new guy

[kev the rev]

hi all i am new to your site and i am looking at buying a falco any tips on what to look out for would be great i ride a cagiva raptor at the moment and ive also had a couple of vtr's

[D-Rider]

Hi Kev and welcome.

With a username like that are you someone who likes to twist the right hand grip, a man of the cloth or both?!
(We already have all of these options represented)

Someone else recently asked me what to look out for on a Falco - here's a copy of what I PMd back to him:

As for the list of Falco faults .... well other than things that you'd avoid on any other bike there are very few Falco-specific concerns that would be a deal-breaker.

Really, the only area of potential weakness that crops up occasionally that is either too much hassle or cost is a failing Sprag Clutch.
I know how you tell if one has failed (and if the bike can be started it's not failed) but not reliably how to tell if one is on the way out.
If you do a search on here (or the AF1 forum) on the subject of "Sprag", you'll find a lot of info .... though don't panic - it really doesn't happen to many bikes. Even if it does, we know some cheapish fixes ... but obviously you don't want to be doing this to a bike you've just bought.

Other issues that aren't deal-breakers are starting problems caused by:

Starter relay (contacts oxidise) ... cured with a Yamaha relay or one from Scooter Assassins on Ebay
Clapped out battery
Poor charging - there's a fix for this


Poor starting is not to be ignored - it's probably the biggest contributor to Sprag Failure.

Pulsing through the brake lever - again, several root causes:

The most common is that the buttons between the discs and disc carriers need a clean and the discs aren't floating properly .... easy to fix
The next is that the pads and discs weren't bedded in properly and you have uneven compound deposition on the discs. Harder to sort out but may be fixable by blasting the discs and then bedding in the pads properly.
Most often blamed but least often the actual cause could be warped discs.



Older bikes like the one you are looking at had the pre-modified sidestand switch with a plastic peg. Sometimes this brakes and the switch indicates the stand is down all the time preventing the bike starting. The updated switch has a metal pin.

Possibly the slipper clutch may not work due to a failed one-way vacuum valve or a holed diaphragm (it's a pneumatic slipper - not like most).
If you don't know how to ride an Aprilia you may believe that it's not working properly when it actually is. If you blip the throttle significantly when changing down, the slipper will not operate. The vacuum control it activated on a closed throttle (or, at least, a fairly closed throttle). This takes a bit of getting used to but after a while you don't think about it.

Rear brake ..... PMSL ..... well, there's a calliper, disc, pedal and hydraulics ..... don't expect it to do much ..... (it will get through an MOT though).

Clutch fluid - don't worry if it's turned black - they all do that very quickly - it's a "feature".

Neutral can be an absolute pain to find particularly when stationary. This is not unusual. Aprilia tackled this in a number of ways - initially issuing a service bulletin to suggest using 10W40 oil for bikes with this problem and then reducing the size of the clutch oil jet.
The 2004 onward RSVRs have an even smaller clutch oil jet and a lot of people have fitted these to their Milles or Falcos. I did this at the last oil change and it is now very nice. As the oil jet costs just a few quid and it's not hard to change, this is an easy and cheap fix - and it's a Falco feature rather than a problem anyway (short term solution is to select neutral before you stop).

Clutch slave cylinders can suffer seal failure - but we've found a source of seals for £2.10 per time so, again not a deal breaker.

Some (not all) older bikes like the one you're looking at can suffer clutch slip.
Owners that have reported this have normally cured this by usiung semi-synth oil rather than fully-synth.
If that doesn't cure it another fix is to roughen up the clutch plates by rubbing them on concrete.
And if that doesn't work then a change of clutch springs may be called for.
Never heard of one that has not been successfully sorted with one of these easy fixes.
Later bikes like mine have an improved clutch (I don't know what's different about it).

[FlyingKiwi]

Hi and welcome, nothing to add to above list but if you look around there a a couple of nice one's on the forum for sale.
FK

[HowardQ]

Double post deleted.

[HowardQ]

Welcome to the site Kev.
Nice to have you with us.
D-Rider has covered some of the things that can be problems with a Falco, in reality for me at least, very little goes wrong.
I've had a lot of bikes, but the Falco is the best and most reliable bike I've ever head, and before the Falco I had mainly Hondas.
Ive had mine more than 5 years ride all year round and have done about 22k miles in that time, It was 3 years old with 6k on the clock when I bought it. Only things that have failed for me have been the rear brake light switch, which is very low down and picks up a lot of crap in winter and the side stand switch. Mine was one of the early ones (2001) with a plastic pin, newer ones were modded with a steel pin.
That's it for me! Just do the usual maintenance things mainly.
Probably first thing to look at is the side stand.
As for other mods, come back when you've found your bike and we'll help you spend some money, but it's a nice bike as it comes.
Good luck with your search, have a look at the ones for sale on here for starters.

[fastasfcuk]

welcome kev.i've had mine over 4 yrs and like howard had vertually no problems, the only one being the kill switch. the bikes for sale on this site are well looked after.

[BikerGran]

Welcome Kev!

Why not just buy a nice Kawasaki?