As gray, gloomy days give way to blue skies and sunshine, you might find yourself looking longingly at that motorcycle gathering dust in your garage. Beautiful weather just has a way of making you want to bring your bike back out on the road. And we don\u2019t blame you! But before you do, it\u2019s important to make sure your ride is really road-ready with some motorcycle maintenance.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re newer to motorcycle maintenance, this might sound a bit strange \u2014 if your bike has been biding its time in your garage, out of the weather and off of the road, how much maintenance can it really need? While we understand the thought (or perhaps the wishful thinking) that your motorcycle will be ready to ride right away, there are actually a few fairly basic motorcycle maintenance tasks you need to complete before you jump back behind the handlebars. So, before you take the rubber to the road, make sure you have proper motorcycle insurance<\/a>, and read through this quick DIY motorcycle maintenance guide to make sure your bike is safe, functional, and ready to ride.<\/p>\n Before you get into any more involved maintenance, make sure to give your motorcycle a quick visual check-up. You know how your bike should look: make a note of any new problem areas like dents in the exhaust header, scrapes or cracks in the frame, bumps on the fork tube, and any sprocket teeth that are leaning, hooked, pointed, or chipped.<\/p>\n Just as with your other vehicles, it\u2019s important to keep your motorcycle up to date on oil changes. If your bike uses mineral oil, it will need an oil change about once every 2,000 to 3,000 miles. Synthetic oil lasts significantly longer and will only need a change every 7,000 to 10,000 miles. Regardless of what type of oil you use, your motorcycle will need an oil change at least once a year. If you\u2019ve been keeping your bike cooped up in your garage, it\u2019s safe to say it\u2019s time for an oil change before you get back on the road.<\/p>\n To change your motorcycle\u2019s oil<\/a>, you\u2019ll need:<\/p>\n Your owner\u2019s manual should have more detailed instructions on changing the oil on your specific bike, but in general, the steps are as follows:<\/p>\n The lead-acid battery in your motorcycle needs a little more maintenance than your car\u2019s battery, as, when left uncharged, it will go through a discharging process. Use a voltmeter to check your battery\u2019s voltage. If the voltage drops below 9.5 while starting the engine, your battery will need to be replaced.<\/p>\n Without proper air filtration, your motorcycle engine won\u2019t last too long. Your motorcycle\u2019s air filter needs to be replaced every 10,000 to 15,000 miles. When selecting a new filter, you can choose between OEM paper, oiled cotton gauze, and oiled foam, depending on your bike.<\/p>\n Correct tire pressure is important in preventing problems like sluggish handling, heavy steering, and tires that start to separate from the rims. Sufficient tread depth is essential to keeping you safe on the road. Check that both your tire pressure and tread depth are correct according to your owner\u2019s manual before you take your bike out on the road.<\/p>\n When you should replace your brake pads depends on various factors, such as how often and where you ride. A good rule of thumb is that, once the pad is worn down to roughly two millimeters, it\u2019s time for a new set.<\/p>\n There are a few different liquids your bike needs to run smoothly. Before you head out of the garage, make sure the following liquids are at the correct levels:<\/p>\n Before you\u2019re ready to ride, check your headlight, taillights, turn signals, and all of your bike\u2019s various warning lights. Finally, make sure to reacquaint yourself with all of your motorcycle\u2019s controls. You should be comfortable with and able to identify your speedometer, odometer, trip meter, tachometer, light switches, ignition switch, turn signal switches, horn button, fuel supply valve, choke control, throttle, clutch lever, front brake lever, rear brake pedal, gear selector pedal, started, engine kill switch, stand, and your oil level window or dipstick.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve gone through the motorcycle maintenance steps in this article, refreshed your knowledge of motorcycle safety and rules of the road<\/a>, and made sure your motorcycle insurance is up to date and covers everything you need, you\u2019re ready to get back out on the road! For more motorcycle questions, or for your motorcycle insurance needs, visit us at Elephant.com or get a quote<\/a> today.<\/p>\n The post Do it yourself motorcycle maintenance<\/a> appeared first on Elephant Insurance<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As gray, gloomy days give way to blue skies and sunshine, you might find yourself looking longingly at that motorcycle gathering dust in your garage. Beautiful weather just has a way of making you want to bring your bike back out on the road. And we don\u2019t blame you! But before you do, it\u2019s important…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/shapegreatness.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/shapegreatness.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/shapegreatness.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shapegreatness.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shapegreatness.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/shapegreatness.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349,"href":"http:\/\/shapegreatness.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions\/349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/shapegreatness.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shapegreatness.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shapegreatness.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}First, give your bike a once-over<\/h2>\n
Change your oil<\/h2>\n
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Check your battery<\/h2>\n
Change your air filters<\/h2>\n
Take a look at your tires<\/h2>\n
Check your brake pads<\/h2>\n
Look at your liquids<\/h2>\n
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Check your lights, cables, and controls<\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n