INSIDE TECH

We haven’t done a spring bike overview and preparation article in awhile, so I thought I would dust off the archives and throw a fresh spin on giving your bike a look over before riding season befalls us here in the Great White North.

Let’s start with a bit of time travel back to the fall when you stored your trusty motorcycle for its winter slumber. Hopefully you did the following basics:

No. 1 – Give it a good clean, front to back and top to bottom. During this process of spraying, wiping and drying every inch of the bike, is usually when you find any issues like minor leaks, loose or missing parts, or worn components and can get them addressed over the off-season.

No. 2 - Immediately after washing, you lubricate the steel parts that shouldn’t really get wet. Most of our bikes are aluminum, plastic and nickel-plated steel (on the outside anyway) and don’t rust or corrode easily, but some bare steel parts remain exposed to the elements and need to be protected and/ or lubricated, primarily the chain and control pivot points. The drive chain has usually between 90 and 120 links which have two bushings inside that would love lubrication. A higher quality O-ring chain was lubed at the factory and hopefully has grease held inside, but even those O-rings get dry and dirty as sand and grit gets packed in there. Your chain, either O-ring

By John Sharrard

Spring Preparation Basics

or standard, would love to be cleaned and lubricated, so fire up the interweb and see how most people do it. I use WD-40, some gentle brushes and then shop towels for clean up. A non O-ring chain will then need a spray of a high quality chain lube to provide the actual lubrication as WD-40 is primarily a cleaner and anti-corrosive spray. Then, you can see how much easier the rear wheel spins when done, which translates to less rolling resistance, smoother operation and better fuel economy.

No. 3 - Pour in a recommended amount of high-quality fuel stabilizer and run the bike to disperse it through the tank and into the fuel rail or carburetor. Fill the fuel tank during this process to minimize room for condensation build-up in the fuel tank. If the bike has a carburetor(s), the small float bowls below the ‘carb’ must be drained. They often have a small drain screw at the bottom to perform this task with a hose routed to the underside of the bike to catch the fuel. Draining the carb prevents that small amount of fuel from going bad and preventing start up in the spring, or worse evaporating and leaving a gummy varnish behind to clog up your fuel jets.

No. 4 - Elevate the bike to get the tires off the cold ground. This prevents the rubber from taking a flat spot from sitting for five to seven months on the floor in one spot.

No. 5 - Remove the battery to monthly put it on a trickle charger, or take a charger to the bike to do the same, whichever is more convenient.

So now that you went back in time and did all that, lets go over the bike in detail to ensure it’s ready for a season ahead. Starting at the front, the first thing to check are the tires! Are they round when viewed from the front? The reality of riding on the right-hand side of a crowned road is that the left side of the tire will wear first, flat spotting the tire, or at least compromising the rain grooves in the tire. If the tire shows even a modest loss of rubber when viewed on this left side (while sitting on the bike), I encourage you to replace it. Tires with flat spots negatively affect handling when leaning left to right, and the reduced rain groove depth can lead to hydroplaning in a puddle, possibly resulting in a crash. So, if the tires pass a surface inspection, then look at the sidewalls to see if they are cracked. If they are age- or weather-cracked, replace them. Lastly, check the tire pressures for winter pressure loss. Two to four pounds at most is okay over the off-season, but much more than that and I would carefully watch that tire over the season to monitor it for a slow leak. This can be a result of tube damage if it is an off-road tire, or rim corrosion if it is tubeless, or just permeation out of the rubber over time as well. A few times I have caught a tire leak at the valve core. Give it a good wiggle or rotation with your hand to see or hear if it leaks when stressed, as the valve core is often overlooked over the life of the bike and does not usually get changed when your tire is updated. Checking your tires and rims carefully in the spring gives you the ‘heads up’ if a particular tire needs to be watched more carefully over the riding season.

With both of the bike wheels elevated on a stand, finish checking the tread, sidewalls and pressures, and then give it a good spin to check for excessive brake drag. Reach up to the lever for the front tire and push down on the pedal for the rear tire to ensure the brakes engage with minimal travel of the actuator. They should spin freely after you release the lever/pedal. This ensures the brake fluid is moving back and forth properly and not sticking in operation, which would need to be addressed immediately. In previous articles, we have discussed caliper cleaning and servicing if the tire doesn’t spin for at least three to four revolutions with a good roulette wheel spin by hand. If the tire barely spins one or two revolutions, your brakes are dragging excessively which will overheat and fail the brake fluid as well as prematurely wear pads and burn excessive fuel.

Next, I would examine the suspension. The fork at the front of the bike has exposed tubes that have to deal with sand and grit, brake dust and bug guts, all while cycling up and down hundreds of times per minute. The rear shock is a little more protected, but it must fend off rocks and mud thrown at it from the rear tire, with a leak failure only one small stone chip away to the exposed shock shaft. Look for leaks or damp dust around the base of the suspension which indicates a slow leak from these busy suspension seals. Then, with the bike upright and tires on the ground, push gently on the seat or rear fender to ‘test’ the back shock, and then repeat the process with the front suspension. Both ends should move freely and gently resist your downward push and then recover back up to vehicle static sag in about a second. If the bike pops up rapidly, overshoots sag and settles back down, chances are they need servicing, if not an adjustment for sure.

Now, I usually get ready to fire the bike up (bike talk for starting the engine). If the bike has a carbureted engine, make sure the drains on the carb’s float bowls are gently shut, then turn the gas on, or to Prime if it has that option on the petcock, wait a few seconds and start it up. If you took care of the battery and remembered to reinstall it, the bike should come to life quite uneventfully. If, however, you stored it outside or in some neighbour’s barn, you need to check for rodents before starting up. The top of the engine, under the seat and in the airbox against the air filter are some of the highest rent districts for mice to pick as favourite places to live. Motorcyclists living in the country have had to get creative over the generations with tape, moth balls, drier sheets and steel wool being utilized as strategies to keep rodents out of exhaust pipes and air intakes, so be diligent in checking before starting. Mouse feces and urine, when cooked to the right temperature will give off a smell that will make you consider selling your favourite bike. If you didn’t stabilize your fuel, the bike may not idle smoothly, or even start or run at all. Modern gases are so diluted with cost stretching additives these days, that it only seems to stay volatile for two or three months at best. A high quality stabilizer will help with time and thermal cycling degradation, but if the bike does not want to run, siphon the fuel out and get some fresh stuff in there pronto.

Finally, I perform a walk-around safety (as you should do every morning) and check turn signals, brake lights and the horn for function. Check the throttle for proper operation, especially if you did clean up a mouse nest, as they can damage electrical cables, wires or jam up the throttle return spring. Well, you could probably write a book on bike maintenance with a chapter on off-season storge, but hopefully this gave you some key points to consider for preparation this spring and storing next fall! Until next time, ride with extra caution that first time out as car drivers remember to watch out for our safety! IM