Monday, March 1, 2010

Maintenance


Working on your bike to ride or race. You have to check your bike over and make sure that it is ready. It is important that your bike is ready because you don’t want to go to a race and spend lots of money and not finish because you forgot to tighten your swing arm bolt that you took off and put back on, but forgot to tighten it.
It takes me about six hours to work on my bike before a race.

First off I wash it to wear everything looks clean so I can go through and see if I have to replace anything.

Cleaning the Air filter: The air filter is an important part to your bike if you want it to run perfect. Every time after you ride you should clean your air filter. The air filter keeps dirt from getting into the motor. If it gets really dirty the bike can’t get enough air and it will suffocate the bike.

Checking the brakes: you want to make shore that you have enough pads to race or ride on. If they look thin you should change them. When the pad is out it will start to squeak and it will be metal to metal. It will ruin your brake roder and they are like eighty bucks.

Oil: I try to change my oil every time I race. It is important to check it or change it before you ride. I use Castrol 10w-30. There are all different types of oil brands to use. I get a discount on Castrol since my grandpa works for them.

Tires: checking the tire pressure and the tread of your tire. If it’s going to be a muddy race and your tire is almost bald you should change it. Checking the pressure is a good thing before you ride or race. If you have too much air you won’t get any traction; to little air and you could get a flat tire. I usually keep my tire pressure around 10 to 13 pounds.

When I’m almost done the last thing I do I go through everything to make shore it is tight and that my bike will hold up. This sport can get expensive when you have to put new parts on before every ride or race, but if you are really into it you will make shore that your bike will make it to the finish.

1 comment:

Cap'n Fatback said...

Tucker--

Okay, good, some interesting advice, although some sentences are a little rough here. Make sure to proofread these.

Also, have you been reading my comments? You need to link to web sites or articles, not pictures. You should try to incorporate pictures directly into your page.