JimMoore

That sounds about right. Mine seems to be ambient + 110 (F) while riding and 210+ if I'm stopped for a few minutes.

Thaks guys. Looks like there are a few on eBay for $125 or so. I think I'm going to go that route. maybe I'll send the old one away once I get the new one installed.

Hi Guys, I just noticed a dent in my front rim. It's holding air so I'm not hugely worried about it, but I do want to replace it when I get a chance. I assume a 5th gen wheel will fit (1998-2001?) but how about other years? Thanks,

Hard cold starting is a great indication of tight valves. I'd have a hard time justifying digging into a bike with that mileage if my cold starts were clean.

thanks. Good thinking. i was actually looking at Amazon. It didn't make sense that the front and rear were the same, but I guess thot's how it works on this bike.

Hi Guys, Are the FA261HH pads correct for the front on my '98? The website is a little confusing. Are the fronts and rears the same?

Thanks. I'll have to ponder that for awhile.

How do you bleed the SMC? I may have missed that.

Yeah, the trick to the MityVac is 1-2 squeezes, then use the lever to force out the fluid. Any more than a slight vacuum and it's not going to work.

Yeah, I'm sure it was in the lines. I've done it wrong enough times to know what it looks like. All the air was in the linked portions of the system. Maybe my linked brakes have never worked and I just didn't know.

Hi Guys, I just got done replacing the brake fluid on my '98. I'll share my lessons learned. First, you need a MityVac or similar for this job. I've found that the trick to the MityVac is as follows. Squeeze it once or twice to set up a slight vacuum, then gently pump the lever (or pedal) to force out the fluid. The slight vacuum holds the old fluid in the hose. You may need to go back and forth several times between the MityVac and the lever. For the fronts, the "outside" nipples (at the top of the caliper) are bled like every other set of brakes. Fluid is pulled from the front reservoir. Simple. The "center" nipples are bled from the rear system. You need to pump the rear brake pedal, AND you need to refill the rear reservoir as you bleed. It doesn't feel quite normal , probably because the fluid is going God knows where on its journey from the rear reservoir to the nipple. Btw, you don't need to take the rear fairing off to refill that reservoir. Remove the screws holding the right side in place. That will give you plenty of room to work. Next, the PCV valve. The book says to move the tank forward out of the way. My tank was completely off so I didn't need to do that but it's probably necessary. The PCV valve bleeds from the rear reservoir and uses the rear pedal. I had the rear wheel off for the rear brakes. I'm not sure if it's required, but it made it easier. The outside nipple is the "standard" line. It bleeds from the rear, as you would expect. The center nipple is impossible to reach. I pulled the caliper (Two 12 mm bolts. One easy to reach, The other hidden up by the hoses) and jammed a screwdriver between the pads to hold them open while I bled. It bleeds from the rear, using the rear reservoir and the rear pedal. Anyway, nothing too hard, just a little more complicated than a typical bleed. My main surprise was that there was a LOT of air in the linked part of the system, the center nipples and the PCV valve.

Hi Guys, I just finished checking the valves on my 98 with 35,000 miles. I'm happy to report they were all in spec, even after 20K miles of hard riding. Lots of high rpm. Lots of excursions to the red line at full throttle. In any event, here are my tips and lessons learned. I took the tank all the way off. I guess you don't need to, but it was a lot easier with it completely out of the way. I also removed the rear coils. I planned to remove the airbox, but it was such a PITA that I ended up simply loosening everything as best I could and pushing it forward out of the way. There was plenty of room to work on the rear. For the front I started by detaching both radiators from their mounts, but that didn't give me enough room to pull the valve cover. I ended up pulling the snorkel (PAIR valve?) off the top of the valve cover AND detaching the left side radiator from the upper hose. That gave me plenty of room to remove the cover and to reach in to check the valves.

Because it's overgeared AF. Mr. Honda agrees with me. He dropped a tooth in the front in the 6th Gen. People spend hundreds of dollars on exhausts and other performance mods that do almost nothing. Here's one that really makes a difference for $30 that takes an hour to install. Try it. If you don't like it, switch back.

It can be both. Really, try it. Just drop a tooth in the front. Huge difference.

Preach it, brother! I keep trying to tell people this. They talk about gas mileage and speedometer inaccuracy. I'm like, "So fucking what?!"