Winter Maintenance

1146 Views 51 Replies 8 Participants Last post by GARider, 3 mo ago

bpe

Discussion Starter · 5 mo ago

My goal is to use the time in the cold of winter to do the majority of my required maintenance. Try to get my bike to where little to no work will need to be done on it until the next winter.

Tire Wheel Fuel tank Vehicle Automotive lighting

Prep work has commenced, and fairings have been removed.

Every year a valve adjustment is needed.

Also on the list this year:
A fork seal replacement
Rear tire replacement
New brake pads all the way around
New chain and sprocket kit

Probably should just go ahead and replace the front tire. But that's up in the air for now.

Just discovered I will need to do a small epoxy fairing crack repair. No biggie there, I have my Ninja hooked on epoxy, and is apparently jonesen for more.

See less See more

Save

Reactions: 3

1 - 9 of 52 Posts

Tinsnips

· #3 · 5 mo ago

Has that got a center stand? That is a bonus!

Save

Reactions: 2

Tinsnips

· #7 · 5 mo ago

Do you have a carpenters level? that should be straight enough for your purposes.

Save

Reactions: 2

Tinsnips

· #8 · 5 mo ago

bpe said:
OK, I'm back.

View attachment 364
The idea here is to place the piece of metal on the forks. With the X's both touching the forks, if the circles on the other side both touch the forks at the same time (all 4 points X's and circles), then the forks are straight.

What I'm getting is with the 2 X's touching the #2 circle will touch with the #1 circle not quite touching. Off by possibly as much as 1/16". Which I would think is pretty significant.

But again, since we know the metal isn't straight itself. What I know so far is, I have been wasting time gathering useless information.😄

I will have to redo this check after the seal replacement is complete. My cheapest way out of this that I can see, as far as getting something with a flat surface, is to get a cheap glass cutter and cut that glass to an acceptable dimension.

Is the result the same with that piece of metal flipped over?

Save

Reactions: 1

Tinsnips

· #10 · 5 mo ago

Do you have access to a floor tile? That should be flat enough for your purposes. Even grab one from the clearance bin at Home Depot. You can cut it with a grinder if need be.

Save

Reactions: 2

Tinsnips

· #15 · 5 mo ago

That is strange. Is it the same where the lower triple attached? I am thinking maybe they were just a little loose??

Save

Tinsnips

· #22 · 5 mo ago

Great write up! This is something I have to tackle. Both front and back need it.

Save

Reactions: 2

Tinsnips

· #30 · 5 mo ago

bpe said:
As far as rim runout, I think eyeballing it is usually accurate enough. Can even take a random tool/object to hold close to the rim (brace it on the fork so it doesn't move) to get a more accurate eyeballing.

I think more often than not the bigger issue would be the tire not properly seated. i.e. the seat line on the tire not being equal around the rim.

Rim truness is usually taping a piece of cardboard to the fork and rotating the tire to see if the gap changes. It isn't usually an issue like the old spoke wheels were. Other side of the coin is you can't fix them easy like when we had the old spoke rims...

Save

Reactions: 3

Tinsnips

· #32 · 5 mo ago

Availability is an issue everywhere it seems with supply chain disruptions. I would imagine being out in the sitcks only agravates that.

I am guessing I didn't put enough stablizer in the bike this year. I went out to start it a couple days ago & she didn't fire. I checked the plugs & they were fouled so in when clean ones and still no go. I was planning on pulling the carbs in the spring and doing a rebuild & sync. Looks like I planned right...

Save

Reactions: 2

Tinsnips

· #47 · 4 mo ago

bpe said:
I'm still running the original engine.
New engine still on display 😁.

Man that is pretty. It needs to be in a case with a sign that says “I case of emergency, break glass.”

Save

Reactions: 5

1 - 9 of 52 Posts

Top Contributors this Month