Steve

If they're the stock pipes Mothers Chrome polish worked like a charm for this kid.

Probably not. Don't worry about buying the special Honda tool to get a perfect torque on the head. The only thing I needed was a Dremel tool with a cut-off wheel as mine were frozen in place, doubt this will be your case. Good luck. Torque down everything else properly but the head bearings I've had great luck adjusting them by feel. With the forks off it's a good time to do a fork service (oil change) and clean the shim stack well too

Follow up on CA Sport touring - After I sent a hard-nosed email asking either for my shipping tracking number or an immediate refund I was contacted by "Bob" from CA ST. He said that they received my order 10 days ago but "just got the springs in last week so they'll go out tomrrow." I told him that I should have received either notification that the parts were back-ordered OR the parts themselves, that anything else was unsatisfactory thus my desire to not do business with them. He was really taken by my demand, told that they never charged my charge, then quickly hung up. When are companies going to start realizing what customer service is about? If you've got the product ship the damn stuff when expected and communicate, otherwise promptly tell them the status and give them the chance to make up their own minds... don't simply leave them hanging/waiting. Moral of this story - don't expect any service from Ca ST... spend money where you'll be taken care of even if it costs slightly more...

Hey Nik, We all forgot to adivse another important tool - a good set of Calipers! I got my digital (highly recommended!) set from Harbor Freight. They ran about $20? They are very handy when reassembling the front end (measuring the fork tubes), measuring bolts or screws, measuring brake rotors, etc. I went years without a set but use mine all the time now. Also: one of those extending magnetic picker-upper thingies,. They run about $3 at most any cheesie tool bin (got mine at Do-it-center). These are a life saver when you drop, and you will drop, screws and shit in your motor or fairing. Rolls of masking tape - these are used when you take stuff apart you can put a piece of tape on whatever part so you remember that it needs to later be torqued or where it connects to. Especially helpful when disconnecting electrical crap. After you've had some fun with your tools, and oil drain plug, you'll get the treat of purchasing such neat things as "easy-outs", taps, and dies as we all start fucking with every bolt purely to see how we can destroy them all... Oh yeah, a decent hand held shop light (flourescent?) from Sears or places like that.

My only advice is DON'T clean your chain with Simple Green... resulted in my needing a new chain within 500 miles. (had @14K on it when I fucked it up and needed a new on...)

I think it will be unanomoous with all Bird owners that the best addition that can be had is HOOKERS! Everything else will pale in comparison...

I ordered springs from them 11 days ago. The only thing I've got from them was an order confirmation. I just sent a rather direct note telling him to notify me of the staus in the next 48 hours or I'll cancel any transaction with my CC card. This will be the one and only time I'll do business with them. I tried to call them but both lines just keep ringing... too bad as this is a guy from the ST1100 group who is this business, I would have liked to support him.

Cratfsman or Husky (Home Depot) tools work very well. A full set of metric sockets+ a 22mm, 24mm and I think you'll also need a 27mm socket, some metric combo wrenches, defintitely at least a good torque wrench (I like my Husky one a lot!), a pair of channel locks, needle nose pliers, a shit load od duct tape in case something moves and shouldn't, a few screw drivers, allen head set that fits on your 3/8" sockets (5 and 6mm are most prominent), a universal for the socket wrench, a couple extensions, a big ass hammer for coercing parts into place. I foget what esle...

If that picture is accurate your thinset looks cupped I've never been one to tile over existing tile. It is a P.I.T.A but I like starting fresh. Tiling is pretty easy and cheap to do yourself for the record.. I rented a tile saw from Home Depot a few years ago for @$45/day, found that to be quite worth it. I had to do a kitchen floor, two bathroom floors, countertops, shower, linen cabinet tops, and some other shit. I may go with Granite this next time...

Tomek, There aren't too many "throttle locks" that work well on anything other than "Flat land"... at least not until you get into Gold wings and stuff like that. I have many miles of use with both ThrottleMeisters and the littel throttle lock plastic ones, both work well. Throttlemeister quality is outstanding but it will cost you. I have found it very easy to use, looks great, and takes only a little time to set up right. I use it a lot on slab trips... which is about the only time you would use one anyway.

Throttlemeister is like asking for oil or radar detector sugestions - many varying and strong opinions. I have a throttlemeister and LOVE it but many will bitch about the price and functionality. You may want to search the archives as there were several threads recently about that...

Check the torque specs on the Bridgeway rectifier heatsink, and the front tire for cupping too...

