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.
