Day 362: Making Do

I was doing a little bike maintenance today and part of it involved washing out the air filter on the Dirty Husky. This is the kind of important bike part that just can't be left drying in the sun on the pavers, not when you have a weird old dog that likes to eat things that are not normally considered food. To avoid having my filter destroyed by my dopey dog Rex and also the effort involved in walking all the way to the clothes line to hang I improvised with an old broom and a house brick.

Day 233: A Little Worn

I bought new rear pads for the Husky to day and chucked them in this afternoon... I noticed they were 'a little worn' on Saturday arvo when I was refitting the rear wheel after having a new tyre fitted. It's safe to say that 'a little' was quite the understatement, the green one on the left is down to the metal backing plate in the top left corner as it sits in the photo and the other was down to what I'm estimating is a little under 1mm. Oops. I'm sure Pete will try to rib me for lack of maintenance on this... I'll just have to refer him to his throttle cable.

I'll have to fit the front pads another night during the week, and I also need to re-oil my air filter and attach my rego label. After all that the Dirty Husky will be ready for the trek Sunny Corner on Friday and two days of riding through some spectacular bush. Last time I did this two day ride I came home with 6 stitches in my chin, I'll be doing my best to avoid anything similar this time.

Day 91: Race Bike Maintenance

I was in a bit of a maintenance mood today. One of the guys I'm riding dirt bikes with tomorrow needed to borrow my 1/2 inch drive torque wrench to get his bike ready for our outing so I figured I'd get the race bike out for a coolant flush and general check over while I was waiting for him to come over to borrow the tool.

The system hadn't been flushed after the previous owner's last couple of races, and as the bike had been sitting for a few months it was about time to give it a clean out... when I drained the water it wasn't entirely manky, but it was looking a little grubby.

I did an unusual thing before taking this maintenance on, it involved reading the service manual... or at least the part that pertained to the coolant system. So when I began I knew which hoses to disconnect and which to leave intact for a full system flush, this was refreshing as I usually just plow in ill-prepared hoping for the best.

Coolant flushes are normally an annual event for street bikes but they need to be performed far more frequently for race/track bikes because your average street bike uses a commercial coolant that contains rust inhibitors and race bikes only use water.

So why would that make a difference? Allow me to explain: Commercial coolant is extremely slippery when spilled on a race track (or any bitumen really) which becomes a legitimate hazard for other racers if you happen to stack it mid corner and spit coolant all over the apex of that corner.

The benefit of using water instead of commercial coolant is that it's readily available from the tap for free (unless you ride a race prepped Ducati that will only accept Evian in its coolant system). The only downfall is that you need to change the water frequently to ensure the engine doesn't corrode internally before its time.

In summary: The job was done, the water is now fresh and the bike which needed to get undressed for the maintenance is now fully clothed again and awaiting its first track day with me at the helm. Just another successful Saturday in the garage.

Day 85: Overdue Maintenance

It's been a while since my last dirt bike ride, it was actually on the 8th of January (I had to check dig through my previous posts to find the date, see here). Since the Dirty Husky became a Clean(ish) Husky for the first time in months yesterday, I decided it was a good time to get around to replacing the chain & sprockets. I bought the parts before Christmas and then became sidetracked with other things so the job didn't actually take place until today, more than 4 months later. You can't rush these things.

Even though it often takes me a while to get around to actually doing this kind of stuff, when I actually do it I get quite a sense of satisfaction out of completing the work myself. As it turned out the rear sprocket would probably have been fine for a while longer, the front sprocket on the other hand had teeth that could only be described as hooks which is a sure sign that its last legs. When the teeth are worn as far as this they become weaker and much more prone to snapping, they will also cause the chain to wear at a faster rate which isn't ideal. It's probably fortunate that managed to change them all over before my next outing.

So with two new sprockets, a new chain, having been freshly washed and also loaded into the trailer; the Dirty Husky is ready to earn its name again next weekend when I head out for the single trail of Tallaganda.