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| How to clean / maintain your bike http://www.dirthammersforum.com/how-to-clean-maintain-your-bike-t11.html |
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| Author: | dirthammer [ Tue Dec 01, 2009 10:40 am ] |
| Post subject: | How to clean / maintain your bike |
A properly maintained bike can be the difference between finishing a race and a DNF! It all start's with cleaning, not only does cleaning your bike make it look pretty, it make's it nicer to work on and easier to spot wear. The first thing I do when I get home from a race is put my bike on a lift up stand and strip it, I take off the front number plate, tank - making sure the gas is off, radiator panel's and louvers, seat, air filter and side number plate's. Make sure you place all the bolt's you removed into a tray for safe keeping. I also take off the rubber boot's that protect your brake and clutch lever's pivoting part's, it would surprise you how much dirt gets in there. Frame guards are taken off too. Before I go any further I plug my silencer with an exhaust plug and stuff a rag into the airbox boot just behind the carb before putting on an airbox cover, this is just precaution to ensure any water that may get past the cover is caught and soaked up by the rag. As the tank is now off, it leaves the fuel tube open and exposed to water and dirt, what I do is get an appropriate sized bolt and place it into the tube, making sure the bolt is a tight fit of course, you can now use the existing clamp to put a seal between the bolt and tube. Before any water goes near my bike I get a wire brush and go over the chain a few time's while it's dry, this help's to loosen the dirt. I like to clean out the clutch cable while the bike is still dirty too - then lube it properly later. Now it's time for cleaning. Personally I use a pressure washer, some people are against the use of these on a motocross bike, I'm not, mainly because of the depth I go for cleaning. People will tell you not to point the washer directly at certain part's such as bearings and seals, which is good advice, but because of the depth I go to clean my bike I can get away with doing this, only on various parts though. Do not point it directly at your electrics, carb, silencer opening or in the airbox. Even though some of these part's are plugged, high pressure water can still find its way in. Firstly I fill a bucket with soapy water, this is to put small parts in to soak, such as the rubber lever boots, chain guide, rear disc guard, rad louvers and frame guard's etc. I would then proceed to soak the bike with the pressure washer, taking time to remove stubborn bit's of dirt that gather in places like under the fender's, sump area and in around the foot pegs. I also blast the chain a few time's before using detergent to remove the loose dirt you got out with the wire brush. Once I'm happy I've removed everything I spray detergent all over the bike using a pressurized container, I keep a smaller squirt bottle handy too incase I later need to use a little more on a bit of dirt I missed or something. After spraying the whole bike down I let the detergent sit on the bike while I spray all the plastic's I had previously taken off, I then use a soft bristled brush to work in the detergent then rinse the plastic's off. Now I go back to the bike and pressure wash the detergent off before applying more of it on, this time I use the soft bristled brush to work it in, and I now spend time cleaning the chain and sprocket's properly and thoroughly - without leaving any dirt on the sprocket's, something I see so often, some people remove the chain for cleaning, but I prefer to keep it on as it can easily be turned by spinning the wheel for easy cleaning, I hit the chain from all angle's possible, both side's, top and bottom, and depending on how bad the bike is, I would take the countershaft sprocket off to clean in behind it as plenty of dirt can build up there, if it's not too dirty I leave the sprocket on and just clean in behind it as normal. Make sure you clean the tires, I hate to see sparkling bike's with dirty tire's, people treat them like a sole of a shoe! I even put tire shine on afterwards. It will also now be very easy to clean the radiator's because the shroud's are off, it's important to do a good job on the rads and take time to check all row's are cleared from mud. Continually blast both sides of the rads, covering all area's until the water coming out the other end is clear of dirt. Clean the electric with a wet brush and some detergent, don't hit them directly with the washer as I said above. At this stage I take the bike off the stand and lay it on its side so I can easily clean part's that was otherwise hard to reach. The bike is then put back on the stand and left to drip dry for a while, say 5 minute's. Once I have done that I get an air compressor to dry off the rest of the bike, I take particular interest in drying out the electrics. Firstly I disconnect everything including the plug cap and hit them with compressed air to blow out any water that may be there, then I saturate the connector's and inside the cap with WD40 before drying them with cotton bud's, I use cotton bud's because they easily reach inside the connectors, almost like they are made for this job, everything is then re - connected and given a good dose of WD40 again. The ignition cover is then taken off so I can spray the stator with WD40; I then dry it out with a rag. The chain is then blew out with the compressor and sprayed with WD40 while being sponge and held with a rag, this absorbs more grunge that the WD40 loosens, I repeat this 3 - 4 time's before the chain is blew out again, now I can start applying chain lube. Most people don't like using chain lube because it gets everywhere and dust stick's to it, but it's necessary, WD40 doesn't give the lubrication needed and the first time you open your bike up