....damn so i do need a new chain...ok adust the suspension to my size and weight? are you talking about buying an aftermarket suspension to lower bike? or does the 2001 F4i have adjustable suspension. (i never bothered to check if it came with that option to adjust the stock suspension)

 

Wow..okay so i spent the majority of last night reading up on the adjustable suspension havent found a clear cut way to change a few said a formula must be used to adjust according to weight but never gave it out. I understood the basics of it though even though it will take some experience for me to wrap my head around how to properly adjust. A lot of people say just to adjust the rear suspension but shouldnt you have to adjust fron suspension as well to keep the bike balance in regards to negative and positive weight shift from front to rear? Is it possible to have rear suspension too soft while front is still hard wiuldnt that make the front of bike lighter since majority of weight is on rear suspension making a teter tot effect? Hope you guys get what im saying sometimes hard to put all the thoughts into writing

 

well im no expert and this is only my advice. both your front and rear suspension should be the same stiffness. you can have the rear soft if you want and it will collapse more during acceleration and probably feel funny in corners, maybe even dangerously funny if it bottoms out cause you are flexing the tire as suspension.
watch alot of this guys video's somewhere in one of them he will stand at the side of the bike and compress both springs at the same time to even them out. like this btw you have to adjust both, you will probably want to respring both as well, maybe not on the rear if you can raise your preload.

 

Incorrect. Set suspension pre-load to adjust sag, no other varibles matter for pre-load. Sag is different front and rear. Damping is something completely different as you adjust it for conditions and preference.

Surface rust spots on the chains exterior mean nothing. Look for tight spots [links that don't move freely] or the chain being stretched beyond adjustment.

The cam chain tensioner lifter problem is a defect from the factory. They've released what, 4 versions now? And they still haven't fixed it. On the flip side I seem to get about 25,000 miles out of one and most people don't put that many miles on a bike so its not a huge deal. I don't recommend a manual tensioner unless A: your willing to adjust it manually from time to time and B: your mechanically good enough to adjust it correctly and not mess up your cam chain as others have done.

 

Suspension tuning isn't something you're going to learn overnight. It's also somewhat of an "adjust and feel" process. You first have to have a good knowledge of how the bike behaves and understand what different adjustments do to change it's behavior.

You can have a shop set the suspension up for you to get a good baseline, then fine tune yourself.

 

What I did with my bike was find out what the suspension was set too from the factory and then reset it to that. That way you have somewhere to start from. No way in telling what the previous owner had it set too. Luckily for me the stock F4i is set up perfect for my weight. As others have said there's a lot of good videos on basic suspension tuning. Keith code has a good tutorial on the ins and outs of basic suspension set up. I wouldn't worry so much about the plugs, it's not a hard job but it is a pain in the ***. I changed mine at 17,000 miles and they looked ok, they did need changing but they weren't catastrophic. The manual CCT isn't that hard either but do a lot of research on how to set it up properly. The hardest part for me was getting enough room to get the job done. That's 90% of the challenge of working on a bike though is space.

 

yea im gonna take the bike to a shop and see what they can do about the suspension. suspension feels good dont want it to change just want to have feet planted on ground instead of having heel off ground i read rear pre-load adjustment will be the way...hopefully they can help a 5' 6'' guy feel like he's 5' 11'' on his CBR. If they cant help ill try myself wit some good ol' trial and error.

 

keep in mind if you lower preload you will have less suspension travel and for your rear pre-load you will have to push on the bars more to turn in.
try it its really cool, raise the preload some, and it will be very stiff because the spring is already compressed, and take it for a ride.
you should be able to just breathe on the bars and it will turn in on you, before you take it in to someone, if you want to go that route, play with it yourself.
the only real way to learn it is to know the feeling behind it, your front springs are probably going to be very soft so you may want to screw the one with all the rings in it all the way in, depending on your weight....
ehh regardless play with the rake and trail by the rear preload, of course dont get too crazy with it and ride hard, just feel it out, you can also adjust your turn in by lowering the forks in the tripple which, of course changes geometry.

 

thats sounds like a good idea. i just downloaded the owners manual which tells you how to get back to default settings, so if i still cant find the sweet spot for me while adjusting i can change it back to factory settings. i weigh 165 and 5' 6''. so its not that much weight to compress springs another inch so that my feet are firmly planted....but i like the fact that stiffer setting will allow a more responsive turn in....just breath on the bars and it turns in sounds like a love and hate relationship, its great sometime but dangerous as well for it to turn in so easily. but thanks im definetly going to take your advice and play with it a little first. the shop is probably gonna want an arm and a leg anyway...

 

I searched for this but couldnt find answers quick enough i figured since you guys seem knowledgeable you can give me your two cents. I am going to change my oil today first time since i had the bike which is about two weeks or less bike has 13,400 miles on it. reading in the manual it calls for 10w-40. has anyone used synthetic in cbr? is it the same as using synthetic in vehicle? being that once used it becomes your default oil? are oil additives such as lucas oils which i always use on my car works wonders,is it safe to use on motorcycles? i know these are noob questions which i am but i dont have anyone else to ask lol. is there oil specifically for motorcycles or can i use what i use on my car which is mobil 1 syn?