Tom

I'm looking for advice on setting up those good old forks on the Blackbird. To put things in a bit of perspective, I posted about my last years "big service" where I was recommended a shop by a "friend" which ended up in fiasco, none of the bearings were installed on the bike (so the guy stole dozen of Koyo bearings I bought for the bike) and the fork was botched and leaked the same day I got the bike from the shop. Without going into that topic, this year I decided to service the forks before my little trip to Italy. I went to a local garage where I used to go few years ago, figured the guy would be decent enough to put together something as complex and the damper rod prototype high tech Showa shocks on the Bird. The bike was finished day before my trip, I didn't have much time to test it, I had specific dates and places to get to and I hoped that the forks would work better than the seal-busted-after-100-meters forks of last year. The guy told me everything was top notch perfect, he changed the steering bearing as well the main one on top of the steering, and he told me he mixed oils to get the perfect oil viscosity for my weight. Sounded good in theory, but... My trip to Italy was the worst I had with the Bird, I have never ever experienced a bike so jittery, no damping whatsoever, every single slightest bump in the road and the bike would jump, or fall into a punched-in part of the road, it was hell, I thought about turning back dozen of times but I just didn't want this fucker to spoil my "holiday". So now I just want to know, what would be the best idea to sort this out, I'll travel 500 miles (and 500 more :D) to find a decent shop I don't care, I want it done. I'm 230lbs, I'm running linear 10 N/mm springs, I have a brand new Nitron R1 (no piggyback) made to my weight and ride habits in the back, never touched the +/- dial on it or anything, and I would like to know which cSt oil should I put, how important is air gap, manual says 142mm and Hyperpro said 120mm, and what should I do also to set the sag on the bike and dial the suspension for once in my life, have the bike ride normally and nicely on weekend twistys that I usually go to. That's all I want ffs :D

Before I place any order, is this what I'm supposed to get?

Well, went for a Christmas shopping around town today, wasn't on a bike for week or two, so stone cold...started normally, idle sounded normal, then instead of what I suspected (revs creeping higher up) it started to slug down slower and slower, and then the bike died. Started it again, revs now very low and after few seconds no revs at all again haha, and then I started it again and held on throttle for few seconds, and it seemed to work. I'll order the wax unit right now

Well this does sound like a logical reason and it might as well be coolant flow related - which then makes me think why am I losing coolant in the first place. Winter service is due, I bet I'll be in for many surprises.

Went for a ride today to do some errands, and as soon I got out of the garage I had a green light streak thru the city so by the time I got to my parking lot, the bike presumably got "over" its idle bug and this time I didn't see it happening. And I had to postpone the visit to the garage, but will update when I get to it.

No mention of fast idle in that thread, which part specifically should I take note of, MAP sensor vacuum hose? I will say that I have tinkered with the cables in a very shoddy way - but this was few months ago. I tried to remove the right side handlebar switch and I wasn't able to remove the end weight (screw kept turning in place, nothing happened) so I split opened the switch and tried to maneuver the cables out of their position in the grip, but there wasn't enough slack to do it - or I wasn't skilled enough, could be the reason as well very likely So I put everything back and for a couple of months everything seemed normal. In the meantime I did buy those inner clips or whatever they're called on the grips, because I think my previous mechanic might've over-tightened the weights and now I can't get one of them out. We'll see, I'll be taking care of it these days, just hope it's not something serious.

I'll look into it at my friends garage in a couple of days. Vacuum leak "should" be on the lines under the tank only, no other place right? And I'll give the temp sensor a test, that's the one on the left back side of the rad?

Noticed this few days ago. Bike starts up normally on cold starts, float around 1300 or something, but as soon as I'd move out of the garage to the first junction, that's half minute of distance, when I'd put the bike in neutral I saw the bike having higher revs in idle. And I think it would initially stay at whatever my "last" throttle was before pulling the clutch. I would put the bike in neutral, saw the tacho at 2000 rpm which immediately caught my eye (and ear) and then blipped the throttle slowly to lets say 3000 rpm - release the throttle but the rpm's would stay at 3000 and would creep up, but very very slowly. Then, engaging back the gear and moving down the road, if I'd let the bike move without any throttle - the bike would barely roll forward. I thought that high idle would act as "false throttle" when no actual throttle was applied on the grip, but that wasn't the case, when in gear, no throttle meant no throttle. The problem would occur for maybe a minute (bike would be well into operating temp) and then everything back to normal, neutral gear normal idle speed etc. Where do I start looking? (2002 Bird)

Took the bike for its first wash this year, was a bit nervous since it's fresh paint etc. When I was rinsing the front cowl, I noticed, under both rearview mirrors, a crack. So the "fairing guy" who fixed the crackes on my nose cowl really did a good job, it held up for approx 500 km's. Absolutely pathetic. Also, I told about the forks to my bike buddy and he went checking them with a light, and he says there's a vertical hairline-width scratch on the one that leaks. So that sounds great as well!