it will be flung off anyway, leaving you with a bone dry chain. Try spraying the lube on the lower bit of the chain, near the foot peg, and hold a piece of cardboard behind the area you're spraying to prevent it gumming up the rear shock linkage components. If you don't want to use a bit of cardboard you can spray WD40 in around the area's you're expecting the lube to hit via overspray, this will help the removal of lube that has reached unwanted parts. Now you can spray WD40 into all pivoting parts, such as lever's, footpegs, gear lever tip and kick starter etc. Also lube the throttle and clutch cable, put a rag over the cable to prevent the crud that comes out from splashing over your casings. Now I take my exhaust off, anyone with a stainless steel exhaust knows it's a b*tch to keep clean and rust free, to keep it just that I use a product called Brick Acid which is intended for brick's - evidently. I soak a ScotchBrite pad with the acid and work it into the pipe keeping it away from the O rings, once I've completed the whole pipe I dry it off using a rag - here is the important bit. When you have dried it off you will need to rinse the pipe with soapy water, but you have to be fast as light orange surface rust form's within a few minutes. When it's rinsed off dry it immediately with a clean rag and saturate with WD40 and put it back on. I also go over all alloy and stainless steel parts with a WD40 soaked Scotch rite pad to keep them looking shiny. After all that a let the bike sit over night because it becomes too dark to see! The next morning I get up early and take the bike out again, first thing I do is take the wheel's off to clean and re - grease the axles and bearings. While the wheels are off it's a good opportunity to grease the brake pad pins - do it! I now put the front wheel back on but leave the rear off, this is because the rear shock linkage is taken apart next and there's no sense putting it on yet, it can be a bit of a struggle on your own though. Again, everything is cleaned and re - greased, then it's all put back together and soaked in WD40, the wheel also goes on straight after, then the chain - adjusting the tension accordingly. As an in between job I take all the carb venting hoses off and spray carb cleaner through them before blowing them through and re - attaching them to the carb. I hate scraggy carb hoses! Next I grease the motor mounting bolt's one at a time with a light spray grease, the rear brake pedal's pivot / bolt is also done with this treatment. It's now up to the steering setup, the clamp's are removed and cleaned with WD40 while the steering head bearing's are cleaned and re - greased before being put back together. Next it's time to pull the fork seal's out for cleaning, I use a rag and WD40 for cleaning up in here. New grease is applied and the seal popped back in, I spray WD40 on the stanchion tubes and rub it in. I now give the whole bike another dose of WD40 then dry it off with a rag; it's now time to put the tank and all the plastic's back on. When I have everything back on I check over all the bolt's to make sure they are properly torqued. I check that the coolant level is correct too, along with transmission oil. When everything is back on I start the bike up and let it tick over until the fuel in the float bowl runs out, there's usually enough in there for it to heat up to a nice temperature. Most time's my air filter stay's clean because I use filter skins, but when I do need to clean it here is what I do. Once it's out I remove it from the cage, I spray detergent on it and work it in to free all the dirt, and I use a normal garden hose to rinse off the detergent. Now, 90% of people will tell you not to use gas to clean a filter as it can work against the sticking agent's in the glue used to hold the filter together. However, I have used gas to clean filter's for 3 years and never had any such issue's, but, I would still not recommend anyone to use gas as there is a possibility it can happen, instead I just tell them my method of cleaning, the result's I've had using them and leave the choice up to the individual. An alternative is to use kerosene or diesel. Moving on, when I finish up my day's racing I'm always usually left with about a liter of gas in my tank, I empty this out into a bucket and use it to clean the filter, I slosh the filter around in the bucket then lift it out, gently pressing the foam to squeeze the remaining gas out. After this it is time for more detergent and a repeat of the first step, once the filter is cleaned I ring it out again the same way as before then pop it in to an old helmet bag so it can go into the drier, never use compressed air to dry a filter as it can rip the foam. Once the filter is dried it's time for new oil, to oil the filter a get a plastic bag with no hole's in it for obvious reason's, I pour a generous amount of filter oil into the bag and drop the filter in, I then close the bag over and start working the oil into the filter, making sure it's spread over the filter evenly with no dry spot's. When I'm happy the filter is oiled properly I let it sit out in fresh air to "dry" for an hour or so, then its popped back onto the bike. I have five air filter's, it's good to keep at least two. You can get filter cleaning kit's from various air filter manufacturer's, they usually contain filter oil and a bucket with a tray to keep the filter from touching the bottom of the bucket where all the dirt sits. These are a good addition to any motocross garage. |
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| Author: | RMZ450 [ Thu Aug 12, 2010 1:19 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: How to clean / maintain your bike |
wow you must buy wd40 buy the 50 gal drum lol but it does work good for some stuff i like to us it on my chains instead of chain lube like you said i spray it two or three times a race |
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