Front maintenance + SKFOH and a buffing request.
Time passed and it came back from buffing.
There was quite a bit of casting texture remaining, so I requested that they remove the casting texture.
I was worried it would be a real hassle, but it came back shiny and polished.
Both left and right are straight with no bending—excellent condition.
All that’s left is to bleed the air and we’re done.
There are some stains from the masking tape, but I think we assembled it without any damage.
When it’s this shiny, you really have to be careful.
Back to the stem bearings. Since we removed the lower one, we replaced both upper and lower.
We pressed both in and checked them visually.
It’s good to know how the seal feels by touch. Occasionally you’ll find ones that are unusually stiff, so check for that.
Only the upper one had dimensions, so I went with a retainer ball.
Grease is Newtech NC100.
The Kawasaki seemed to have pretty good seal action on both upper and lower. I think it’ll be even better once it’s broken in.
After a test ride, we’re finished.
