Ten Years With A Sprint ST 955i

[PaulM]

On the 3 November 2002 my sprint hit the road, I got a good winter discount after a test ride. The first month or so a strange whistle was coming from the bike. At the 500mile service I asked the dealers to investigate, on collection they said nothing was wrong, but it still had the strange whistle. Eventually I found the gasket for the stepper motor was wrapped over the top of it not round it making a nice reed whistle. I used a different dealer for the next service. Over the next few months various nut and bolts fell off, nuts from exhaust headers, nuts and bolts fell out of the main stand mounting plus several screws feel out of the fairing. I got fed up with this and checked as many nuts and bolts as I could find tightening up several other lose ones. It must have got a Friday afternoon special. My first mod was the fuel pressure increase after reading about on this forum its well worth doing for more mid range pull. The next few years was just riding and general servicing with no problems, apart from having to replace the needle roller bearings in the suspension linkage during a service/regrease of the rear end. Also fitted a gel seat and dumped the original Bridgestones tyres for Avon Azaro‘s they were much better than the Bridgestones and fitted a Hagon rear shock. About 3 years ago I switched to 6 pot brakes up front from a Kawasaki. Better than the original brakes which were starting to stick giving to much front brake lever travel. Then about a year or so ago I switched back to the original four pots, but with the 675 Daytona seals and pistons giving a much better feel and braking all round. I have also fitted a fairly small double bubble screen which has moved the air from chest neck area to my shoulders much preferred as it has stopped a whistle I had round my helmet. After coming back from Spain in June this year, I felt like changing a few things. First change Michelin Pilot Road 3 tyres, I thought the Avon’s where good but these PR’3have moved things on they feel so planted (They however did feel very strange for the first 50 miles or so). I had also read the thread on USD Suzuki Fork Conversion several times and fancied giving it a go. Found a very clean set of USD Hayabusa Forks triple tree etc for a good price. Fitting was fairly easy after reading all the info on the forum. Very pleased with the resulting front wheel movement, travel is much improved, the ability to adjust the damping to bring a balance in compression and rebound damping is a joy after all the years of jerky front forks. Steering is a little slower but braking and control though corners are very positive. The only down side to the change is reduced steering lock but this only affects you when parking or moving in a tight space etc, riding on the road is no problem. I had fitted the higher bars from the later sprints about the same time as the Daytona brake setup never did get on with the higher setup to well. Now with the Hayabusa forks with Helibars fitted my hands are about the same level you get with RS bars I much prefer this height makes turning into a corner very easy. Another plus is even quieter wind noise. Last Mod has been a Trident Stubby Exhaust. This has led me to learn about Tune ECU to load different tunes etc, again an easy job with all the info from the forums. I think my Sprint now looks better, and now runs much better than it did with the standard can. I have keep the baffle in for the moment don’t what to upset the neighbours. The bike has only done just over 35K miles most of which have been covered riding in Europe not the UK, but it did sit for 2 years will hardly any use due to work commitments. With the way it now brakes better, steers better and definitely goes better than it did 10 years ago I think I will be keeping it for some time to come. And it never needs oil between changes which I do every 5000 miles. My only worry it’s a 2002 and some of those 2002’s have snapped a crank would not want that to happen.
Regards Paul

[DaveM]

Well Paul, they are indeed a great bike and this forum has been of great help to many if us over the years.

Many more years happy riding to you.

Cheers
Dave


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[CharlieS]

PaulM,
Cool!
And with 35k miles, I think you're ok on the crank.

[jvswan]

Wow, nice write-up. I'm looking forward to my next 20K miles. I'll be looking at some if the mods you mention, too.


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[Tripps]

Nice read, 2 years with my 02 now, I hope for many more.

[johnny]

I too have had my '02 ST since new in mid 2002. now @30,000 miles (Should be more, but Ive always owned more than one bike at a time ),
most I have had to do to her was tires, brake pads, oil/filter service, and clutches. No extensive mod's except for DnD can. Otherwise pretty much orig.
Coming from owning Harleys and Buells, I was stand-off-ish about buying her.
Spent almost four hours at the dealer looking her over in everyway. When all was said and done, I rode away on my brand-new '02 ST for 8999.00 + tax out the door. Another 1000.000 for hard bags.
She's been to Florida, Deal Gap, Indiana and all states in between. Best bike Ive owned as of yet!!

[DJBee]

My 2002 ST has now done nearly 60,000 miles and has been all over Europe and UK. It has been very good, reliable transport. I use my bikes (I have two) as main transport all year round so it has not had a particularly gentle life.
Problems have been few, normal servicing (I do my own) plus a new alternator stator, new R&R, new clutch plates (not really needed, the old ones were within tolerance), two batteries, brake pistons and seals, new cam chain and tensioner spring and then some problems just recently.
This started with a sudden high idle that eventually I cured with a new stepper motor, new Idle Control Valve and new vacuum hoses. I then had to bring it to a dealer (shame!) to have the idle resets redone. It is now running well again. I don't think it excels at anything much but is good or very good at everything.
Worst points for me have been the lights and the brakes that seem to need constant attention to eliminate excessive lever travel. I keep meaning to fit some Hayabusa calipers but have never got around to it!
Best points: fast, handling good for a big lump (WP shock on rear) and low 50s mpg on a long run, relaxed, fast, long distance tourer. I can just about reach the ground on it at 5'6" so good for shorties too!
When I have worn this one out I will probably get another one!

[nehpetsthegrey]

When you retire the ST, give the GT a test. Its the latest evolution of a bike we all love. Lots of the niggles fixed and cheaper than an ST. Just make sure it doesn't have Dunlops fitted.

[PaulM]

Originally Posted by DJBee

My 2002 ST has now done nearly 60,000 miles and has been all over Europe and UK. It has been very good, reliable transport. I use my bikes (I have two) as main transport all year round so it has not had a particularly gentle life.
Problems have been few, normal servicing (I do my own) plus a new alternator stator, new R&R, new clutch plates (not really needed, the old ones were within tolerance), two batteries, brake pistons and seals, new cam chain and tensioner spring and then some problems just recently.
This started with a sudden high idle that eventually I cured with a new stepper motor, new Idle Control Valve and new vacuum hoses. I then had to bring it to a dealer (shame!) to have the idle resets redone. It is now running well again. I don't think it excels at anything much but is good or very good at everything.
Worst points for me have been the lights and the brakes that seem to need constant attention to eliminate excessive lever travel. I keep meaning to fit some Hayabusa calipers but have never got around to it!
Best points: fast, handling good for a big lump (WP shock on rear) and low 50s mpg on a long run, relaxed, fast, long distance tourer. I can just about reach the ground on it at 5'6" so good for shorties too!
When I have worn this one out I will probably get another one!

Hi DJBee, I had forgotten about the high speed idle issue I had with my sprint should have put it in the original post, cured mine by changing the vacuum hoses could not see anything wrong with the originals so you only need a very small air leak to give a high speed idle. Also changed my R&R for the mosfet type did not have a problem with the original but wanted to be safe rather than sorry. I have also upgraded the starter wiring to heaver duty cable you get a much faster cranking speed with the thicker starter cables another mod worth doing. Cheers Paul