I think there is something wrong with the suspension on my new ride.

Its an '01 F4i, with only 1,000 miles. with the suspension at stock setting, when you push down hard on the clip on's, it goes down much easier than my old one, and
on the rebound it comes up, then slightly back down. almost like slight bounce of the top. I went ahead and set the sag for my weight, from stock position of 4 rings down to just covering the 3rd.the rear shock is at 3- standard position.with compression and rebound set at factory settings, its "wallows" in the corners, and the front tire just dissapears. with the suspension set like that on the other f4i, it was perfect to me, plenty of feed back and felt like it was on rails. I compensated today during the ride, 300miles, by adjusting the settings. First, on the forks, I put a half crank harder on rebound, didnt touch the compression. that made alot of difference, but it still felt like the back end was wagging, so I puta quarter turn harder on the rear compression. That helped alot, but it still doesnt feel just right. the front end still isnt providing the feedback I would expect. again, on my old ride, other than sag, my set up was stock and it felt rock solid. also, I am running the exact same tires, I actually took my barely used Diablo's off the old bike and put on the new one.

The guys I ride with think I should change out the fork oil, possibly even tear the forks down and inspect. Even though there is only a 1000miles on them, the oil is 6yrs old. so should I do that, or just keep adjusting the rebound and dampening until I find a sweet spot?

 

just for clarification, after a little brush up reading, I understand I need more rebound dampening on the front, but I guess Im really asking, can old fork oil really cause these problems?

I think I have answered my own question.

 

Changing the fork oil is probably the first thing to do... then do setting adjustments...The viscosity of the oil probably broke down over the years of "inactivity"...WOW! an '01 with only 1k...SWEET!
RB

 

change it...it'll be like night and day...seriously...
every 10K or yearly if you ride a lot.
it's just like oil in an engine...gots to be changed ever so often.
i bet it smells lots like fish...old fork oil has absolute STANK!

 

great, my forkswillsmell like stanky hoe. should do the work in a freinds garage, smell up his place.

Do you suggest I just pull the tubes out, remove the spring and dump the oil and refill. Or should I go ahead and
completely tear them down and replace orings and seals? I dont think all that is really neccessary, due to the fact
that it only has 1k miles on the internals, plus I dont havea seal driver. but, looking for some other opinions.