Two tools needed: One piece of PVC pipe to make sure the new seal is seated properly (or even better a fork seal too) and a long allen wrench to get to the screw in the bottom of the fork to release the internals so it cam be pulled apart. My buddy made this by cutting an allen wrench end of then putting it into a socket. Once apart it's a good idea to make damn sure there is no burs on the fork tubes whatsoever, use Krokus (sp?) to smooth out the tubes. Use only new fork oil, for $10 it's not worth messing with oil shit... don't be silly! As for a MityVac, you can use a piece of tubing and just put your finger over the end to suck up excessive oil if you put in too much. The job is pretty staight forward although most shops will not only charge you rediculous amounts of $$$ they rarely torque everything down correctly...

You'll need an extended allen key to get to the screw hidden at the bottom of the forks. I borrowed my buddies as he cut the small angle of an allen then inserted it into the proper sized (6mm?) socket. The other thing that is nice to have is a seal plunger tool, this makes sure it goes down right, otherwise you may need to use a piece of piepe and the old seal so as not to damage the new one going down the fork tube.

Can't comment on Valvoline but I've been running the cheap-ass Castrol 10-40 in the Winter and 20-50 in the Summer in my Acura and it's still going storng after 285K miles with ALL original engine parts... about to do an oil change this weekend. I'll stick with what workd for me in that car.

Just sold Bird, So. Cal, 40 years old (but act like I'm 20), was just paying $600 for FULL coverage through AAA with a ticket on my record. Love those guys especially when it came to paying a claim... State Farm tried dicking me around when it came to a ticket dropping off my record and they wanted to SLOWLY reduce my costs over a years time - fuck'em. AAA bases their costs on CC's not model ID so I didn't get cornholed like many other insureres wil try. Good luck

The usual word on the Corbin seats is to buy one from the mfg that is made for you. I have used ones bought off the shelf and found them to be as hard as a rock, WAY too uncomfortable.

Mike, The tool isn't needed. I am really anal about geting things perfect with my torque-wrench but that adjustment you don't need the tool or fishing scale, do it by feel. Tapered bearings are the shit if they need to be replaced. They may just need repacking and adjusting though. Even if they are fine it would still be a good idea to repack them and it's not a chore so I would suggest starting there. As for the infamous Avon shimmies, had them on both bikes when the tires are new. At low speeds, those under about 15 mph, the bikes feels really odd at first. This goes away after only about 500 miles. That was the only negaive I've found with those tires adn I could asily live with it. There are a few sets of defective tires adn Avon was quick to help out in those situations standing behind their product. Seems like their QC is much better now though.

Could be lots of stuff: Bad rear swingarm bearing Bad front tire bad rear tire terrible geometry shot head bearings loose head bearings low tire pressure front wheel bearings Most likely it's simply the head bearings out of adjustment, start with that and make sure o pack them well while in there.

Stem-stand makes a center post mount which can be used both for GPS (I have my StreetPilot there) or for a radar detector (I have that one mounted off teh clutch reservoir from Stem-Stand). If you want I can send you pics...

I've been using that same changer for a couple years now with GREAT success. It ran about $90 for everything. We secured it to the floor by drilliing, tehn installing, some anchors then screwing lag bolts to mount it on the garage flor (very sturdy). One guy can easily do a set of tires in about 40 minutes. What he doesn't cover is balancing, that can be VERY important to do right, and I have yet to see any dealership or bike shop balance accurately.

Plugs and air filter only deteriorate when in use. I wouldn't worry about it in the least bit. I just changed both my air filter AND plugs a couple weeks ago, with 14K miles the air filter was ready but the plugs looked like new. I would change the oil, oil filter, fork oil, brake fluids, clutch fluid, oil chain, lube the head bearings, check the chain tension, and go ride!

Lindemann is often spoke of very highly but my experience has been different in all teh bikes I've ridden wiht their work. I have found their set-up to be WAY too harsh for any street riding, only set up for track use. On the street the forks won't move allowing the front wheel to stay planted, this is fine at very high speeds on smooth surfaces but you won't find that on streets. I would stay away unless you're tracking the bike solely. More often taht not I've found Lindemann to be the choice of a lot of squids who knew little about set up but lots about dropping names...

After hearing about that stuff on the board here I tried it in both of my bikes and two cars: Bird - no difference yet but only about 40 miles on it. I don't expect any difference as the bike is well tuned My acura - big difference right away, idles much smoother. Couldn't tell yet about gas mileage. Lexus - stop smoking about 30 miles after adding. Big difference ST1100 - too new, only about 30 miles on it. Bottom line - glad ?I did it for only @$5 per vehicle. I have also tried the silver bottle of STP engine cleaner and had great results with that stuff also in taking all the carbon out of the engine, as evident by removing the plugs and they looked like new after only about 50 miles. I will use Sea-foam again...

I consistantly get 6K+ miles on mine, my ass is about 200 lbs and I ride fairly aggressively and often on VERY hot pavement... also vigilant on my pressure though. I'm on my 3 rd set of Avons on this bike, second on my ohter and will stick with them.