Steve

Keith, I would suggest that YOU check out the fork legs for any imperfections that probably caused the seal to blow in the first place... the Stealer is not likely to do this as they will profit from it happening again either via their warranty service or your having to pay. You want to feel the fork tube for any irregularities then sand then with crocus cloth or even some very fine sand paper and remove these or you'll be looking at this repair again shortly. Once the repair is done it's a good idea to wipe down the fork legs each time you either wash the bike or plan a ride, I even shoot them with a little WD40 to keep everything cclean and lubed, this helps them last a long time. Lastly, you should be there to make sure they measure the fork oil properly, which I have never heard of a Stealer doing. This is pretty critical in the handling of th bike. I can supply you with the masurements to make sure they get it right. Best of luck, Steve

Keith, I would suggest that thy replace both while in thre, it's not much more work adn could save some headaches later. The reason most seals blow is from either burrs caused by rocks hitting your fork legs (the dealer will usually NOT check this out and they must be perfect or this will happen again soon!) or by debris which wears the seal, occasionally it's from too much oil but that doesn't sound like it in your case. I just did both of mine, with factory seals, and everything is great now. The work is in removing the forks off the bike, not doing the seals themselves so error on the cautious side... FYI - I went with Bel-Ray racing 10W and am pretty happy although what they said about the vavling being wrong is correct and the rebound in the stock set isn't right even with the lesser weight oil. Depending on how many miles you have on your stock springs it may well be time to replace them, the replacement interval should be around 16K miles. Steve

The grease type isn't very important. I use either Honda Moly grease, axle bearing grease or white lithium grease depending on which one I grab at the time. Use only a little film. IF you're doing the front axle make sure everything is lined up right so that the axle slides in easily and can turn without much effort assuring proper alignment before cranking down the pinch bolts... you may also want to spray out the brake piston/ pcuks with brake cleaner since you'll have the front end apart... this helps a lot!

Second the Motion Pro's... get two of them and life is easy! I tried it with a couple small ones and it sucked. It also helps to have someone to help but with the H.F. changing station it's not necessary. Again, it would be a cold day in hell that I would trust Stealership lackies with the axle, brake, and pinch bolts when I want to use the afterburners on the Bird...

I could not disagree with Howie any more... This has been the experience of most all of those I know as well as myself. Stealers or local bike shops: Spend 3/4 hour getting wheels off bike (needed whether you mount your own tires or someone else) Drive some distance to the Stealer. Fill out paperwork, spend about 1-2 hours waiting for them. Get tires/wheels back and ALWAYS notice a varity of new complimentary scratches in my wheels. Pay $15-35 per wheel to have this done. Get home and find out that their version of balancing is nowhere near accurate as they have immediate vibrations at any speeds over 80mph. After using the "above said" Harbour freight set-up and a couple long tire irons this now takes me less time then watching the feable fuck up my rims, I balance them and have yet to have ANY shimmy at any speeds... total cost is now about .50 in lead weights. I also remount my wheels using proper torque values and check my brake pads so when I hauling ass I have a level of faith in knowing my bike won't fall apart. Bottom line is I have yet to hear of any dealerships or local places that mount tires without damage to rims or that have any concern with the quality of work... most people aren't smart enough to care about this so it's only about getting bikes in and getting them out as quickly as possible. I don't live in some small town and have probably about 40 places within 60 miles and have not heard a good experience yet in the various riding clubs or user groups... Steve '91 ST1100 ( at least I left the board on my own behalf... hehe) '01 Red Bird '99 BMW M3 conv ("just totaled") '01 Boxster just gave it back to Porsche (Lemon Law) '89 Acura Integra (280 miles and still going strong!) Steve in S. Cal

Shit Warchild, 6K miles on any set of tires riding "at speed" oand on hot pavement sounds pretty damn good to me. I haev gotten about 6-7K on my 45/46 and happy every mile - great traction wet and dry... this is my 4th set on two different bikes and will replace with the same unless I keep hearing more great shit about the new Bridgestone 014's (don't know if they fit the Bird though).

Pete in PA said it right, use your wheel axle, being the right size and already off your bike, then two old whel bearings with the seals removed (lessens the friction) and shoot them with some WD-40. This works aweosme. For the Balancer itself, I made one out of 2 pieces of 4x4 and a couple pieces of 2x4... total cost about $12 for all the parts and it works killer! It looks like two upside-down T's with a notch in the top so the bearings can settle in, the wheel sits in between them. The nicely machined gadget above is very helpful when balancing "single-sided" swing-arms but not needed for the bird...

Make sure you use one or the other. WD-40 will not harm O-rings and can be used as a lubricant and so can most of the chain lubes just don't use WD-40 then chain lube as the residue from the WD will make it so the Chain lube flies right off with no adhesion, this is why it is recommended using Kerosene as the cleaner first as it evaporates very quickly allowing the lube to then stick (funny, lube sticking, never mind...)

