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2018es

Starting to notice a bit of a clunk in the front end when pulling wheelies. Initially thought it was the steering head bearings but they are fine. Snugged them up a bit but that’s not the issue. It almost seems like there may be some play in the forks, maybe the bushings.

70,000 kms seems premature for bushing wear. Thoughts?


Canadian FJR

I'll bite.

Are we talking 12 o'clock stand up wheelies or top of 1st gear power wheelie?

Did you check the brake calipers, rotors, etc as well?

Canadian FJR wrote: ↑Tue Jul 21, 2020 12:04 pm 2018es

Starting to notice a bit of a clunk in the front end when pulling wheelies. Initially thought it was the steering head bearings but they are fine. Snugged them up a bit but that’s not the issue. It almost seems like there may be some play in the forks, maybe the bushings.

70,000 kms seems premature for bushing wear. Thoughts?


Canadian FJR

Lol - not into 12 o’clock on the big girl but I can hold my own. I’ll check the brakes, good suggestion.



Canadian FJR

Stop pulling wheelies.... that POS ES has no topout springs in those forks... full out and yer gonna get a clunk.... ya ain't the first one to notice. Some have taken them back to the dealer, and duh... they can't diagnose what it is.....

Well f@ck me, that is exactly what I’m feeling.
You are not only good looking but smart too.

Can’t make any promises on the wheelies

Canadian FJR

There was discussion in another sandbox, a couple of guys noticed this clunking (weren't doing wheelies to my knowledge), at full extension. Dealers could not figure it out, could only suggest warranty replacement (jeez). The parts diagram MAYBE shows a top-out spring, but the service manual exploded view doesn't show one. To be truthful, I have some pics of when I took ES forks apart a coupla or so years ago, but I have no pics of the cartridge unfortunately.
On other Yammy's such as R1 with USD forks (non-ES), I see similar on the parts diagrams.... I can only speculate that was done to allow full suspension travel to get ~5" travel and there wasn't room for a top-out spring (which could eat up an inch).
Not that I recommend taking them apart, long service life on ES forks, oil stays quite clear after 50k miles, bushings are in the upper tube and there is no rubbing on aluminum as in conventional forks, thus no gray particle contamination in an ES. Will have to pay attention next time we have ES forks apart....

Another reason to pick the A model. You know, for all those 11 o’clock wheelies I do when passing 8 car trains.

Hi there
I have a clunk in the middle of the head When I hit medium potholes or bumps , above the light and under the windshield I guess , but no problems on the steering or any other problem
I didn’t remove any fairing yet , but I suppose it’s the windshield motor that is loose and it has some play ??

Anybody having the same problem ?

My 2006 would 'clunk' when compressing the front forks, front brake applied. Completely rebuilt forks. Still clunked. Turned out to be forward topside engine mounts, where you mount sliders. Yep. Remove, lube the shim, re-torque per the book, never again. Probably not the same, but it reminded me.

Clunk is hard to define.... Gen2 windshield mechanisms were a little sloppy at extreme down or up... does it reduce/go away if part way up? If it doesn't, then check for loose/missing fasteners... maybe that plastic deflector thing at the underside of the triple clamp, I've seen one of the two screws missing there occasionally on some FJR's (including my '14).

Interesting on the engine mounts.... for those main bolts, I'd remove and coat with anti-seize and torque to under 30 ft. lbs. Fine thread 12mm highly subject to bi-metal corrosion, including aftermarket slider/crash bar bolts. Tighten left side first, then right.

Another source of clunk, brake rotor rivets if clean and free, will click/clunk when applying brakes in either direction. By design. You can rotate the rotors back and forth a bit to hear this... if you can't, rivets have road crud in them.

this is downloadable i you need it for check fasteners/removing plastics -> https://www.dropbox.com/s/tlfvv03xc2f4l ... l.pdf?dl=0

Another source of cluck is steering bearings. Mine had it.