Ixion
7th May 2005, 15:13
Well folks, winter is upon us. :cold: :cold: And when winter comes, the crud demons come out of hiding (as well as the fiends of cold and rain and slippery roads)
New bikers may not be familiar with these little fiends. Because bikes have less tin covering than cages we are more susceptable to ill effects from the crud that gets thrown onto everything , and the water that seeps in where it should not.
They will attack your electrical connections, causing misfiring, non starting, lamp failures. Your chain will need twice the maintainance. Zorsts will rust.Seats will go soggy and breed strange growths. Cables will snatch and fray and break.
So if your ride has not been through a winter with you, now is the time to prepare. Check electrical connections- spray with CRC or such like where necessary (CRC is your friend - it is wonderful what useful stuff those brilliantly clever chemists have given us. Have I ever mentioned how clever chemists are . And sexy. If you have the good fortune to meet a chemist, even one who hasn't chemisted for years, you should always buy him a drink. Or several. Speights is what they prefer) . Smear with Vaseline, and tape up with electrical tape.
(BTW, you will know when winter is really here by the number of broken down Ducatis and MotoGuzzis you see. Wonderful clever the Eytalians with engines. Pity they don't do electrics :devil2: :devil2: )
Clean and lubricate chains often.(Ignore the smirking MotoGuzzists. They are just jealous of your electrics)
Check cables for roughness and stranding, make sure you have a spare. Lubricate well (unless you have the nice teflon lined ones)
Make sure that when parked outdoors, water will not run into your petrol tank filler. Or your oil tank. Look for damaged gaiters and rubber boots.
All this diatribe opccasioned by the indicators on Li'l Rat Bike deciding not to work at all the other night. None of them. Ho hum. Dodgy connection on the flasher unit. :mad: Grr. Bloody Lucas. Bloody Lucas electrics . Grr. :mad: Now cleaned , CRC'd, Vaselines and taped. As also the handlebar switches and anything else in sight.
Winter. Ah don't we love it. Separates the bikers from the boys though but.
New bikers may not be familiar with these little fiends. Because bikes have less tin covering than cages we are more susceptable to ill effects from the crud that gets thrown onto everything , and the water that seeps in where it should not.
They will attack your electrical connections, causing misfiring, non starting, lamp failures. Your chain will need twice the maintainance. Zorsts will rust.Seats will go soggy and breed strange growths. Cables will snatch and fray and break.
So if your ride has not been through a winter with you, now is the time to prepare. Check electrical connections- spray with CRC or such like where necessary (CRC is your friend - it is wonderful what useful stuff those brilliantly clever chemists have given us. Have I ever mentioned how clever chemists are . And sexy. If you have the good fortune to meet a chemist, even one who hasn't chemisted for years, you should always buy him a drink. Or several. Speights is what they prefer) . Smear with Vaseline, and tape up with electrical tape.
(BTW, you will know when winter is really here by the number of broken down Ducatis and MotoGuzzis you see. Wonderful clever the Eytalians with engines. Pity they don't do electrics :devil2: :devil2: )
Clean and lubricate chains often.(Ignore the smirking MotoGuzzists. They are just jealous of your electrics)
Check cables for roughness and stranding, make sure you have a spare. Lubricate well (unless you have the nice teflon lined ones)
Make sure that when parked outdoors, water will not run into your petrol tank filler. Or your oil tank. Look for damaged gaiters and rubber boots.
All this diatribe opccasioned by the indicators on Li'l Rat Bike deciding not to work at all the other night. None of them. Ho hum. Dodgy connection on the flasher unit. :mad: Grr. Bloody Lucas. Bloody Lucas electrics . Grr. :mad: Now cleaned , CRC'd, Vaselines and taped. As also the handlebar switches and anything else in sight.
Winter. Ah don't we love it. Separates the bikers from the boys though but.