Motorcycling and An Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD)

Since doing the bike maintenance course, I have owned four bikes three of which were new and under warranty. My current bike CB900 Hornet, is approaching the end of the two year warranty period in August and is maintained by the Honda dealership (Motomart Lower Hutt) at the correct service intervals.

The Hornet is a dry weather bike and used for recreation riding only. I ensure that the chain is cleaned and lubed at least every 450-500km. Also, I have purchased a clamp device for lubing the clutch cable when necessary. The bike is parked up on a paddock stand at all times in the garage.

When the Hornet's warranty runs out I will return to Roadsafe and have a session addressing basic maintenance eg oil and filter changes and other things.

Bike Maintenance Course: [Conducted by Roadsafe Motorcycle Riding Techniques Limited]

Here is a bit of a overview: [Note the course does have a good schedule of course content and a lot of ground is covered over the two nights]

Rear Brake adjusted – got foot pedal slightly beneath footrest, it was way too high. In setting the rear brake, I had to take out the battery and tool kit box in order to get to the electrical adjuster, having set the pedal at the right height and slackened off the adjusting nut/spring at the back wheel, I could then set the electrical brake lamp.
[Thursday slightly adjusted travel in pedal]

Clutch Grip – measured off 10mm slack in trigger [which I thought was way way too loose, my perception, but actually it was fine and road home without batting an eyelid about it.]

Rear Shocks – set them to maximum, from 3 to 5 notch, the ride home seemed quite good, and I set them to notch 4 now for the ride back to the course on Thursday - will monitor these settings over the next few weeks over different riding conditions.

Brake Fluid Reservoir – [Tuesday] undone and checked - a bit dirty in colour and a bit of sediment in between cover plate and inner rubber seal. Thursday - Changed brake fluid.

[Tuesday] Chain - checked setting and shown how to create an easy measuring template device. I recall from the forums the topic of cleaning the front cog - I took off the front cog cover and was surprised at the amount of grease build up, so washed it off with kero and wiped out the cover. This will be a regular task when cleaning and lubing the chain from here on.

[Thursday - my bike] Oil change, oil filter change, spark plug change, air filter clean.

Checked and cleaned out carberetta bowl.

Headlight alignment. Undone headlight for bulb replacement procedure.
Right over bike checking and tightening nuts/bolts.

Also, with another bike we looked at:
Chain adjustment, interesting procedure for accuracy.
Wheel alignment, similarly interesting procedure for checking alignment of rear and front wheel.

There was quite a lot of ground covered in the total six hours of the course, and I have not listed everything here in this post - however for those interested in the course I hope this has given an insight.

On the course were two other riders [Hysosung 250R, and GN125]

For myself personally, I found it rewarding and will enjoy doing some of the elementary maintenance, particularly the oil, oil filter, spark plug, and air filter cleaning. During the course there were numerous tips and insights that were very interesting and useful.

Travel This Week:
The round trip from Stokes Valley to Linden was 50 km going over the Haywards Hill and back. Note the return journey was at 9-10pm. To do the loop Stokes Valley over the Haywards Hll to Linden then returning through Tawa/Johnsonville down the gorge and back up the motorway was 68km.

I had gone out for a night ride a week or so prior to the course, however on the night before the course I ventured out around 8pm and went over the Haywards Hill around the inlet and out to Paremata and returned.

I was not comfortable on the winding road around the inlet particularly on the way back, with oncoming traffic and bale out off the road onto rocks and or into the water.

It was a simple case of weighing up the safety factors and eliminating the most predominant dangers. Hence I elected to return home the long route on both the Tuesday and Thursday nights, and I enjoyed the ride very much indeed.

Today, Friday, I spent 75miutes in Stokes Valley covering every street on the eastern side of the main road, would you believe this totalled 20km. [I think Stokes Valley is a bit of a hidden secret for Wellington newbies, I find it very good to practice here and have done since I started this thread in May.]

Final Safety Note:
I purchased a Day/Night fluorescent vest that comfortably goes over my riding jacket - it is fluoro-orange with reflective strips.

4 August 2006
Heya BuckBuck,
Doing your own maintenance is a great way to learn about how your bike works.
Things like brakes, chain, tyres etc are all just as important as wearing good riding gear and should be part of your safety/survival check list.
When I clean my bike and make it all purdy, I'm also checking things as i go on always looking out for anything that's not right.

Sounds like your going to be a regular when the TCWNR rides start up again.

Well done and heads up.

The Cruisie Wednesday Night Ride - TCWNR when I started out I would wear my orange glow fluro vest. As time went on however I stopped wearing it on the outgoing ride, however on the return ride home as the days were getting shorter the fluro vest was worn. That was a personal compromise.