This was all done as a part of this year's "big service". To be honest I don't get easily annoyed but with this fork leaking, I am annoyed. The only reason I took my bike to this guy was because of a recommendation. I have a friend that I know for 20 years, he works with cars etc. so I asked him for a friendly advice where could I take my bike to get it serviced and also to repair the cracks on the fairings. He gave me the contact for both the mechanic and bodyshop, since he knows both of them and he "vouched" that they're both stand up guys and I have nothing to worry about. So given that we know each other for 2 decades, I just took the bike over there and let them take care of it, didn't ask any questions. And I'm not the tough customer type, I'm not confrontational (big mistake), I just want to get things done and get on with my life, so I didn't bother with all the small imperfections I saw on the bike regarding the paintjob. It looks good enough for me, but with close inspection you can find mistakes and the guy charged me pretty nice sum of money, one would expect top notch spotless job for that money. But, like I said, I just wanted to get on with it, I wrote about the harness issues I had right after the bike was delivered to me, didn't mind fixing that but that cost me money as well, those errors didn't exist prior to the service. But now that the fork is leaking, I'm just annoyed as fuck. Also I'm annoyed at this friend of mine who recommended me these clowns. I know it's not his fault but fuck, it's just not right. Like I said, I don't expect Pebble Beach concours type of job, I don't go around the bike with a loupe, but this is just ridiculous. It's really a shame you can't trust anyone for anything, this is just a fucking bike service and people still can't resist scamming you out on it, even if you go there on recommendation. Pathetic.

Went for a ride yesterday, this whole saga with this shitty service really took the wind from my bike sails and all...but I went scooting around town yesterday just to see if all is ok, and stopped by a local garage, asked the guy to take a look... Turns out the oily residue on the caliper isn't coming from the brake lines, rather from the fork. So the left side of the fork is leaking, which is great because I bough every single part from Honda and had it rebuilt.

I went to clean up the bike now, few days after that last ride, and on the left cowling, just behind the calipers, there was a trail of dirt. So I cleaned that part of the fairing, and then I noticed a little scuff, like from a stone chip....but I don't recall that being there before. The bike was just resprayed. Then I figured maybe it's not from a stone, maybe it's DOT4, since the caliper is all oily (check the first post here) maybe it's not from "dripping coolant" maybe the idiot who serviced the bike botched the job? So I went to check the fluid levels in the cylinders. And well...

Tried something just now...cranked the bike and left it to sit in a parking lot, few minutes later the temp was in the "cooling fan" zone...the fan turned on, but we all know Bird can be hard to chill if it doesn't move. I left it idling some more, the temp crawled slowly, 105'C, 107...I looked away for a moment, the temp got up to 114'C which is pretty high, fan was trying its best but no avail...but one thing I noticed - the fairing under the radiator was WET again. So it seems this happens when the temp gets really high, way outside the cooling fan temp which is 104'C....so, whatever this means. Also it's pretty hard to find a decent mechanic here nowadays, or any solid craftmanship, it seems to keep eroding...

Motul Factory Line is what most stores here have - https://www.motul.com/hr/hr/products/motocool-factory-line But if I see correctly, this is a premixed solution that shouldn't be diluted? And it says its nitrite free, amine free, phosphate free, borate free, silicate free, the silicate part being important for the Bird, correct?

Would you say that this dark patch on the radiator is something to worry about, stone chip damage or something? Hoses were replaced at the service...at this point I really have a problem finding a proper mechanic, if it turns out it's a hose leak or something I'll go insane, I'm just trying to get a damn standard 20 year old mass produced Honda bike serviced ffs

So I've finally managed to sort out the electrics on the Bird after the soap opera episode I had this year with the service and with repairing the cracks that started to appear on these old fairings... and I finally went out for a ride. All was nice, normal, felt good to be on the bike again and all the usual stuff. However, throughout the day as I was riding around I was also focused a bit on how the bike behaves, since I didn't ride it for months. Naturally, in this summer heat, I kept my eye on the temp display. Riding on the open road, without any traffic in front, but with palpable summer heat in the air, the temperature was probably 5 celsius above the usual 82-84 numbers that I would normally see. Didn't think too much about it, I figured it was because of the summer heat. However, when I would get behind some traffic (tourists) on the road and slowed down to 40 km/h or whatever, the temperature would go up and it would bounce between the 95 and 105, which is right around the cooling fan range. So I figured the fan works normally. Also, when I would ride on a big downhill road, letting the bike coast down without any throttle, the temp would fall to 79 celsius which is really low and I thought all is well. However, on a gas station I noticed some drips of water (hopefully it's just water...) on the fairing "triangle" under the exhaust. Right where my 3 year old chinese radiator is. Figured I'll look into it when I get home, and on my way home I did ride a bit more spirited, and well, when I parked the bike this is what I saw; So what happened here? I still have the OEM radiator, I bought the chinese one because I thought it cools the bike better, but it really made no difference. What coolant should I buy, Motul Motocool or something, and should I mix it with distilled water or just pure Motul? Thanks!

