Bought unsighted!

Hi from Australia.
I am not really qualified to post the blog yet as even though I have now bought a FE550 e 2004 I have not even seen it in the flesh! It is not the first time I have bought a bike unseen on the internet. I am coming up to a significant birthday and have managed to negotiate financial approval to upgrade my dirt bike.
I have a history with Yamahas, and was trawling around for a WR, but, found the Husa on Gumtree for a price that could not be ignored and it was located less than 10 minutes from where I live in Melbourne. I spent some time on google and quickly realised that the FE550 was a great bike. Now the reason why I did not see the bike before purchase is that I work in the automotive engineering industry and as anyone in AU knows our current government does not see any value in having a manufacturing capability to support jobs or growth, and recently I have been traveling to China and Thailand supporting their future! I am in Thailand and thus not able to inspect.
The guy selling had very good reasons why he wanted it gone quickly and sounded to be genuine, so the deposit was paid by my darling wife! He is even going to drop it off for me, which is a risk but as I said the price is very good and I am assuming it needs a rebuild to some extent. The declared problems are:
1. Hard to start when cold with electric or kick start.
2. Speedo does not function.
I grew up in Gippsland on a farm, with properties in the foothills of the divide and up in the dividing mountain range. My bikes have been much smaller and less capable in the past.
1. Suzuki TC120 – 1969 3speed gearbox with hi/lo ratio!!!!! Still have in shed
2. Honda XL185 – 1970s still have in shed
3. IT200L – great bike but brakes NOK, in shed next rebuild project.
4. DT200 – good bike with brakes –sold
5. TT350 – good bike –sold
6. Chang Jian CJ750 – refer photo, great looking but Chinese reliability-sold
7. XS750 – café racer resto project, full engine rebuild & rechrome – current road ride.
8. TT250 – current paddock/trail bike, ebay special!!!!
Can’t wait to get home this Friday to see what I have bought! Need to also acknowledge my very tolerant wife who has organised the payments and drop off.
One question, please refer to the photo. Is the bike a “Force” version or has it just had a sticker and seat kit? How do I determine and was there any physical difference with the “Force” model?

Welcome hope it doesn't need much.

Compression test.

One bit of data I have not found is what PSI value should I get with a compression test, hot or cold?

It has auto decompression?
Xx

Doh!

Thanks Jimmy - relised my mistake with a bit more reading on the forum this afternoon!

Congrats and enjoy! 550s are magic!

There were at least some suspension difference with the Force models I beleive?. For some years there was a separate Force Edition parts catalog.

A leakdown test is probably more revealing!
(A comparative compression test would probably be good to log through the life of the bike?)

I'd consider actually just having a look down into the cylinder. By bore-scoping or head-pulling.?

Thanks

Hi Tourist

Never done a leak test, always done compression, but after reading up on the leak test it makes perfect sense. Appears far more diagnostic, in that it is possible to identify the source or sources of trouble. Lets hope I have not bought a sieve! Heres hoping for 10% to 15% loss but expecting closer to 30%.

I found the 2004 Force parts list and it did appear that they had upspec forks and triple tree. Going from the photo of the one I have bought it does not have the billet triple tree so I guess it is a want t be!!! oh well!

Update



Arrived back in Melbourne late last night. Had a quick look and it was a pleasant surprise. I did notice the fuel was left on as well as the choke, so turned fuel off and left it for the night.

First thing, put it on charge and put a new battery in the speedo.

up popped 96hrs :giggle::giggle::giggle:
3690km :giggle::giggle::giggle::giggle:

So I waited for the battery to fully charge (not necessary) third kick and she is purring - not what I would call "hard to start".

To say I am estatic and releived is an understatement.
I have spent the afternoon changing all the fluids and checking it over and there have been no rude surprises. I would have to say though I am not a fan of the kick starter being on the same side as the side stand. And second point, impact drivers are great for disassembly but I hate it when they have been used to assemble. Had a really hard time getting the primary filter undone. In the end I had to use the socket while hitting the end of the ratchet with a hammer to get it loose. All done now, but not ridden yet, that will have to wait until I can get out of the city.

