FAQ's

[Peasnall]

This should come in use for the newbies, and the unsure.

FAQ's:

At What temp should the bike be at before i can ride the bike hard?

The ideal temperature before setting off is around the middle of the blue mark, do not exceed 6000 rpm untill in the white zone, the bike will warm up quicker from this point the just after the end of the blue mark where its safe ride the bike a little harder.

A safe place to keep the temparature would be between the start of the white and the middle of the white.

What 2 stroke oil should i use?

You should only use fully-Synthetic 2 stroke oil which cost from £6 per bottle to around £11.99 for a bottle.

Most people tend to use Castrol TTS or motul 600, these oils can be expensive buy not as expensive as a rebuild when your engine goes bang.

How do i de-restrict my bike?

First you need to remove the exhaust, then take the exhaust header pipe off whic is the bend in the exhaust, you will see a washer which reduces the size of the exhaust, this is what you have to remove. The washer can be a pain in the back side to remove so be patient. The best tools to use would a be a grinder and a hammer to smash it out.

At what stage do i give or take my bike for a service?

The recommended service intervals are as follows:

500km
4000km
8000km
12000km
16000km and so on.....

I want my bike to go faster, what shall i buy?

The following performance parts will give you both top end and bottom end increase:

Big Bore kit
larger carb
Performance exhaust
Different sprockets to increase top end speed (or acceleration if wanted)
Clutch kit to help with the extra power.

There are many more products for sale to improve your bikes performance which can be found [URL=http://www.af1racing.com/store/Scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=64 [/URL]

How do i adjust my chain?

Firstly you have to put your bike on a rear paddock stand or if you dont have one you can tip the bike tawards the left sie while on the stand, then undo the rear wheel little so the wheel can move backwards and forwards. Now you you will see one the end of the swingarm a bolt with a nut on each end, ones a 10mm and the others a 11mm, tighten the 10mm upuntil lthe chain becomes tighter, you have to do this on both sides, BEWARE, you have to have both sides on the same number of line on the guide which is behind the bolt wit the 2 nuts on or the wheel will be lop sided, lastly tighten all the bolts up and test the wheel out by rolling the bike up and down, if it sounds normal your sorted, if not undo the bolts and adjust on either side.

I want to change my gearbox oil but dont know how?

Firstly remove the right hand fairing, Then remove the filler cap indicated by green arrow (see picture). place a pan underneath to catch the oil, unscrew the drainer screw located behind the black sub-frame, indicated by the yellow arrow, the oil should now be draining out. gently tilt the bike over to insure most the oil is drained.



Now replace the drainer screw, The take out the screw in the center indicated by the red arrow.

Once you have removed the screw fill up the transmission oil into the top hole (green arrow) until it starts to come out the center hole. Make sure the bike is sitting upright and not on the sidestand to ensure the correct amount of oil is added.

Once the oil is in replace the screw and cap, then put the fairings back on.

[Peasnall]

How do change my brakes pads i bleed my brakes?

Rear Brake:

Required Tools:

10mm wrench or socket
8mm wrench
small flathead screw driver
small funnel
dot 4 or 5.1 brake fluid (IE motul 600RBF)
plastic bottle
clear tubing.


First step is to remove the two 10mm bolts that hold the caliper to the caliper bracket.



Now pull the caliper down and off the disk and remove the black plastic cover on the bottom. Locate the C-clip ring on the back and remove with the small screwdriver. Then pull the pin out that holds the pads in.



After removing the pin, pads, c-ring, and metal plate, Unscrew the cap on your brake resivour and crack the o-ring seal top.



Now use your 10mm wrench or some other object and carefully push the caliper pistons apart, this will gain you the clearance for the new pad thickness



spread the pads and slide the caliper back on the rotor and bolt back onto the caliper bracket. push on the brake lever until firm, that will push the pads close to the rotor. Remove the rubber nipple that covers the bleed screw and attach the hose to the nipple. Remove the top of the fluid resivour. Put your 8mm wrench on the bleed nipple.



