Bike Maintenance

I've heard conversation coming out of animal pens that is more intelligent than what is going on in here.
Aaron Hall
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Re: Bike Maintenance

Post by Aaron Hall »

Wahlamt wrote: Thanks!
Any advice on how to check the spokes? Also service the suspension, what's the definition? Change rubber gaskets (packings? How to MX English 101...) or full "let a store/shop do their thing"? Grease, just any grease for it that you can buy in an MX store?
Like Lynch said spoke wrench is only like 10-15euros. You can either send your suspension off or you can do it yourself but its probably easier to send it away, it cost me £100 to have my suspension serviced, new forks seals and swap the springs. Also its hell of lot easier to let someone else to do it :lol:
maggett wrote:when JLV gives u a good dickslappin
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TeamHavocRacing
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Re: Bike Maintenance

Post by TeamHavocRacing »

I'm surprised none of you guys hadn't mentioned rust reformer. A bud used it to recover the floorboards of an old VW Beetle.
https://www.zoro.com/rust-oleum-rust-re ... qAQAvD_BwE
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jlv wrote:If it weren't for Havoc I'd have been arguing with the 12 year olds by myself.
m121c
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Re: Bike Maintenance

Post by m121c »

Wahlamt wrote:Hey!

I'm looking to start riding again, I'll be buying a 2015 Honda CRF450. What is there to think about? I've always had my dad to rely on in the past helping me out, but I'd like to get the basics down. This is what I got so far
  • After every ride - Clean air filter and put grease/oil back in it
  • 5h - Change oil
  • 10h - Change oil filter
  • 50h (+?) - Change piston
Have I missed something important to do? I know you have to look at the pressure in the fork before I ride to see where it's at. But other than that?
Before you ride the bike give a good wash and tear it down into pieces. Take the rear shock and swingarm off and inspect/clean and then pack all the bearings with a waterproof grease (I use belray). Every pivot point, swingarm, linkage, shock, etc. Clean everything as you put it together. Go through the manual and torque everything as specified, and loctite everything as specified. Also clean and pack the rear wheel. Once the rear end is done, take the front off and to the same to the steering head/bearings and front wheel. Go over all torque settings and clean as you go.

Even if you are buying new, they don't grease the bikes all that well and you will be surprised sometimes on what bolts you find that are just barely holding on. My 18 350 came with the fork height misaligned, fork pressure way low, very little grease on the bearings, and a few bolts that surprising just spun right off. The engineers put torque settings in there for a reason, a lot of people think their arms are somehow magical torque wrenches... you would be surprised how a incorrectly torqued bolt can effect the bike, and if you are going to torque just one bolt... let it be your triple clamps. Don't know how many times I've seen some one say "ooohhh I never you use a torque wrench" as you hear the *tink* of their outer fork leg crack as they are tightening their triple clamp bolts.

My per ride maintenance/checks usually consist off:

- Washing and new filter (sometimes if not dusty I will put a bag over it, but 9/10 times I will change it)
- Check/adjust pressures in forks and tires, bleed forks
- Check sprocket bolts, spokes, and rim locks (if you have rim locks)
- Check/adjust chain tension, lube chain (obviously)
- Spray and wipe down plastics and rims with SC1 (helps protect plastic and keeps dirt from sticking)
- Brake clean your rotors because SC1 dust will most likely coat them and if they don't make your brakes slippery, they glaze your pads.

Small interval maintenance:
- Every 3-5 hours change oil with oil filter change. I know that might seem excessive with the filter change, but it's good practice, and you can get 5 packs (or more sometimes) of the Hi-Flo filters or sometimes OEM filters on Amazon or ebay for $20-$30 when you get them in bulk.

Every once in awhile say every 5-10 hours I clean and spray grease my clutch and throttle cables, clean my throttle tube and housing, as well as pull my wheels off and clean and pack the seals. Generally any time I have the wheels off they go on with fresh grease.

Large interval maintenance:

On a 450 depending on how you ride, a safe range would be a piston at around 50-80 hours most likely, wouldn't hurt to break the bike down at 50 hours just to check on the valves and stuff, be generally 450's will take you a bit longer before a rebuilt is necessary. Run good gas, be meticulous with your oil changes and you should be good. However, better to be extra cautious then to be sorry with 4-strokes.

250's I was doing top ends at 25 hours, but I had buddies that went all the way to 50-75 on theirs with no issues. One guy told me he got 115 hours out of his... he definitely wrung the life out of that thing because it didn't end well.
model_90
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Re: Bike Maintenance

Post by model_90 »

this thread makes me feel like a lazy piece of sh*t after masons post, jesus mason r u like a mechanic or something
Peters as sharp as a mouse dick-Ol' PizzaChet
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Re: Bike Maintenance

Post by TeamHavocRacing »

jlv wrote:If it weren't for Havoc I'd have been arguing with the 12 year olds by myself.
Wahlamt
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Re: Bike Maintenance

Post by Wahlamt »

m121c wrote:
Wahlamt wrote:Hey!

