Getting Your Motorcycle Ready For Summer

When it starts getting close to the time of year when you start looking forward to the upcoming riding season, it's a good idea to run through a checklist of things that will help prevent problems and keep your riding time headache free.

At the start of every riding season you should do the same stuff that's required on a 500-mile service. All the fluids should be drained and replaced including your front end and brake master cylinders. When you check your brake fluid, if it looks old, thick and brown, it's time to replace it. Obviously, the more you stay on top of your motorcycle maintenance, the more you stay away from the repairs that can end up costing top dollar!

Gas Tank and Air Filter: If you haven't ridden your bike for several months and you didn't take the time to drain the fuel out of the gas tank and carburetor float bowl, drain out the old fuel and put some fresh gas in before you fire it up. Don't start a motor up with fuel that's been sitting around all winter. You may want to also consider replacing the fuel line and filter because it's been sitting around with "stale" gasoline in it and more than likely is a problem waiting to happen. Besides, a new piece of fuel line is pretty cheap insurance.

While you are inspecting the carburetor and the other fuel system components, it's a good time to clean up the air filter area and check the air filter element. It should be removed and cleaned up or replaced especially if some form of life decided to move in for the winter make it a home.
Fluids: No matter what, the engine oil needs to be drained and replaced along with installing a new oil filter specific to your model motorcycle. When checking the oil levels most motorcycles need to be sitting up straight.

Remove the transmission drain plug and drain out the transmission fluid. Make sure that you clean up the magnetic plug before you reinstall it, replace the O-ring and then pour in the proper amount of transmission fluid. Remember when you are checking the fluid level in the transmission to keep the bike sitting up straight.

One of the more important things that your attention requires is the battery. If the battery is older than 2 years, and you have not had it hooked up to some sort of battery maintainer, don't even screw around just replace it! You can bet when you least expect it (especially in the heat of summer) that bugger will let you down.

While you are doing all of this service work, it doesn't hurt to throw in a set of new spark plugs. Check the gap and adjust them as necessary, put a little anti-seize on the threads and DO NOT over torque them. Take a look at the plug wires and clean up the boots real good or replace them if they're starting to look heavily worn.
Cables and Belts: Check the clutch cable for free travel and lube the pivot pin and the cable. The cables should be removed and cleaned really well at least once a year, but if you've stayed on top of maintaining them, you probably don't need to. The same things go for your throttle cables and remember to use the proper product for this application. DO NOT use WD40!

Do a good visual inspection on your drive belt or chain. Make sure the alignment is correct and that you've got proper adjustment while keeping an eye out for any holes or fraying of the belt. This could lead to some problems down the road that will more than likely happen in the most off the wall location.

If you're like most riders, you've probably never changed your fork oil. To get the best performance out a front end, the fluid should changed once a year regardless of what kind of miles you put on the bike, so check your maintenance schedule.

After you've gone through all of these items, start the engine and let it warm up nice and easy without revving it up. After the bike is warmed up, check the idle speed and do whatever adjustment is necessary. Check the kill switch to make sure it's working ok and you should be set on all the basic elements.