit braided hoses, sort out bobbins on discs
2. Drain clutch, fit new slave seal avec silicone grease, braided hose
3. Clean rear caliper, fit new pads, fit braided hoses
4. Fit new front and rear sprocket and shiney gold chain

:)

[HisNibbs]

Despite the fact you are making me feel old, happy birthday!

[rick]

Ok guys with all this snow, wifey out shopping and little 'un at Grandmas I've started work on the calipers.

My idea was a generaly good clean before regreaasing pistons and then replacing pads before doing brake lines next week. Thing is I was cleaning everything up, pistons etc and one popped out... bugger!

So now its turned into a remove caliper and all pistons kinds job for an even deeper clean! Thing is my pistons were not leaking before so is it ok to just keep the seals/caliper soaking in brake fluid until I put it all back together, or is it best to play safe and replace the seals?

ta.

[D-Rider]

If you're going to replace them, you'd better read the thread on how hard they are to source and then go and befriend your local KTM dealer.

[Nooj]

How would the cost of new seals all round compare to the cost of a pair of used 4 pad calipers on e-bay?

[D-Rider]

How would the cost of new seals all round compare to the cost of a pair of used 4 pad calipers on e-bay?

..... and I've got the part numbers for seals to fit the 4-pad callipers .... just not got round to posting them up yet ....

[rick]

didnt bother in the end... cleaned up the piston that popped out, put it back in and then serviced both calipers, upgraded to braided hoses and fitted new pads. Checked for leaks from the piston that popped out and all is good. All pistons on both calipers moving freely etc. etc.

Fitting the braided hoses were fine, checked steerling lock and also fitted mudguard to make sure no fouling was taking place!

Bleeding was a breeze... I've never bothered with reverse bleeding or whatever its called... I've only ever bled from the usual nipples on the calipers followed by the one at the master cylinder. They're rock solid now, definitely different feel even though I havent actually ridden it yet... but you can tell if you know what I mean!

Only thing I'm not 100% happy with is how the hoses pass through that protective plastic plate thingy... air dam? Anyway instead of the hoses falling straight through them they both tend to go at an angle... difficult to explain... may pop a picture up in a bit.

[rick]

Braided hoses fitted and bled:



This is where the pipes pass through the plastic guard thingy... I think I may need to rotate the clamp to adjust the position of the left caliper hose.