Hey there CBenRieder600,

On the fluid that has leaked from the forks, it doesn't mean that front wheel is going to fall off or something like that. What will happen is when you hit the front brakes hard, the bike with "dive". What I mean by that is that the forks will compress more then usual (6" or so in a really bad case) because the spring alone can not absorb enough of the compression energy. The forks use a combonation of spring compression and fluid to absorb this energy. It will also make a huge mess if they leak enough. Like Chad600 said, the forks are a sinch to do. They just take a little while to do.
About the noise when the bike is cold, sounds like a typical CCT on it's way out. Mine sounded like a marble bouncing around inside on the right side of the engine when it was cold. It's a sinch to replace (about 20 minutes). You'll get some guys that swear by the manual tensioners and some that swearby the OEM CCT. I went with OEM because all I had to do was put it in and put everything back together. A manual CCT... you have to set the tension.

 

Do I need to replace the lost fluid?

 

Yup, you'll need to replace the fluid and seals.

I havent had my F2 shocks apart yet, but from doing older bikes I understand that they can be a bitch!

If you're new at the wrench game, I'd have somebody who knows what they're doing check it out, or at the veryleast read up on the internet for some directions.

 

thanks hershey