What's the procedure to get this thing off the bike? I went with the most logical thing - the screw on the side of the weight, managed to get the weight "out" a bit, but the whole thing would rotate when unscrewing...so what's the exact procedure on getting this thing out, why can't I take the screw out first?

So here it is, given that connector continuity test gave some suspicion, and with @superhawk996 saying the connector terminals look worse than expected, I went on with one more test... Bit hack, bit ghetto approach but jumping male and female sides of it with this specialized device gave results. High/low rocker switch works, Passing button works. Crimp time!

Haha no problem I'll manage to splice it up, Mouser delivers here as well, I have knipex tools and TE splices, and I'll probably cut the original Honda connector there and just put 2 12-pin DT's in place. But I'll try the hack method first just to see if it works with one wire from relay to bulb.

Wait, how risky would it be for me to cut the connector and splice it on the existing wires? I don't want to go into the "replace the entire harness" category

Damn I figured the connector is "ok", this was after I washed it up a bit with contact cleaner and tooth brush...this makes me worry about other connectors... Although this one might have it the hardest since it's sort of halfway exposed in that little gap between the tank and frame, so when I go to wash the bike, and I do it somewhat often, it might've added up to the problem over time...

How does this look?

This is how the throttle side switch looks on Euro bikes. Right position - all lights off Middle - small position light on Left - low beam and position In my case, when this switch is flipped to the right, when every bulb in the headlight is turned off, pressing the "Passing" button on the right hand switch fires up the low beam bulb. I've sketched out simplified diagram of the headlight so I can understand what's happening... LB being low beam, HB being high beam.....when the lights are turned completely off on the throttle-side switch, the Passing button that should flash the high beam, in my case it flashes the low beam.

Did a big service on my bike this year, turned into a shitshow. Two shops, one for "mechanic" side of things, one for fairings, fixed the cracks on the fairings that appeared over the years, Nitron shock, bearings, front shock rebuild, etc. I don't know which garage messed it up, but the electrics on the bike are not as they were. The bike runs, but given this annoying glitch I don't want to ride it before I sort it out. Also, generally speaking, it's really hard to find a proper service nowadays, and it's not even that I was skimping on the money. People are just greedy lazy lames but that's another story. So this is the problem. When I flip the throttle side slider switch to left, low beam and position turn on. As they should. But - in this case, passing button doesn't flash the high beam LED, but the relay clicks. Flipping the high beam button doesn't work but in this case, relay doesn't even click. Putting the throttle side light switch in the middle position, position bulb is on, low beam off - as it should. High beam switch and passing button still dead. Finally, throttle side light switch to the right, position and low beam are both off - as they should. High beam switch still dead - but - passing button flashes the low beam bulb. ? Cleaned all the contacts with contact cleaner, took apart both handlebar switches, put it all together as it should be, even checked if I mixed up the high beam and low beam bulb connector. Battery is new, contacts cleaned, so I checked the schematics and tested the Bu/Bl wire that is only routed from the power side of the headlight relay to the bulb. So probing the the Bu/Bl relay pin on the connector to the main harness connector under the tank, I got continuity. From the main harness connector to the bulb socket, I got continuity. However, testing directly from the 87 relay pin to the high beam bulb socket - nothing. Which seems to be impossible and makes no sense, so...any ideas?

I've managed to buy a really nice undertail, random on eBay, for $50, but really looking spotless as if the bike from where it was taken from was garaged and barely used. So now I feel bad about butchering that one, and would rather experiment with my current one haha. But the thing is I wouldn't like to do it in metal, would like to keep it plastic. Perhaps I should visit someone who's good with that type of material, I'm not sure if bodyshops would be willing to waste their time on this, will have to check. Anyhow no serious intervention would be needed in my case, just getting rid of that slope and make it "level"........or at least, last case scenario I was thinking - dremeling off the part where those original toolboxes and wheel locks are kept, maybe that would be sufficient. Can't go back once I start cutting so I need to plan it out before real good, I don't want to buy a third tray