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HOW TOS
This bit tells you how to do things, running repairs, change tubes etc
What we have in here should help you out were you're in the bush with problems.
Anyway these How To's should help you to get home and overcome the problems
that you may encounter.
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Fixing Punctures, Part 1 Removing the tyre.
For this you should have 3 tyre levers, some lubricant (oil) or dishwashing
liquid concentrate, a bike pump, and the tools to remove and put back the wheel.
You also need to find a clean place to do this, some people even carry around
a mini tarp for these kind of problems.
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Remove wheel, then remove the valve stem nut and rim lock nut |
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Un bead the tyre from the rim (press the tyre walls in until they are
loose) you can use the heel of your boot for this, do it on both sides
making sure you leave the wheel disk side up.
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Push the rimlock in a bit to ensure it is not holding the tyre, make sure
don't push the rim lock inside the rim.
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Start anywhere you want and insert a tyre lever between the tyre and rim
pushing it until you feel it slide over the bead of the tyre. Insert the
next tyre lever 4-5 inches away from the first using the same method and
then insert the third tyre lever. NOTE:Don't start removing the tyre until
all levers are in place.
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Starting at the outside lever, lift the tyre up and over the rim, do the same
with the middle lever and the finally the last one. Now take out the
middle tyre lever and reinsert it again 6-8 inches to the side one of the
outer tyre levers and lift the tyre off the rim. Keep repeating this until you
can pull the rest of the tyre over the rim by hand.
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Pull out the tube, check the inside and outside of the tyre to ensure
whatever punctured the tyre is not around any more, also check the rim
for protruding spokes and that the rim tape is OK and undamaged.
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Get your new tube and put a bit of air in it, just enough so that you can
see the tube start to inflate. At this point we are ready to put the new
tube in and put everything back together.
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Fixing Punctures, Part 2 Putting it back together.
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Get your new tube and put a bit of air in it, just enough so that you can
see the tube start to inflate. Now you are ready to put the new
tube in and put everything back together.
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Put the tube inside the tyre and line up the valve stem with the hole in
the rim. Make sure the tube goes in straight and don't twist it, it also needs to
fit over the rimlock. Also attach the lock nuts to the valve stem and the rim
locks, this stops them from going back into the rim.
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Coat the inside and outside of the tyre bead and rim with slippery stuff, ie
dishwashing concentrate or spare oil, this helps putting the tyre back on.
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Insert a tyre lever 2-3 inches either side of the valve stem thats now
inside the rim. The tyre levers only have to go in as far as the lip of
the rim as they will get purchase when you lever the tyre on. Don't put
lever in too far as it can pinch your tube. Now insert
the third tyre lever 6-8 inches away from the last one. All three
tyre levers are now inserted and ready to lift the tyre on.
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Push the valve stem in and lever the tyre over the rim either at side of the
valve stem, You should be able to push the stem in and out of the rim freely.
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Lift the last tyre lever over the rim, all the time checking
to ensure the tube is not pinched. All 3 levers are now holding
the tyre inside the rim. Pull out the middle lever and place it 6-8 inches
inches to the right of the outer lever again checking the innner tube
for pinches. Then lever the tyre on. Keep repeating until the tyre is all on.
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When you come to the rimlock you need to push it in before you lever the tyre on
so that it freely moves inside the tyre, this allows you to lock the rim lock
over the tyre.
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When you get to the last bit of tyre it will be noticeably harder to get the
tyre on, you can apply a bit more lube and lever it on using smaller space
increments between the levers or you can kick (with your heel) the tyre wall
over the rim to coax it on. Be carefull not to kick the rim.
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Once the tyre's on bounce it around a bit to loosen it up, apply more lube to
the tyre bead and inner rim on each side of the wheel, this will help to pop
the bead.
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Pump up the wheel until the bead pops, then let the pressure down to
normal tyre pressure. Sometimes you can go as 70-100 ponds pressure in
order to pop the bead. If the bead does not pop then put the wheel back on
and ride at a bit and the bead should pop, then let the pressure down, caution
do not continually ride with over inflated tyres.
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Broken levers
Not much you can do with broken levers except to carry spares with you that
you can replace in times of emergency. Part of your spares kit that yo carry with
you should have a set of replacement clutch and brake levers.
You can also fit a good set of barkbusters as the barkbusters usually will take
the punishment instead of your levers.
Another way to avoid broken levers is to ensure that the cluth and brake perches
are not rigidly attached to the bars, just loosen them enough to ensure that
they move if hit, this absorbs the impact better and could just save or maybe
bend it instead of snapping it off.
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Fix a Drowned Bike
So, there you are, sitting in the middle of the river with water up to the
petrol tank, bike drowned and you wet up to the waist. Next thing to do is
to get the bike to dry land so we can de-water and un-drown it.