Yesssssss!!!!

Speedo

One question, does the speedo still log hrs and Kms if the internal battery is flat and display is not functioning?
No real doubts on the condition of the bike, just curious.

Sounds like you have scored a winner.
I had 2 2004 550s , awesome, the engines have a great bottom end with a sweet mid range if you want to open it up some.

With a good battery in it, I would unbolt the kick starter and chuck it under the work bench. It just gets in the way when you try and pull out the choke button, and I have never had battery start issues over the 600+ hours of riding on that model bike.

Pretty reliable , would nearly pay to just have a quick look at the cam follower bearings ,for peace of mind, I think for memory around 160 hrs is a good time to replace them.( read through some posts on this site)

Plenty of great information on this site and some outstanding input from a variety of people with lots of experience.

First ride

Took the bike down to the farm on the weekend, and got it dirty. In all I put 4hrs on it, but alot of that was chasing cattle! A little overkill for that job, but entirely managable.

The property backs onto state forest so it did get a couple of squirts on the fire trails. Plenty of hills with many water run offs (= air time) and the ground is mainly red clay with rocks and rutts.

The engine is as everyone says - power, glorious power, but very controllable. Want a little bit = twist a little bit. Want a lot = twist a lot and get an absolute train load!! No surprises, absolutely linear power

The suspension is OK, nothing really bad but nothing fantastic. Yamaha with Showa feels a more refined package on both the small harsh stuff and the big heavy hits. The Whitepower is good on the big hits but not so good on cutting out the small harsh. Guess with more work it may get better.

Overall very very happy with the $2K outlay:giggle:

Hey,
sounds good ,04 550, another thing, suspension, make sure you have the correct rate springs in the forks and rear PDS ,for your total rider weight, I rode around for a few year on, to softer spring rate for my weight , was very harsh in rock and sharp bumps.

The best I found also, was setting the forks spring preload at "0" with the spacers as was recommended by someone here , fork worked better that way for me. I also set the top of the fork about 8-10mm up in the clamps. Change out the fork oil , may help also.

I run a variable rate spring in the rear, however if I had my time back, I would of just stuck with a straight rate spring , as per standard issue. Standard valving in that PDS is set for straight rate spring anyway. Other wise you may need to start changing valving going for variable rate spring.

Set your sag up in the rear , then I found I just wound the preload nut on the rear spring back and forth quarter of a turn until you find the sweet spot for balance and handling, well , that seemed to work for ok for me that way.( I am not a suspension tuner though , ha ha )

Hope that helps some.

Not sure where you are but I had my 04 550 sorted by Dave at suspension matters, Race Tech every thing.....fantastic results.....just picked up a low K's 570 and before I take it out it's all going to him for a Racetech overhaul, it'll make your 550 handle like a cat on carpet, one gear higher, faster and more controlled with much less effort....light years above standard suspension set up

520pilot said:

Not sure where you are but I had my 04 550 sorted by Dave at suspension matters, Race Tech every thing.....fantastic results.....just picked up a low K's 570 and before I take it out it's all going to him for a Racetech overhaul, it'll make your 550 handle like a cat on carpet, one gear higher, faster and more controlled with much less effort....light years above standard suspension set up

Click to expand...

I tried him, but some dodgy assembly work on my suspension put me in hospital. So not a big fan. Had it redone by someone else who really knows what they're doing, and it's now light years above his suspension.

setting the sag

Thanks for the confirmation that it can be tuned to work. I am in Melbourne so no chance of using Race Tech.
First I am going to try to get the back to the basics and set the sag to be correct. From the owners manual on the 04 model states the sag should be set at 90mm to 105mm. The spring chart is interesting, as the stiffest spring is rated up to 90Kg - I though the Swedes where big bloody Vikings and would get much bigger than 90Kg after a few rollmopps. I am 85Kg so do I need the heavy spring?