YAMAHA R1 2010 Valentino Rossi
Sands Designs Ronin Tires: Bridgestone BT-003 Brake pads: EBC Double H Brake rotors: EBC Brake lines: Goodridge Front brake reservoir: Roland ...
My Ducati 748
aluminum carrier "snowflake" front brake rotors, billet rear brake caliper mount, Renthal/AFAM quick change rear sprocket carrier and ...
Ducati Monster
-end mirrors Ducati 900SS/SP Dual Calipers & Full Floating Front Brake Rotors Petal Rear Brake Rotor Ducati Tachometer Kit w/ CF Dash PVM ...
Wrenchin’
I’ve spent the last week learning how to take things apart, clean things up, lube things up and put them back together. Some of this was intentional … some not. Over the weekend I was registered for a pair of motorcycle maintenance classes. The idea was to learn the ways of the machine, her habits, her needs, her peccadilloes; to be able to service her on the road should her temper get the better of her. See, things fall off of motorcycles all the time; people who don’t ride don’t realize just how unstable the design of these things is. One moment you’re riding a finely tuned machine, the next you’re astride a wobbling shower of sparks; a 4th of July firework gone haywire along the tarmac. There is a reason motorcyclists resort to things like gremlin bells to ward off evil spirits. Anything you can do to increase your chances of coming home with all of your bolts and balls in place is worth your while. One, slightly more practical approach, is to properly maintain your motorcycle.
I have a natural aversion to screws, bolts and anything that precisely fastens pieces of metal together. I’m just bad with them. So it is no surprise then that last week cleaning my bike resulted in the back wheel needing to be removed. In order to avoid the embarrassment of showing up at a motorcycle maintenance class with my filthy bike I decided thoroughly scrub her nooks and crannies. For better access to the rear wheel I chose to remove the rear brake caliper, then do the degreasing and washing. That went fine, but when I tried to re-fasten the caliper, my huge, huge muscles go the better of me … I tore the head right off of one of the bolts that holds the caliper to the swingarm. Without boring you with the details, the only way to remove the bolt to replace it, was to remove the rear wheel and access the caliper from the ‘rotor side’.
Really, this was a blessing in disguise. Learning to wrench on the bike before I leave is imperative. Along the way, I learned about ‘cush drives’, had a chance to inspect and clean the sprocket thoroughly, cleaned the back part of the bike that was really difficult to get to with the rear wheel attached, learned how to adjust my chain tension and how to properly adjust my rear wheel alignment. All in all, a pretty manly couple days. Fortunately for me, there are a couple of great videos online giving thorough instructions on how to remove and replace the rear wheel on a SV650. The same folks have posted a how to on adjusting your chain tension and rear wheel alignment . Great stuff.
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