Bike Overhaul

Hi guys,

Whilst the weather is pants and ive got a bit of time off I've decided to get my butt into gear and start getting my bike ready for the new season and most importantly the MOT.

I have just purchased some new brake disks, pads, X ring chain and sprockets, front and rear wheel bearings, sprocket carrier bearings and new fluids includicng oil, anti freeze etc.

I am also going to rebuild the front and rear calipers.

Some of these parts do not need doing however i would rather do it now while the bike is off the road to avoid any unnecesary mishaps during the bike season.

Is there anything else you would reccomend checking or changing whilst the bike is off the road?

Fork Oil? Head bearings?

[flymo]

valve clearances, swing arm bearing check, oil filter, spark plugs, braided hoses, any rusty bolts, nuts, etc. stainless brake pad retaining pins.

Take off both rear sets, clean and lubricate, avoids getting a stiff rear brake or a stiff gearchanger..

the swing arm bearings is a good idea, i will look at them, mind you i may aswell go as far as replacing them if i take the swinging arm out.

ive got a mechanic doing another service on it for me, thats the second in a year and ive done less than a thousand miles since ive had it.

[flymo]

Originally Posted by sv_rory

the swing arm bearings is a good idea, i will look at them, mind you i may aswell go as far as replacing them if i take the swinging arm out.

No need to remove it, just try it for side to side movement while the rear wheel is out. If you can be bothered it will be easier to feel any play by disconnecting the shock from the swingarm.

[yorkie_chris]

Don't bother replacing them if they are not worn, strip everything and grease it up though.

I'd do:
strip, inspect + grease chassis bearings
strip + grease brakes
valve clearances
oil change
repack silencer
fresh oil + filter
renew coolant
clean all electrical contacts, protect with ACF50, then silicon grease or vaseline in the backs of them.
carb balance
clean air filter

That's what I'd call an overhaul and is what I do to mine around christmas, rest of year it gets regular oil + filter + carb balance + brake strips, not much more.

[northwind]

The swingarm bearings are quite expensive for the set, so like YC only replace them if they're knackered. Which they might well be to be fair, but it's not that big a job to drop the swingarm. Flymo's right that you can tell totally worn out bearings by checking for movement, and that's all you need for MOT purposes, but stiff bearings will mess with the ride quality (not to mention being a first symptom of bearings that are going to die if they're not sorted). They don't get enough grease from the factory, and they almost never get serviced after that, so it's well worth doing.

TBH quite a lot of what you listed is "replace when worn out" like wheel bearings, they really last a long time...

I'd do the fork oil, even if you don't change it just getting new stuff in there is good news.

how easy is it to replace the fork oil? remember i have gsxr front end.

also would i have to replace the fork seals when i do the oil?

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Don't bother replacing them if they are not worn, strip everything and grease it up though.

I'd do:
strip, inspect + grease chassis bearings
strip + grease brakes
valve clearances
oil change
repack silencer
fresh oil + filter
renew coolant
clean all electrical contacts, protect with ACF50, then silicon grease or vaseline in the backs of them.
carb balance
clean air filter

That's what I'd call an overhaul and is what I do to mine around christmas, rest of year it gets regular oil + filter + carb balance + brake strips, not much more.

How do you carb balance and how come you do it so often? (does it improve mpg or sommat?). I tohught you only had to do it if it was running crappy.