Neduro's Spring Bike Maintenance and Setup Guide

the guy needs his own forum.

thanks ned!

It's a Beemer, it don't need no stinkin maintenance.

+1 on the swingarm/shock linkage bearings. Greased mine up real well last year in April and found them rusted solid and grinding into powder in August during a ride.

Not all greases are compatible. Check a compatibility chart before packing any bearings and write down what kind of grease you used.

Not only have you penned much of your own wisdom into this, Ned, but you've linked some of the best how-to's on the site into one handy thread. Thanks!


Subscribing into my own "hall of wisdom" folder...

whenim doing an all over bike check i also use white out to mark position of quite a few fasteners. Then i can quickly check to see if bolts have loosened on last ride, kinda like a pre ride check list.! Now if it'll warm up enough for me to do alli need to do on the bike!

Ahem, may I?

Good DIY Nedster... should be beneficial for lots of folks.

You know what happens when you do stuff like this... don'tcha?

Plastic side up and all that shiz.
C

Replace fuses and Dielectric the connection points.
Check air pressure? you might have covered that...
If your headlight bulb and blinkers (If you even have them) are getting old, replace.
Ohh, clean you spark arrestor

good work!
DH

Ride all winter, maintain as you go....
Seriously good thread mate.
Will follow religeously as I exhume my VOR for visiting riders to watch me on my 530...

You know people round here would buy it............... I know damn well I need to prep better........

Ned, can you elaborate on Point 7? I've never heard of spraying everything with WD-40 (but that ain't saying much)

thanks

I actually have something that works better in my opinion... It is called Corosion Bloc, it is a marine electrical board protectant & I have been using it for years. You can spray it on everything: plastic, decals, metal, electrical equipment, etc.... I have used if for wax for years on a car and it protects like you can not imagine, and is less greasy than WD40. You can get it at places like Boat US. I dont mean to cloud your advice Ned, you seem like the master of all maintenance...

Put a dab of silicone electrical grease the inside of your spark plug cap rubber.

The fender washer on the end of the throttle tube is a great idea. Might I suggest a nylon washer? (lighter, less rattling)

I differ on my prefernce for cable lube. I use a light silicone oil or TriFlow with a power luber every spring. I take this opportunity to inspect the ends of the cable for any kinks or fraying. The cables usually break at the upper end near the lever. At the first sign of wear, replace the cable.

If you have a worn clutch cable, and you are Hyper-Anal-Retentive (moi), keep the old cable & zip-tie it along the new one. You now have a functional spare in place.

Tire tip: Run only the ultra heavy duty tubes. Yeah, it's a little heavier, but you'll save yourself a lot of time repairing pinch flats on the trail. By safely enabling lower tire pressure, you'll also have much better control in the rocks. Replace tubes when they start showing excessive chaffing, or excessive corrosion around the valve stem nut. A smear of anti-sneeze around the valve stem nut will slow the galvanic corrosion caused by contact with the aluminum rim.

For my trail bikes, I'm guessing that the hours of run time are close to the hours of wrench time. It pays off.

Ned, lemme know if you're still interested in coming up for a shock party. No, not that kind of party. We'll keep Wuds away.

The nut should actually be loosened up a bit (at least a 1/4 to 3/8s of an inch) and allow slack if running low air pressure. If you tighten it up, when the tube slips (especially the front under hard downhill breaking even with rim locks), it will shear the valve stem off of the tube. If it has slack, the stem aligns more with direction of pull and there is more elasticity preventing the shearing.

Sure, it's a good cleaning agent/ solvent that won't hurt anything, it makes it easy to wipe dirt off, and if you're doing other maintenance (like a valve adjust) whatever junk you didn't get off with your thorough cleaning will stick to the WD-40 and not fall in your engine. Hopefully.

Thanks, Ned.

Most, if not all, moden cables come with a built in teflon liner and are designed to be run dry.
Any kind of lube just attracts and retains dirt/dust/grit, which prematurely wears the teflon liner.

If you're after smoother throttle action, you could try running graphite powder between the handlebar and throttle tube.

Thanks for the FYI Antware, I didn't know that about cables.

And Ned, there are some places where WD-40 is not good...

I am so guilty of this.