Bleeding any brake system is easier with two people, one to pump and the ohter to open and close the bleed valve, but It wasnt to bad doing it by myself. Loosen the bleed nipple and push down on the brake pedal and the fluid will begin to flow. My system hadn't been flushed since I bought it with 700 miles, which means it was probably factory from 4 years ago so it was foul and black colored. Continue pumping the lever until the resivour is at the min mark. On the last pump, tighten the bleed nipple while you are depressing the pedal, it will firm up.



Now top off the resivour with fresh brake fluid using the funnel. Repeat the last step by pumping this new fresh fluid into the system and removing the old black fluid. It took me 5 or 6 fill ups of the resivour before i was satisfied the fluid was clean enough, though there was still some residual filth from the resivour being so black to start. By the time I was through the fluid coming out was a comparable to the color going in.



Clean off the resivour plug and cap and reinstall them after topping off to very near the max mark. This will insure you have enough fluid when the pad starts to wear down.

*IMPORTANT* brake pads must be bedded to ensure optimal performance. to do this ride the bike to a road where you can 6+ hard stops. I accelerated to 40mph and then decelerated as fast as possible to around 5mph, dont come to a full stop, and only use the rear brake since we are bedding the rear brake. you must repeat this 40 to 5mph stop at least 6 times to get the rotor and pad to operating temperature. This procedure will create an even layer of brake pad film on the disk that matches the pad surface, and increases the functionality of the brake system.

Enjoy your new rear brake and save yoruself some money from paying someone else to do it when the bike comes due for inspection time.

[Peasnall]

Front Brake:

For bleeding the front brake its the same as the rear.

Additional Tools:
5mm Allen key

Start off by removing the 10mm bolts that attach the caliper to the forks. A socket works better than a wrench for this



Flip to the other side of the caliper and remove the two inner 5mm allen bolts to free the pads.



once again remove the resivour cap and rubber insert. Turn the bars to the left to get the resivour level.



Compress the caliper pistons back into the caliper. It is kind of tricky because if you push on one the other one will pop out. So secure one of them when you push the other.

*NOTE* secure the pistons as shown in the left part of the image, pushing only on the metal part. The wrench on the right is how not to do it, since the wrench might rip the seals at the base of the piston

Once you get them in fairly far, you can slip the pad without the strange fork thing into the assembly.



with the one pad in, gently push on the pad to depress both pistons fully in. Then put the other pad in the assembly and thread the two 5mm bolts back in to hold the assembly together. Spread the pads apart and slide back onto the disk. Secure to the fork with the 10mm bolts and tighten all 4 of the bolts. Depress the brake lever until firm.

Once the new pads are installed, bleed and bed the brakes as outlined above.

[Peasnall]

I havnt got a use and maintenance guide, where can i get one for free?

here are just some of the use and maintenance guides, to find more click the bottom link.

2004 Use and Maintain Book

2001 Use and Maintain Book

1995 Use and Maintain Book

AM6 Manual

More Aprilia Use and Maintain books here (Left Click)

I want to increase my top speed/acceleration but dont know what sprockets i will need?

This chart shows the approximate top speed you will see on your RS50 at 12,000 rpm with a different final drive gearing choice than your stock 12:47 Gearing. The bold numbers on the left are your front sprocket choice. The bold numbers across the top are your possible choices of the rear sprocket. Not all possible gearing choices will work with the stock drive chain on the Aprilia RS50 and your top speed numbers may differ slightly from what we have calculated. Speed numbers are in MPH and assuming 12,000rpm in top gear on a stock size rear tire.

[Peasnall]

If i buy a performace exhaust will i need to change my jet size?

No you wouldnt need to change your jet size unless you adding something like a open filter along with you exhaust.

Will i lose alot of acceleration with a 13t sprocket?

The only real way to find out would be to buy one and find out, you wouldn't be able to measure the time difference between the stock (11/47) gearing and the 13/47 gearing as it can change depending on verious things such as rider weight, rider positioning, wind speed, road surface etc etc.

My bike is hard to start and keep warm during winter, what could i do?

This is what i have done to my bike for the winter, i places a peice of tape (duck tape is ideal) accros the top of the radiator to keep some of the heat in. Here a little diagram to show you exactly what i did:



Thank you to all the people who took the time to do there the write ups, your information is gold to the new and unsure.

If you would like to see the FAQ section grow please PM me with your suggestions

Regards James.