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Tips:
Motorcycle Tire Balancing via Beads.
Ceramic beads installed in your tires will centrifugally balance your tires better than a human is able with weights. Some advantages are: no ugly weights to corrode your rim or detract from appearance, as well as the fact that beads constantly balance as your tire wears, users can expect increased tire life along with that glassy smooth ride. They are always in stock and can be installed in the shop or you can do it yourself, even with the tire on the bike.
Keeping Your Battery Alive and Well:
Before storing your bike, atv, etc. over the winter one thing you should not over look is your battery. Two of the biggest things to kill a battery over the winter are freezing temperatures and lack of charge, which go hand in hand. The best thing you can do to maintain your battery over the winter is remove it from the bike if your bike is in the cold garage or let it in the bike if your garage is heated. Keeping your battery from freezing will add life to your battery. Once you have a storage place for your battery in a warm environment either permenantly install a trickle charger to the battery for the rest of the winter, or bring the battery to full charge and un hook the charger. You may want to charge the battery once a month to maintain activity in the battery. Trickle chargers are inexpensive and a very good idea for your battery's sake. Also remember when you buy a battery you get what you pay for, cheap batteries as a whole do not last long. Invest in a good battery if you don't want trouble later. I carry Interstate, Yuasa, NAPA, and Firepower batteries. The price of lead keeps going up so good batteries are expensive but there is no replacement.
Preventive Maintenance:
This month's tip covers some preventative maintenance issues, not all just a few you may not have heard of or forget. First off after each ride try to wash your ATV if you were in the mud, this helps you uncover problems and keeps moisture from building up. After washing a few things to check to prevent trouble down the road. If you have a solid rear axle try to shake the rear of the ATV to be sure that your rear axle bearings are in good condition, these go out fast and if you do not notice it in time will make for some expensive repairs replacing the carrier, brake drum components, etc. Be sure you chain is adjusted properly as this can lead to unnecessary broken chains and stresses on the swing arm. Lift up the front of the ATV and wobble the tires to see if there is play in the wheel bearings, these normally go bad over a long period of time but the last thing you want happening is a bearing totally blowing out while riding as it will stress your brake caliper and you could possibly lose the wheel while moving. Check to make sure your tie rods are straight on the front and the ball joints are snug as well, worn ball joints can come apart and cause a crash, bent tie rods will bend more easily, always replace bent tie rods with new parts. Finally if you have a Polaris or any other chain case equipped machine, check the level and condition of your transmission fluid. These parts will wear rapidly once the oil gets much metal in it. Remember to use ONLY chain case specified lubes, these are not regular gear lubes and cannot be replace with gear lube as it will greatly accelerate wear. This goes for snowmobiles as well.
Chains:
Having problems with your drive chain wearing out prematurely? If you are using a standard non-o-ring chain be sure to lubricate it with a petroleum or synthetic base chain lube regularly. However the ultimate answer to longer lasting chains are o-ring chains if you don't already have one. O-ring chains use o-rings of several different designs that are riveted between the links to permanently seal in lubricant from the factory thereby keeping dirt out and the lube in, which adds tremendously to the life of the chain. As far as how to lube an o-ring chain be sure the chain is free of dirt before you start and use a chain lube specifically designed for o-ring chains, the petroleum based lubes will deteriorate the rubber the o-rings are made of and attract dust. Then coat the entire chain well to be sure the o-rings are coated and the rest is to resist dirt buildup. Many of the o-ring chain lubes today use a rubber conditioner and sometimes wax which will keep dirt from building up. If you are looking for a good o-ring chain we sell DID and RK chains, as well as chain lube, and a full line of sprockets. I personally recommend Bel-Ray Super Clean Chain Lube for O-ring chains. Also steel sprockets will normally outlast aluminum ones.
Air Intake:
Anyone racing or riding in severely muddy and wet conditions running no airbox lid or a modified lid has seen how much mud accumulates on the filter. If you end up with mud or evidence of it in your intake boot it can cause serious damage to your engine. If you are using a K&N style gauze filter in these conditions try a UNI or Twin-Air foam style filter. with the oil coating and greater dirt stopping surfaces this may just be your ticket to longer engine life, call or email if you would like to purchase one of these filters. I prefer Maxima Fab1 filter oil for all foam filter applications, we sell Fab1 as well as a full line of lubes.
All suggestions and tips are based on the writers personal experience and do not apply to all situations, special needs vary and must be dealt with specifically, we do not assume any responsibility for misuse or misunderstanding of any of these suggestions, tips, or directions.