A few maintenance tips to make your bike more livable

 

I'm sure everyone knows all the following but the traffic has fallen off so
much I thought I'd dredge up some obvious stuff just to talk about bike
maintenance. WARNING - none of this is warranted to be safe so don't do it
if you can't take responsibility for your own actions. After all, what the
hell do I know? In fact don't do any of this stuff.



1. H-D has been shipping their bikes with no lubrication on the control
levers for a while now. This adds to the total effort required to use them
which can be a pain in the butt in heavy traffic. You can swab some grease
in the lever housing using a Q-Tip which will help some or you can do it
right and take the levers off and lubricate the axel pins as well as the
bearing surfaces the lever ride in. You will need a pair of circlip pliers
(you can get a cheap set at Northern tool if this is all you are going to
use them for) to R & R the circlips. The difference is something you will
feel. Hint - put a towel on the floor as the circlips have a habit of
falling off the pliers and rolling into the great beyond. Read the manual
about how to replace the brake lever or you will tear the rubber boot over
the switch.



Doing this coupled with covering you levers and switch housing when you wash
the bike should result in not needing to do it again for a very long time.



2. Vibration will kill anything and can be damn aggravating. Taking your
foot pegs off and lubing the axels and the bearing surfaces with grease lets
you tighten them down a hair more and still be able to work them easier than
normal. This goes for rider pegs, passenger pegs, and any pegs you might
have mounted on your crash bars (if you have one). It is nice to not have
the crash bar pegs flopping around or so darn tight you can barely move them
but be able to position them with essentially little effort. The more time
you spend looking at the road is a heck of a lot better than fighting with
highway pegs that are so damn stiff they will hardly move.



Rider pegs will wear and give you bike that well used feeling without some
care.



3. Throttle grip - H-D uses (or at least did) white lithium grease to lube
the handlebar and inside of the throttle grip tube. I guess they do this so
you won't grab a handful of throttle and mow down your neighbors Petunias.
The "problem" is that stuff is sticky as hell and takes a lot more effort
than it should to turn the throttle. The obvious solution is to take the
throttle apart (towel on floor to catch those damn little cable barrels) and
clean the handlebar off and the inside of the throttle tube (read the
manual). I spray brake cleaner inside the throttle tube and it gets it clean
enough. You then relube using either regular grease or wheel bearing grease
if that is all you have available. You want a very thin layer of lube here
for maximum function (I know folks that use very heavy weight oil and it
seems to work just fine). You bike will feel like it just had a tune up but
be careful until you get used to the very little effort it takes to move the
throttle. Remember the Petunias.



Now back to the normal stuff and don't tell me all this is stuff everyone
already knew. I told you that in the beginning. And remember, I said don't
do it.
--

              Wayne
               AH 52
The road goes on forever

 

dual45s wrote:


Geeminy.  How could you even think of posting something that useful
here??  Thank you.

al b

 

dual45s wrote:
(snip)

Good advice all.  I would add to that lubricating the brake lever
shaft and the shifter lever shaft.  Additionally, the brake lever has
O-rings under the end washers.  Make sure those are not broken so they
hold the grease in and the water out.

The steering head bearings are another often overlooked maintenance
item.  I turned a plug out of Delrin and routed grease channels in it
to direct the grease to both bearings.  Now, I can get fresh grease to
the bearings without having to pump 14 oz. into the big void.  Mine
fills up with less than 2.

--
BigPiper
BS#246

 



Seriously, 246?  I didn't even know we were up that high.  You've been
around for a long time.  What are we up to now, a thousand?
--
Curly LaJolla AH#117 BS#107
2004 FLHTPI Cop Bike
The party never ends!

 

Curly LaJolla wrote:

Yup I'm 246.  I think we're in the 280s now.  Bob Mann was recently
slimed and numerated.

--
BigPiper
BS#246