Keep in mind that the racetech suggestions are more for road racing than street use. I follow them but some people like to feel expansion joints and rattle themselves to death. If you're just commuting, it's good not to go too stiff. The stock F2 front springs are progressive, so they will dive more than a linear rate spring. This makes them ride plush, but they are not great under spirited breaking. You might want to get linear rate springs. You also need to replace that fork seal. It's not going to really affect the performance of the fork immediately, but it will fail catastrophically in time. New fork oil and bushings is not a bad idea either. You probably should just spend the extra $40 for new inner and outer fork bushings. There is a good chance they're trashed by now, especially since you're taking them apart.

 

Has the bike been crashed before? There's a chance the forks have come out of round and not allowing the seals to seat perfectly. I've seen it happen and it's generally not visually inspectable, but it will in the end result in it not holding oil.

Fork springs do degrade over time, but all that changes is their spring rate as they soften up. The statement about newer springs is wise, and would do you well.

 

It's less about that, more that you have different static/free sag goals for the street. Essentially, the street isn't as smooth as the track (duh) so it's got to handle more bumps and keep the front wheel down. This requires more free sag, as when you go over uneven surfaces at speed, the front wheel needs to be able to push down and then soak it back up and stay in the midst of it's stroke.

I had a friend wreck his nice R1 railing it hard on a back road as it was setup by a suspension "guru" for track riding, which makes it ungodly uncomfortable on the street, and also dangerous. He was leaned over at a good angle taking a turn at "go to jail" speeds, and encountered some uneven terrain. The free sag was set for the track, so it wasn't able to get the wheel down for traction in time, and he washed the front out and lost the whole bike off the road and is lucky to be alive.

In short: you're a street rider, you'll want to go SOMEWHAT softer in your springs than racetech recommends, and set your sag somewhat more liberally than racetech or magazines recommend, but in the end you'll get safer street handling, which is where you hang out.