Been riding for a little bit now, and I've come up with more questions to pose to you experts.

Firstly, when I use the front brake seemingly at all, the bike takes a serious nose dive. I happen to know that the previous rider was female, and probably weighed like half what I do. Does this mean I need to replace the fork springs? Or is there some adjustment I can make to stiffen them up?

Next, cosmetic (kinda) stuff: the rear was shaved by the previous owner, but the pieces of the tail don't stay together, those goofy plastic clips broke off. Is there somewhere I can get a once piece tail?

And finally, the turn signals and brake light. It passed inspection, so they're legal, but they're aftermarket and too hard to see for me to be comfortable with. I see all the late model bikes with LED turns and brake and they're visible for miles, is it feasible to convert my bike's lights to LED? Thanks in advance for the suggestions.

 

fork seals may be shot

ebay has a one peice tail like 160 then u have to paint to match

also ebay was the led taillight with singals just search on ebay

i hate the rear tail also mine broke too

 

wow, I didn't know changing the lights was that easy. I figured the voltage or current would be all wrong for LEDs. Maybe the taillight integrates a regulating circuit.

As to the forks, how do I check the seals?

 

they usally will be wet around the top of the seals. and ya the taillight only takes like 20 mins to install its a whole new taillight not just the bulbs

 

i ran into a problem mounting led signals that i bought from aztec8. the led signals would only work if there was a halogen light in the circuit. i wired them in parallel. to solve the problem i mounted truck cab running lights onto the lower front fairings, looks pretty cool and made my led turns work. you can check out my build in the streetfighter section to see what i am talking about with the cab running lights

 

Thanks for the responses guys. Ordering a taillight tonight, I'll let you know how it goes. About the fork seals, I'm going to check the service manual tonight, but I'm guessing it's a pretty involved project. I didn't see a walkthrough posted, if anyone has one, point me in the right direction.

 

Regarding the fork seal, just inspect the front brake caliper area. If the fork seal is shot/leaking, oil will drip slowly down the fork shank and get onto the caliper. Some fork seal leaking oil even drip into the front brake pads. But it usually is one of the two fork that leak. Rarely both together but it does happens. If one is leak, you gonna have to replace both anyway...it's ideal. Now as for grabbing the front brakes and the front takes a hose dive? Have you try adjusting the forks compression(if it's not a seal leak issue) some bike shops do it for free but I do it myself...top of the fork should say "H" & "S" ....H for hard, "S" for soft....it's a long shot but what are the chance of you bike's forks is too soft??? Maybe? Check it out...replacing brand new seals is much more costly. Doing it yourself...is much more complicated & you must be well mechanical inclined

Check out this thread regarding the fork nose diving

https://cbrforum.com/forum/f2-tech-93/ok-i-think-my-fork-springs-bad-107392/

 

Thanks for the responses man. I checked out that thread, I also weigh about 210, so it might just be that the stock springs are too soft. Can't seem to find the ones on the racetech site that that guy was referring to. I'll have to look around.

 

One thing you can do if the stock adjustments won't help enough.
Support the front of the bike. Pull the tube caps and add about a 3/4"
pvc spacer above the springs. Basically you are adding more pre-load.
You can change the length, 3/4 is just a starting point. If the ride is too harsh,
cut the spacer down, if it's still too soft, add a little more. I doubt, you can
re-assemble the tube with much more than an inch of spacer, though.

This is an inexpensive fix, worth trying. If that doesn't work, then you will possibly
want to go to a firmer spring. If I remember correctly, the factory bike is
set-up for a 175# rider. If the stock forks are working properly and in good
mechanical condition, you should be able to correct most of the dive.

Ern

 

I actually haven't tried the "stock adjustments" yet. I see the "s<->h" sticker on the top of my left fork tube (although it's falling off), and I see that they're threaded, and contain a smaller (brass?) screw type thing which is also threaded. Been meaning to check the service manual for how to adjust these, but haven't had the time yet. I'll do that, and if it doesn't work I'll deff try your idea. Money is too tight to not try it before buying new springs . If anyone has tips for stock adjustment, lay em on me.

EDIT>Well, I just adjusted the pretension all the way in on both tubes, then backed out so that one ring is showing on each side. Went for a ride, and the nose dive problem is greatly reduced. I feel better knowing I'll actually be able to stop now. Thing is, now I feel like the front is up a lot higher than the back, so I guess I'll have to adjust the pretension on the rear as well. A job for tomorrow. New springs will probably be a winter job, I doubt it's good to ride around with everything at max pretension.