Table of contents
- Guide to the start of the season Finally kiss your sweetheart awake!
- Keep technology in optimal condition
- Today’s fuel doesn’t last that long “fresh”
- To do list
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11 pictures
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1/11
10) Drink coffee: Go through everything calmly. Is the lever set correctly? General inspection (“TuV”) due? Is your own fitness right? If not, get on your bike. This trains a sense of balance and reflexes.
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2/11
8) Brake fluid: attracts water, ages and in extreme cases this can lead to brake failure. Best to change every two years. Do not forget the brake lines during the visual inspection – they are porous or even leaky?
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3/11
7) Tire inflation pressure: Even the best tire loses pressure over the winter break. A loss of cash can come together. The correct value always applies to cold tires, so check before the first tour and correct if necessary.
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4/11
6) Tire tread: Legislators only stipulate a minimum tread depth of 1.6 millimeters, but that is not enough for practical use. Infrequent drivers also pay attention to cracked tire walls.
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5/11
5) Brake pads: Functional test is best when pushing – if something is grinding, if the pistons are possibly stuck, the pad thickness is still sufficient?
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6/11
4) Battery: Check the fluid level of conventional lead-acid batteries. When installing, always connect the positive pole first and the negative pole last.
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7/11
3) light & Co .: Check parking lights, low beam and high beam, headlight flasher, turn signals, if necessary hazard warning lights, taillights and brake lights. Best of all, battery-saving with the engine running. Don’t forget the horn, side stand and kill switch.
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8/11
2) Oil check: first look under the motorcycle – telltale spots? Second look at the oil dipstick or sight glass – correct position? Third action: oil change after test drive.
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9/11
1) Washing: Even under the best tarpaulin, dust, insect droppings and rust film can affect your baby. If you start the fitness program with a complete cleaning, you can best see where there is a need for action.
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10/11
Come on, finally kiss your darling awake!
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11/11
9) Chain: Check slack at various points, clean and lubricate. And not just before the tour – the chain spray should flash off for at least 30 minutes.
counselor
workshop
Guide to the start of the season
Guide to the start of the season
Finally kiss your sweetheart awake!
Come on, kiss your darling awake at last! The new season is calling, and after a few specific movements, you can finally start. And in the event that the old woman messes around contrary to expectations, we also have a few tips to wake you up.
Klaus Herder
02/28/2013
One thing could be relied on for decades: As sure as the amen in church, at the end of a motorcycle season there were mothball tips for the winter break in the relevant trade press. And so generations of motorcyclists trickled oil into the candle hole, stuffed oil-soaked rags into the exhaust, emptied the carburetor, filled the gas tank to the brim and meticulously made sure that the tires, which were provided with slightly increased inflation pressure, did not come into contact with the ground. The maintenance of the battery took on an almost ritualistic aspect, and a delicate film of preservative spray covered everything that could not be torn away in time.
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Keep technology in optimal condition
A small minority of unteachable people saved themselves the whole hassle and were able to find in the spring that their laziness was being punished less from year to year. In the worst case, a new battery was due and some fiddling with the float chamber was necessary. Then some starter spray was poured into the carburetor – and bang, the load was running again. Aluminum tanks, stainless steel exhaust systems, injection technology, tubeless tires, low-maintenance batteries – technical advances over the past 20 years have made it easier and easier for non-caregivers and drivers only to get through the start of the season without any extensive service program.
So has a pre-season story become superfluous? Counter-question: Are intensive body care and cosmetics absolutely necessary for a person’s survival? So if it is only about “driving somehow”, you can actually save yourself a large part of the work described here. The TuV or – if nothing works anymore – ADAC and workshop will tell you at some point when something has to be done. But if you enjoy keeping technology in optimal condition at all times, if you value absolute reliability and are interested in value retention, a somewhat conscientious preparation for the season is a pleasure instead of a burden and even promotes anticipation.
fact
If you start the fitness program with a complete cleaning, you can best see where there is a need for action.
So that something moves at all on the first tour, two central points should be ensured: power and fuel supply. The battery is fully charged and correctly connected, and still nothing moves when you press the button? A clear case for the absolute classic at the start of the season – please don’t laugh: kill switch! Almost too stupid to be true. And of course that only happens to others, but if you take a closer look, you will find out surprisingly often that some people have been looking for a wolf in March and have removed and installed the battery umpteen times without solving the starting problem. The small but fatal switch misalignment can be explained: Plan up and down, maneuver in the parked garage, add accessories – at some point there was an unwanted and unnoticed change from “Run” to “Off”. So please take a look at the right handlebar fitting first.
