6 Motorcycle Maintenance Tips

If you just bought your first motorcycle or own a number of them, a little DIY maintenance can save you money, extend the life of your bike, and keep you safe. Being your own care pro for your bikes comes with some level of empowerment and pride. When riding your bike, you want to be sure everything’s just right.

Here, we share some tips for mastering your motorcycle maintenance:

Know Your Motorcycle

The first thing you need to do before carrying out maintenance work is to familiarize yourself with your motorcycle. Consult your owner’s manual before you start educating yourself about matters like changing oil, locating filters, and safely removing parts. It’s also important to determine the right fluids to use, the proper amounts, intervals for changing fluids, and other maintenance requirements.

You should also learn how to ride your bike safely by applying brakes calmly, turning smoothly, and accelerating steadily. Listen to your bike as you ride, feel it, then take notice of the sounds it makes when starting, riding, and stopping. Having a good understanding of your bike will help you identify issues early and take the necessary motorcycle maintenance procedures.

Change the Engine Oil

To ensure your motorcycle engine keeps running smoothly, you must ensure that the engine oil is regularly checked. Engine oil should be changed at a specific interval - check your owner’s manual to know how often. Refilling with the right amount and type of oil is crucial to avoid damaging your engine. When changing the engine oil, you should also consider installing a new oil filter.

Clean or Replace the Air Filter

Your motorcycle air filter keeps dust, debris, and other foreign elements out of your engine. If it gets dirty or clogged, the performance of your bike will be affected. It’s always a good idea to clean your air filter before going for a long trip. If yours has been in use for some time, you should replace it and install a new one, as recommended in your owner’s manual motorcycle maintenance guidelines.

Check Wheel Alignment, Tire Pressure, and Tread

If you ride your motorcycle on a daily basis or often go for long trips, checking tire pressure, wheel alignment, and the condition of the tread on your wheels is vital. Proper wheel alignment helps reduce tire wear while ensuring that wheel travel is true and straight. In fact, the right tire pressure delivers decent fuel economy. Only reduce tire pressure when riding on slippery and sandy roads for wider road contact and grip. Check your tire’s wear indicator consistently, and replace your motorcycle wheels when they’re damaged or overworn. Take a look at our  tire care products that may assist you with quick fixes on the road.

Inspect Your Drive Chain

Another important motorcycle maintenance tip is inspecting the drive chain. The drive chain helps transfer power from your engine to the rear wheels. Without proper drive chain care, you could be putting yourself at risk when riding. It’s important to  lube your chain after every ride while it’s still warm using specially formulated chain lube that’s recommended for your motorcycle. If the chain is dirty, clean it with a gentle bristle brush to remove grime and grit. You should also look out for sprocket wear, belt cracking, and chain stretching to ensure proper tension.

Check Your Brakes

Riding fast on a motorcycle is always thrilling, but there’s no point of riding fast on a highway if you can’t stop in time. Riding on the road is always full of uncertainties, so you need to be sure that your brakes are always working in top condition. Check your brakes every time before you ride and replace the brake fluid over one or two years to ensure the best braking performance. If your brake pads are also thinning, change them sooner than later. This is one of the most important motorcycle maintenance tips that will ensure your safety.

Customize the Style of Your Bike

There are other maintenance tips such as checking your battery, making sure that all the electrics are working, changing the coolant, and others, but the tips discussed above are the most important. To further personalize your bike’s care, you can also get yourself some customizable parts and accessories like a more comfortable seat, an aftermarket exhaust kit, new tires, and  maintenance accessories at West End Motorsport.

Shop online now and enjoy guaranteed fitment plus free shipping for orders over $99.