I have had my f4i for around 3 months now, love it. Having a few issues. When braking hard it feels like there is something loose in the front end. I know from my mountain biking days this is caused by a loose headset..any ideas? I also have cracks that are getting larger day by day in the fairings. They seem to be popping up everywhere. Two, which I have read are common are on each side of the tail section where my legs are touching, 1 coming off the top left side of my headlight and one on either side of my front fender coming from the bolts holding it on. I cant stand these and really sucks because of the custom paint on my bike. Any fixes? And finally, how should i maintain my chain? If you can help, please do. I will try and post some pictures and will probably come up with more questions. Thank you!

 

as i understand you have not the custom paint, but aftermarket fiberglass fairings,which aren't as durable as yours. i don't think there is a chance stock fairings will crack without ground contact.[:@]

 

Grab your front brake and rock the bike to compress the forks up and down and listen for noises, like a clunk.. If you have any noise or feel anything, you need to get your bearings checked out because something is messed up. Like maybe the previous owner did a lot of wheelies, lots of miles, or the bike was crashed.

You maintain your chain with a rear stand. I say get a manual, some tools, and a stand.

As far as cracked fairings, it sounds like you have fiberglass and and you just have to deal with it.

 

one thing you could do for the cracks is to take a tiny drill bit and drill a hole at the very end of the crack. That should stop the the crack from getting any further.

 

For the chain, like WOT said, the rear stand is almost essential, if you don't have one it's a huge pain. I personally use an old toothbrush and kerosene, then use some chain lube after its sparkling clean.

 

for the braking, check everything like WOT said, also understand that the rotors are semi-floating so they have a LITTLE play in them while riding...just a sidenote...

as for cracks, the cracks on the tail section by your thighs where you sit is common on the f4i, i am starting to get them...it happens because there is inadequate padding between the subframe and the beginning of the tail fairing....first fix is to somehow strengthen the back of the crack on the inside of the fairing, you can figure out a way...two is to put some foam or something to prevent your massive thighs from squeezing the fairing and cracking more (don't worry, my massive thighs do it too )....as for the front fairings...that's odd, only thing i can thing is that something maybe snagged a mirror and bent the fairing causing a crack and with time is getting worse...pictures would help....

as for chain...i think every 500 miles you should clean with either kerosene or a chain cleaner and then re-oil the chain...make sure it has the right amount of play up and down (check your manual) and make sure it's not rusting and that none of the links are binding and not bending correctly...any of the above and replace....

 

Thank you very much ffingers, Im thinking the crack in the front is just the paint and im planning on tearing the bike apart once winter hits. As for the comment about aftermarket fairings not stock, I think I would know the difference considering I had it painted, but I guess this could be a normal problem with aftermarket fairings. I will keep trying to post pictures but am having a problem with my computer and am using my phone right now..thank you for all the help..
On a side note, does anyone else experience a sort of clunking in the rear end on hard hits? Is this normal?

 

So you bought the bike stock and had it painted with that tribal design?

 

yes sir. The bike was in fact dropped by the original owner and I had everything fully checked out and repaired ( or so I thought ).

 

the clunking is most probably a chain thing...i am assuming you are hearing it when you get on the brakes real good?? maybe?

i had a rear clunking sound and realized i hadn't adjusted the chain in a some time and the chain was slapping against the swingarm making a bad clunking sound when i stopped real hard....if that sounds close to your problem, just tighten up the chain and the sound will lessen if not go away...