Not quite as often, but also gladly taken, is a blown main fuse. Of course, it doesn’t burn out by itself during the winter break, but some hobby screwdrivers have been tinkering around during the last few months out of comfort or inattention (keyword “mass”), so that said small part initially performed its protective task unnoticed.
There is electricity, the starter works, but the load still refuses to start? Usually a clear case of “no gasoline”. At the happy times of the carburetor, one could assume that before the winter break they forgot to drain the fuel from the float chamber. The fuel that remained there had lost a large part of its ignitability and / or had broken down into its components and thus clogged the carburetor nozzles. In the worst case, the carburetor had to be removed and cleaned, but mostly emptying the float chamber and, if necessary, a full jet of start-up spray helped. A large number of modern motorcycles are now supplied with fuel by injection systems, fumbling around with the float chamber is a thing of the past, and the engine usually starts immediately even after a long period of inactivity.
workshop
First steps for beginner screwdrivers
Change oil, adjust chain, remove battery
read more
workshop
Big overview: repair everything to do with motorcycles
MOTORCYCLE screwdriver tips
read more
technology & future
Check brake pads
Still enough material on it?
read more
Today’s fuel doesn’t last that long “fresh”
But there is no rule without exception: today’s fuel has the fatal property of not staying “fresh” as long as it used to. In combination with (very) long idle times, this can also cause injection engines to have starting problems. On the one hand, because the injection valves stick together and can no longer do their job. Then only the expansion and possibly the direct application of twelve volts will help. But maybe cleaning is also due. On the other hand, fuel attracts water, which unfortunately settles on the bottom of the tank. So exactly where fuel is drawn. If the engine just spits and spits, the entire tank content may have to be taken out and fresh fuel with fuel system cleaner in. But these scenarios are, thank God, the exception; injection systems can usually put up with a six-month break without any problems.
fact
A cash loss can accumulate over winter. The correct value always applies to cold tires, so check before the first tour and correct if necessary.
However, if you disconnected the battery before the start of the season, as the owner of a motorcycle with an injection engine, you should still consider one special feature when restarting the vehicle: If the battery is connected, the engine control unit has to readjust itself. This is made easier for him by accelerating two or three times with the ignition on but before pressing the starter button. As a result, the control unit detects signals from the throttle valve potentiometer and adjusts itself. Nevertheless, some injection engines will not run smoothly immediately after restarting and will need a few seconds to find their rhythm. Don’t worry, this is completely normal.
So electricity and fuel get back where they belong. The engine is babbling as healthy as possible, the air and light are fine. The brake and clutch do their job to their full satisfaction – then we’re ready to go, right? In principle yes, provided that the driver is half as fit as his motorcycle and remembers when it gets dangerous. Not on the first tour, on which practically everyone is highly concentrated and rather cautious. It becomes dangerous when you think you can do it again. Most accidents do not happen on the first or second weekend of the season, but three or four weeks later. Take care of yourself and your darling!
To do list
- To wash: Even under the best tarpaulin, dust, insect droppings and rust film can affect your baby. If you start the fitness program with a complete cleaning, you can best see where there is a need for action
- Oil control: first look under the motorcycle – telltale spots? Second look at the oil dipstick or sight glass – correct position? Third action: oil change after a test drive
- light & Co.: Check parking lights, low beam and high beam, headlight flasher, turn signals, hazard warning lights, if necessary, taillights and brake lights. Best of all, battery-saving with the engine running. Don’t forget the horn, side stand and kill switch. Battery: Check the fluid level of conventional lead-acid batteries. When installing, always connect the positive pole first and the negative pole last.
- battery: Check the fluid level of conventional lead-acid batteries. When installing, always connect the positive pole first and the negative pole last
- Brake pads: Function test is best when pushing – if something is grinding, if the pistons are possibly baked on, the lining thickness is still sufficient?
- Tire tread: Legislators only stipulate a minimum tread depth of 1.6 millimeters, but that is not enough in practice. Infrequent drivers also pay attention to cracked tire walls.
- Tire pressure: Even the best tire loses pressure over the winter break. A loss of cash can come together. The correct value always applies to cold tires, so check before the first tour and correct if necessary.
- brake fluid: Attracts water, ages and in extreme cases this can lead to brake failure. Best to change every two years. Do not forget the brake lines during the visual inspection – they are porous or even leaky.
- chain: Check, clean and lubricate sag in various places. And not just before the tour – the chain spray should flash off for at least 30 minutes.
- drink coffee: Go through everything in peace. Is the lever set correctly? General inspection (“TuV”) due? Is your own fitness right? If not, get on your bike. This trains a sense of balance and reflexes.
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