Well, it sure was a great day for some wrenching here in Richmond, Va. After 80k miles my 2001 model A16, the front springs felt like mush, so time to get some new ones. Who do ya call? Murph of course!    And the box from Gary arrived very quickly, as always, and what was inside? Oh Joy, new springs! Happy dance time..



So after perusing posts and getting great advice from folks here, COG-online, and ADVrider, I decided to dive in and have a go at it. After first considering rebuilding the forks entirely, one member in particular noted that since my seals weren't leaking, why was I going to the trouble to fix something that wasn't broken and add complexity and time to my first exploit with the forks? Seemed quite logical, and sense he has forgotten more about the Concours than I will ever know, I took his advice and decided to just change the springs, flush the forks, and put new 15w oil in (thanks again Guy)  So here is a very amateur write-up of my experience doing my first fork spring and oil change. I took some pics along the way, but it was hard to remember to whip out the camera at every point. BTW, the manuals might not say so, but this is not, IMHO, a one person job. Many times I was having to hold things in place while Justin tightened/loosened bolts or clamps. I would not have been able to accomplish the task without his help (thanks Justin!).

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So here goes: (Again this is for a 2001, the 1986-93 forks are different)
After unpacking the springs, 15W oil, and getting everything organized, I started by taking a reference pic of the speedo drive to ensure proper alignment when putting it all back together.



Then zip tied it out of the way. Removed the bolts holding the brake calipers on and zip tied them out of the way also. I was able to do this without having to push the cylinders back into the caliper, but I may have just gotten lucky. Now take your handlebars off and lie them gently on the towel-covered tank making sure the brake or clutch master cylinder isn't leaking fluid so as not to eat the paint on the tank. I then took off the front fender to get ready to remove the wheel. The bolts holding the fender on are on the inside. There are 4 of them.



At this point, just as I began to read the write-ups on the next step, Justin showed up (whoo-hoo!) and after enticing him with Starbuck's and Dunkin Doughnuts, he was kind enough to show this rookie what to do from here.



So I used my scissor jack from the car and a piece of 1x6 under the headers to bring the front end up enough to remove the tire.



The axle uses a 12mm allen key. Start on the left/clutch side, loosen the 8mm allen pinch bolt on the bottom of the fork, then loosen the axle bolt. Now loosen the right 8mm pinch bolt, and the axle will pull out the right/brake side. It needed a fair amount of effort to pull the axle out while turning it with the allen key now on the right side..



And after jacking up the front a bit more, off comes the wheel..



Continues in Part 2