BDAZ XX, I commend you on your earlier acheivements and successes. I also acknowledge that you may have been able to overcome most of the ill-effects of the the wider rear wheel/tire combination on the back of the bike but this was done so with MAJOR work changing the geometry so your claim that it does not adversely affect the handling was not addresssed. I am sure you have great riding abilities and that either you or those you know are at a high level in suspension tuning but you know well that the smaller rear wheel tire will make the turn in MUCH better. To deny this is the case would not ring true. By the sound of the initial post this person is looking moreso for a higher "squid-factor" and not truly concerned with the handling of the bike, which is the case with most people who send their stuff to places like Lindemann racing and otherwise as their set-ups are strickly for tracks and NOT the conditions we find on the streets but it was stated that the wider rear combo does NOT affect handling and that was wrong... can it be overcome with lots of other adjustments, yes but it will always be a detriment to the handling of the bike. Thank you for the offer to ride it and I also extend an offer for beer and rides should you make it down to S.Cal to play in the canyons down here... Steve

Nik, To answer your question - YES, it is a bad idea to use WD-40 AND chain lube. WD-40 is a Degreaser. Chain lube is a grease. You are applying a degeaser then a grease which will make the chain lube not adhere asn tehre will still be remnents o WD-40 on there not allowing the grease to adhere. It MAY work for some for a short time but it doesn't make sense. To clean you chain use Kerosene, let dry for a few minutes then lube with chain lube of your choice, I prefer PJ-1 in the blue can. I made the TERIBLE mistake of cleaning my chain with Simple Green then applying chain lube, the Simple Green rusted my chain overnight resulting my having to replace it withing a couple hunderd miles. Use WD on your key recepticle, and some other parts but don't use both WD AND chain lube on the chain... Hope this helps Steve

I call BULLSHIT! A wider rear wheel with wider tire WILL significantly change the handling, anyone who says diferrently has no clue. Maybe it's better in a straight line but the handling change will be dramatic. It is possible that these people are only concerned with the looks or drag-racing capabilities but don't preach that there is no handling difference without knowledge... Squid/bling factor is raised but handling deminished considerably - bottom line Steve

Avon 45/46. This is my third set ion this bike and love them! All of mine have been fine but most everyone else's tires, regardless of brands, looked cupped to me too. Hope this helps. Salute! Steve

I also had a similar "equipment malfunction" as the rubber strap holding down my battery is now missing! Dammit Jim! Clearly Honda has no concern whatsoever about quality control as it quickly lowers itself to the depth of it's American counterparts. Shame on them! Anyone wanting to begin a class action lawsuit to put an immediate halt to this catastrophic decline just let me know! To think that If my motorcycle was to become inverted that my battery would then hit the top of my seat bottom has caused me to slow down to a pace that I can no longer feel absolutely confident in dragging my pegs... this and that fact that I shimmed my tail 6mm but that's not important!

bout every 5K miles) I run a bottle of the STP fuel conditioner which also takes all the carbon off the plugs and probably the valves as well. I tried a bottle running in my ST1100 and checked the plugs before adn after... after running the bottle the plugs came out looking brand new versus some carbon on them so I am assuming the valves would also be better. I have seen many pistons recently, from several different bikes, and know these things get some pretty good build-up, regardless of how hot we may run them. Steve

You may also want to look at the "blow by". I initially installed a K&N on my St1100 until the next time I opened the airbox and found very significant dirt inside the aircleaner. I have not heard of ANY neglible HP gain resulting from a K&N but will attest to it adding to a louder intake. All said and done, I gave my K&N away as I would prefer my air cleaner actually clean the air otherwise I wouldn't run anything at all. May run thm, some have turned away but I do know that the stock cleaner does a far better job of cleaning which was my choice. steve

Get either a 35MM or an SAE 1 3/8" works also and should be much cheaper. Remeber the torque specs are 76 ft/lbs on the center nut. Good luck

Get either a 35MM or an SAE 1 3/8" works also and should be much cheaper. Remeber the torque specs are 76 ft/lbs on the center nut. Good luck

After probably 2 dozen oil changes I've never needed a filter wrench to remove or install the filter, why are you torqueing it down THAT hard? It should be a little over finger tiht installed and you should be able to remove it with your hands, if not you could always spear it with a flat blade screw driver it some monkey cranked it on there...

Hey Warchild, your front tire looks cupped... IF these things work put me down for one. Steve

That's all normal, the Bird runs anywhere from 180-200 while at speeds over 40 and somewhere in the 210-235 range under those speeds. As for teh blast furnace on your legs, go faster and it seems to go away Steve I'll be there in a couple weeks for the air races, maybe meet us for a beer on Sept 17th in South shore... '01 Red bird 13K miles

Close but I opted for the iP-395 (the newer version of the 190). I didn't want the iPod as the battery life sucks and needs to be recharged too often. I get 15 hours on one AA battery and carry a spare in case. It was between the I-River and the new MPIO but the joystick on the I-River makes it really easy to work with gloves on. I usually ride with earplugs in as well however on some lonely strips of highway heading across the desert or slow puts around town the music is pretty awesome! I have teh stock windshield and am 6'3" so my head is in "celan wind" with little to no buffeting. I also opted to get some software from BestBuy so I could download my CD's onto my desktop to load into my MP 3 player... it also allows me to condense the music so each song usually takes up only about 3-5 Mb's allowing a 150+ songs. This thing also rocks at the gym too with their armband... Steve

I second Hugo... I keep a religious 40/40 in them and am getting 6500+ on teh rear (ridden very hard) and could see double on the front but I change that out as a set now. If you're only seeing a few thousand then either your riding very hard in hight temps on a track or your air pressure is too low... this could cause your tires to wear very quickly

Shoei RF-900 with I-River MP3 plyer (love it!) which holds 512K in songs with decent Sony ear plugs. It gives me plenty of music and the little joystick makes it easy to switch to what I want while riding. Steve

Also: www.motoport.com (now called Cycleport) I wear their Kevlar Ultra II jacket and pants and SWEAR by them! I've sen a good friend fall at 75+ mph with absolutely no bruises or roadrash... try that wearing Cordura and it will melt to your body.

To measure the oil distance simply use a tape measure measuring from teh top of the tube down... when the oil touches the little metal end that tells you your measurement. The measurement should be 142 mm or 5.6" from the top of the tube to the oil with the springs out. In order to get this accurate make sure the tube is off the bike. Steve