Never try to start a four stroke without taking steps to ensure that all the water
has been removed, water does not compress like air so if there is water where
there should be air you could get bent valves and other things breaking.
Steps to un-drown a bike:
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Turn the petrol off.
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Remove seat and check air filter (see clean and replace air filter "How To",
in a pinch you can use petrol to clean the air filter)
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Remove spark plug and kick the engine over until nothing comes out of the top of
the cylinder.
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Tip the bike to the left and right and drain as much water as you can, if
possible turn the bike upside down.
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Remove the exhaust pipe and muffler, drain the water out of each.
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Lift bike vertically on front wheel with the rear wheel facing shyward,
shake it around a bit and wait till all the water stops coming out. Once
drained shake it abit more to be sure.
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Do the same thing on the back wheel, this makes sure that both front and
back have been de-watered as much as possible.
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Drain the carby to endure any residual water is removed (turn petrol on first).
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Check the oil, if its milky and not black then its contaminated with water.
If you can Change oil do it immediately otherwise change it as soon as you
get home, in either case drain the oil, then do a secondary flush and
finally fill a third time and check all the levels and indicators as
mentioned in your bike service manual. Engine components will go rusty if
kept in contact with contaminated engine oil.
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After all that, reassemble your bike and it should start up. otherwise go
back and work through all the points discussed here, you could also check
that your electricals are not shorted out in the contacts and switches.
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LOCTITE EVERYTHING
Literally stops things from vibrating loose on a ride, barkbusters, levers
and controls, just about anything that is bolted on can come off due to the
vibrations that todays dirt bikes make. Now don't go overboard and soak your
nut or bolt in Loctite, only a small amount is required and you really only
need medium strength Loctite.
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CLEAN AND REPLACE YOUR AIR FILTER
You should look at cleaning your air filter after every ride, after cleaning
your bike check the air filter to see if needs cleaning. Generally if you
can't see the original colour of your filter or even the writing on it then
its dirty and needs replacing.
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Remove the filter from the bike, if the filter has inner and outer filters
then separate them.
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Wash each filter in Air Filter cleaner or Kerosene. Do not use petrol, it
will do a great job of cleaning but will also dissolve to glue holding the
filter together.
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Squeeze or compress the filter to remove excess cleaner, do not try to wring
it dry as this can tear the filter.
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Now wash the filter in warm soapy water, removing all additional dirt.
Then rinse in warm clean water and squeeze it to remove all excess water.
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Inspect for tears or cracks, replace the elements if damaged otherwise hang
the filter elements to dry.
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When dry re-oil each element. I have a bucket that contains air filter oil
so I immerse the filter completely in the oil then squeeze as much excess
oild out of the filter as I can.
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Now apply a thin coat of grease to the sealing surface of the air filter
box, put the grease where the filter seals against the box.
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Re-assemble to Air Filter into the Air Box.
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WASHING YOUR BIKE PROPERLY
After every ride you should wash your bike and maintain the chain, clutch, brake
levers and control cables. Keeping it clean stops the dirt form staining and soiling
the platics and metal bits.
You can use a pressure wash or do it by hand, its up to you, but if you do use a
pressure wash make sure that you stay at least 12 inches away from lube points
like axles, swingarm, and head stems as you can flush out the grease and then
everything rusts and needs replacing.
After cleaning you can use a silicon spray to put some of the oils back into
the plastics and make everything look clean and new.
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CHECK & REPLACE WHEEL BEARINGS
Your wheel bearings are critical to your bikes running, they can get clogged up
with mud, sand and dirt in the normal course of a ride and this combined with
the grease in them can turn into a really good cutting compound, so rule #1 is
keep them clean, greased and free of pollutants.
You should check your wheel bearings on a regular basis in order to minimise wheel
and axle damage. Your bearing should fit tightly into the center of the hub.
The outside of the bearing should turn with
wheel hub and the inside will be fixed, non moving and aligned with the axle, ie nothing
should turn except the ball bearings.
If there is any side to side freeplay then the bearings need replacing.
If the bearing is loose in the wheel hub then it has "spun"
and the hub will need to be replaced or sleeved and a new bearing installed. A good
engineering firm can sleeve your wheel hub, make sure you provide them with
the new bearing so they can measure it all up.
The most important thing though is that the bearing needs to fit in the wheel hub and on
the axle with no other movement except for the ball bearings turning, there should be
no up and down or side to side movements.if you have any kind of these or you
are not sure about the bearings then get your mechanic
to check it out for you.
When you get your bike serviced make sure the wheel bearings get checked along
with the brakes and brake pads.
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