Maintaining your bike.

[CookMySock]

I do all my own work and some for friends. Self taught mechanic.

Ditto. I'm starting to worry about what I break though - it gets expensive.

Basics like oil and filters - you just need to be shown these things. It's real easy once you have seen it done.

Taking the tank off - not hard, but have to be shown.

Removing and replacing fairings - a little more complex, but not rocket science.

Removing a wheel to take to town to get a tyre fixed - more advanced, easy to make a mistake and drop the bike, or put something back wrong and damage the brakes.

You can learn it all if you want - just find someone local who is willing to show you, and doesn't hurry you.


Steve

[TimeOut]

anyone know the service intervals for a hyosung gt250r? other than "never" and other pointless posts haha, help would be appreciated, i had a service done at 1000, 6000 and 12500 and now 18500 just tryna do every 6000kms, i change the oil myself every 4000kms cos im anal.


but yea anyone have teh official schedule?

I thought the 250 was 4000kms service intervals

I do most of my maintainance, even while under warrantee except the first service and anything inside the motor (just had the tappets checked today, all within limits) take the wheels in for tyre changes.

As Vifferman said you can take your time and do it right.

[awayatc]

what's a garage...?

If you haven't got female charm, you need:

1 Workshop manual
2 workshop manual
3 workshop manual
4 internet

Oh and did I mention you need a workshop manual?
AND you need at least one more mode of transport........
(coz getting the job done/getting parts etc takes time...)

Probably easier to con some gullible into "giving you a hand".....

[rosie631]

what's a garage...?

If you haven't got female charm, you need:

1 Workshop manual
2 workshop manual
3 workshop manual
4 internet

Oh and did I mention you need a workshop manual?
AND you need at least one more mode of transport........
(coz getting the job done/getting parts etc takes time...)

Probably easier to con some gullible into "giving you a hand".....

Did you mean lil ol me kind sir? Lol

[Gremlin]

yeup, lets see...

- I fill mine with gas
- I ride it
- I check the tyre pressures
- I even top up the oil when it gets used

Then it goes to the shop for everything else

To me, every time I think about the possibilities of working on the bike, the word suicide pops into my head. Best I leave it to the shop.

[elevenhundred]

For me part of the enjoyment of owning a bike is being able to work on it.
I do everything I have the tools for.
As a job appears I'll buy the tools to do it, I'm not a qualified mechanic but I spent a year fixing bikes in a workshop.
My bike will only go to the shop for warrants and tyres, oh and in future for dyno time also.

[roadracingoldfart]

I am interested in finding out how many bike owners do their own maintenance on their bike/bikes and how many take their bikes to their local bike mechanic?.
Like changing oil, air filters, tyres, chains etc.
Also if you maintain your bike yourself, how and where did you get your knowledge from?.

I dont get a chance to work on my own bike , i have too many crash jobs in the garage Aye Scracha

I do almost all my own work on the racebike but i spend all my day working on cars so bikes are a way to relax from the droll days.

I get others to do my tyres for me as i dont like doing them and they can do it when I want lol.

I didnt get any knowlege from my Dad as when i met him 3 years ago i found he has trouble finding the fuel cap so he buys a new car every few years to save getting a repair job out of warranty lol. I guess i just had to learn for cost cutting reasons, now i am a workshop foreman -

Its been a funny old day ......


Paul.

[scracha]

During my 5 or so years as a poor student, I wasted hours working on motorcycles in the street and often* ended up causing more damage than the money I'd saved.

During my debt ridden first few jobs (student loans y' see) I saved lots of money by buying nice reliable japanese middleweight 4 strokes, warming them up properly and basically just not servicing them.

Based on these formative years, I've came to realise that the whole "change your oil every 3000km" and "check valves every 6000 miles" thing is just a big con by the motorcycle servicing industry. I had a couple of yamaha's that had been around the clock, owned them both for over 3 years and they were lucky to get an oil change once a year. Nothing went wrong with them

I'm proper useless at anything practical and it's not through want of trying. Put a spanner in my hand and I'm most likely to strip threads. I adjust my chain and the only other job I insist on doing myself is brake pads and stripping and cleaning my calipers as on 2 occasions I've spent a fortune at motorcycle garages and had seals blow or brake pad retaining pins fall out for lack of a bloody split pin.

Stick to what you enjoy. If you get good at it you can then pay people who enjoy working on motorcycles. Hopefully they're as good at fixing your bike as you are at doing the job you enjoy. That way everthing gets done properly and everyone is doing something they enjoy.

For me, part of the enjoyment of owning a bike is not having to work on it.

*nearly always

[rosie631]

I'm trying to do as much work on my bike as I can. Not easy to start with but it seems to get a bit easier with each little job you do.
You need someone who knows what they're doing to show you to start with. Definitely need workshop manual specific to your bike. And need a fair amount of tools. I have been managing by borrowing at the moment, but as soon as I've paid for my drive belt job, I will be investing in some good quality tools. Things like changing oil and filter are pretty simple. You could easily do that. Most things just a matter of taking your time and working methodically. And having someone who doesn't mind giving help and advice.

[Ixion]

I do most things on bikes. Not tyres, cos I hate them. Anything else. Not so much on cars. Could if I need to , but cars always seem to involve grovelling under the bloody things with a sharp metal bit 1 mm from your nose and then getting a torrent of hot oil in your face. Now, if I had a hoist .... , course I'd have to raise the grage roof a bit ......

My father was a motor mechanic, all his mates were in the trade or related. Until I was in my 20s I just assumed that everybody did their own work.

(EDIT: I hate hydraulics, too. And exhausts. And bloody carburettors. And cam chains. And spark plugs. And welch plugs. and radiators and cooling systems. Especially cooling systems. But they ain't so easy as tyres to farm out.)

[Max Preload]

I can't see the point in owning a bike unless you do most of the work to maintain it yourself - that's half the fun.

[Motu]

I get a professional mechanic to do all the repairs on my bikes - I'd trust him with my life.....and my wife.

[LBD]

I started tinkering at a very young age, pulling things apart at about 10. Technical studies at school, and then mechanical trades study. So I guess I have always had a mechanical bent. Did all my own maintenance for many years, now I rely on others to maintain my bike, mainly because of time constraints to do it all my self...

Given the chance and time I would be back doing it myself....for me,its all part of the bike owning experience, and relaxing if its unpressured and all goes well.

[browny]

im the same asLBD really, mechanically minded. also a car mechanic and i add car because because they arent alike when you pull them down.so everything i know about my bike is self taught& out of manuels etc.needless to say i do all my own maintenance,from full rebuilds to trye changes. i might add tho,there jobs that only specialists can do ie. pressing crank pins ,crank assembly in other words.

[no_8wire]

Having fully rebuilt car engines for a hobby, as well as gearboxes etc, I am going to assume that maintenance on a bike isnt going to be to much trouble.
But manuals are lifesavers, esp if you can get the factory workshop ones.

Carbs I would leave to the shop as all I know is injection