I'm looking to start riding again, I'll be buying a 2015 Honda CRF450. What is there to think about? I've always had my dad to rely on in the past helping me out, but I'd like to get the basics down. This is what I got so far
  • After every ride - Clean air filter and put grease/oil back in it
  • 5h - Change oil
  • 10h - Change oil filter
  • 50h (+?) - Change piston
Have I missed something important to do? I know you have to look at the pressure in the fork before I ride to see where it's at. But other than that?
Before you ride the bike give a good wash and tear it down into pieces. Take the rear shock and swingarm off and inspect/clean and then pack all the bearings with a waterproof grease (I use belray). Every pivot point, swingarm, linkage, shock, etc. Clean everything as you put it together. Go through the manual and torque everything as specified, and loctite everything as specified. Also clean and pack the rear wheel. Once the rear end is done, take the front off and to the same to the steering head/bearings and front wheel. Go over all torque settings and clean as you go.

Even if you are buying new, they don't grease the bikes all that well and you will be surprised sometimes on what bolts you find that are just barely holding on. My 18 350 came with the fork height misaligned, fork pressure way low, very little grease on the bearings, and a few bolts that surprising just spun right off. The engineers put torque settings in there for a reason, a lot of people think their arms are somehow magical torque wrenches... you would be surprised how a incorrectly torqued bolt can effect the bike, and if you are going to torque just one bolt... let it be your triple clamps. Don't know how many times I've seen some one say "ooohhh I never you use a torque wrench" as you hear the *tink* of their outer fork leg crack as they are tightening their triple clamp bolts.

My per ride maintenance/checks usually consist off:

- Washing and new filter (sometimes if not dusty I will put a bag over it, but 9/10 times I will change it)
- Check/adjust pressures in forks and tires, bleed forks
- Check sprocket bolts, spokes, and rim locks (if you have rim locks)
- Check/adjust chain tension, lube chain (obviously)
- Spray and wipe down plastics and rims with SC1 (helps protect plastic and keeps dirt from sticking)
- Brake clean your rotors because SC1 dust will most likely coat them and if they don't make your brakes slippery, they glaze your pads.

Small interval maintenance:
- Every 3-5 hours change oil with oil filter change. I know that might seem excessive with the filter change, but it's good practice, and you can get 5 packs (or more sometimes) of the Hi-Flo filters or sometimes OEM filters on Amazon or ebay for $20-$30 when you get them in bulk.

Every once in awhile say every 5-10 hours I clean and spray grease my clutch and throttle cables, clean my throttle tube and housing, as well as pull my wheels off and clean and pack the seals. Generally any time I have the wheels off they go on with fresh grease.

Large interval maintenance:

On a 450 depending on how you ride, a safe range would be a piston at around 50-80 hours most likely, wouldn't hurt to break the bike down at 50 hours just to check on the valves and stuff, be generally 450's will take you a bit longer before a rebuilt is necessary. Run good gas, be meticulous with your oil changes and you should be good. However, better to be extra cautious then to be sorry with 4-strokes.

250's I was doing top ends at 25 hours, but I had buddies that went all the way to 50-75 on theirs with no issues. One guy told me he got 115 hours out of his... he definitely wrung the life out of that thing because it didn't end well.
On a 2nd thought, I might sell the bike after seeing this...
Piston will probably be about every 50h, I'm not really riding that hard...
On a serious note, I'll read through it more thoroughly some day when I have time. I really appreciate the walkthrough.
Lynch wrote:
Wahlamt wrote:
Lynch wrote: Spokes, important nuts and bolts should be checked before every ride. Service the suspension every 20h, at the same time remove and grease the bearings (clamps, swingarm, linkage)
Thanks!
Any advice on how to check the spokes? Also service the suspension, what's the definition? Change rubber gaskets (packings? How to MX English 101...) or full "let a store/shop do their thing"? Grease, just any grease for it that you can buy in an MX store?
Buy a spoke wrench, the one Biltema has is actually quite good :lol: I usually do fluids every 20h and change anything that needs to be changed, and when I say I do it's RG3 Scandinavia or my dad. I do everything myself but engine and suspension work. I use marine grease from Swedol or Q8.

Skicka ett pm om du vill, kanske blir lättare att svara/ställa frågor :D
Thanks mate :)
m121c
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Re: Bike Maintenance

Post by m121c »

model_90 wrote:this thread makes me feel like a lazy piece of sh*t after masons post, jesus mason r u like a mechanic or something
Havoc pretty much nailed it. I might be slightly too anal about things, but I like to know my bike, take care of it, and make it look the best I can make it for as long as I can. So partly I enjoy it. Im no mechanic, just grew up with my dad who is just as much of a maintenance freak, if not worse.

It may sound like a lot, but it only takes 15-20 minutes for my normal prep. The greasing takes a good weekends work, but its worth it.
TeamHavocRacing
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Re: Bike Maintenance

Post by TeamHavocRacing »

It can be argued that you're way less likely to have a mechanical failure compared to the next guy that just does the intervals. Peace of mind that you know the state of every nut and bolt. When your life is on the line like at Pikes Peak or Isle of Man you want to have no doubts.
jlv wrote:If it weren't for Havoc I'd have been arguing with the 12 year olds by myself.
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