A motorcross bike is not like an ordinary motorcycle. The bike is designed for high performance, meaning it can go through all kinds of terrain. If you want your bike to serve you well in a race, you must give it the best maintenance and service possible. When your bike is in tip top shape, you can be sure it will give you a competitive advantage on the tracks. A bike that’s not regularly maintained is definitely a pain in the neck. With such a bike, you will have to stop every now and then due to mechanical problems. Fortunately, maintaining a bike is not rocket science. You can therefore do almost everything on your own without involving a mechanic. Here is a list of tips on how to prepare your motorcross bike for the next race.
1. Tires
You should examine the tires on a daily basis. This is because they are the ones that get punished the most when the bike is on the move. In fact, tires that are used in motorcross bikes wear out much faster than those that are reserved for ordinary motorcycles. As you are aware, the terrain that these bikes go through is unforgiving. There are rocks, tree stumps and trenches that accelerate the tear and wear of such tires. Once the tread of the tires start wearing out, you should consider getting a replacement right away.
It’s also advisable you replace the front and the rear tires at the same time. This is because they are exposed to the same extreme conditions.
2. Drive Chain
This is basically the part that conveys energy in motion from the engine to the rear wheel. In other words, it’s exactly the part that causes the rear wheel to roll. When the chain is not well maintained, it can easily break when the bike is already in motion. Such a mechanical failure can result in a fatal accident. However, you can avoid such trouble by lubricating the drive chain.
The best time for lubricating is when the engine is still running. In fact, you don’t have to buy a special lubricant. You can actually use the old engine oil. For best results, you should clean the drive chain with pressurized water after every race and then rinse it with paraffin. This helps in removing mud and other debris.
3. Engine Oil
Engine oil helps in ensuring that the moving parts don’t come into direct contact with each other. With an ordinary bike, you are allowed to go up to six months without changing the engine oil. But with a motorcross bike, the oil has to be changed every two months. As a matter of fact, the frequency of changing engine oil is determined by the number of times that you compete in a month.
As mentioned earlier, motorcross bikes are used in extreme conditions. It’s actually a dusty affair. The resulting dust usually gets trapped into the air filter, meaning some it still get mixed with the oil. By changing the oil more often, you are able to prevent it from breaking down or thinning much faster. The good thing is that you can always keep the old oil and use it for lubricating other moving parts. You can get high quality engine oil at SoloMotoParts.
