{"id":84,"date":"2011-03-25T12:02:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-25T17:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/207.36.117.28\/blog\/?p=84"},"modified":"2023-06-12T10:26:25","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T15:26:25","slug":"getting-ready-for-riding-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.denniskirk.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/25\/getting-ready-for-riding-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Ready for Riding Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

We know not everyone lives at the North Pole like we do, (and by the way, we are pretty jealous that you all get to ride year-round,) but if you store your bike for the winter, it\u2019s pretty important not to just fire her up right out of the gate when the weather starts warming up. If you\u2019re anything like us, your bike is your baby, so here are some general maintenance tips to follow when you\u2019re brushing the dust off and getting your bike ready to rock for riding season.<\/p>\n

A general rule of thumb is to do the same things at the start of riding season that you would ordinarily do for a 500-mile service check.<\/p>\n

1. All fluids should be drained and replaced. This includes your front end and brake master cylinders, transmission fluid<\/a>, etc. If your brake fluid<\/a> looks old, thick, and brown, it\u2019s definitely time to replace it. (And no matter what, you should always be replacing your oil.)<\/p>\n

2. If you didn\u2019t drain the gasoline out of your bike before you put it away for the winter, now is the time to do so. You don\u2019t want to start your bike up on old fuel, so put some fresh gas in before you fire it up. (You may also want to think about replacing your old fuel line<\/a> and filter<\/a>, neither of which are overly expensive parts.) Also check for rust, and next time you store your bike, use stabilized fuel if you don\u2019t already.<\/p>\n

3. While you\u2019re taking a look at your carburetor and the rest of your fuel system, clean up the air filter<\/a> area and check the element itself. You never know if some poor, freezing animal decided it looked like a great place for a vacation home.<\/p>\n

4. We would highly recommend hooking your battery<\/a> up to some sort of tender or maintainer over the winter, but if you don\u2019t have one and your battery is 2+ years old, just replace it. You\u2019ll save yourself the headache of a shot battery later on, which will probably happen at the least convenient moment.<\/p>\n

5. It can never hurt to replace your spark plugs<\/a>. Just sayin\u2019.<\/p>\n

6. Check all cables<\/a> for free travel and make sure they\u2019re functioning smoothly. (You should remove them and clean them thoroughly once a year, so now is the time to do so if you haven\u2019t.)<\/p>\n

7. Take a good look at your drive belt<\/a> for alignment, any signs of stress or fraying, and proper adjustment. This is one roadside fix you really don\u2019t want to have to do, so if there are any signs of sub-par integrity, you should probably think about replacing it.<\/p>\n

8. Check the front end and replace your fork oil if you need to. (It should be replaced once a year, so again, if you haven\u2019t yet, now is the time.)<\/p>\n

9. Make sure you\u2019re checking your brakes<\/a> and electronics as well. Test your headlight<\/a>, brake light, turn signals, etc. and make sure you don\u2019t have an unwelcome tenant living in your headlight casing.<\/p>\n

10. After you\u2019ve completed those items, go ahead and fire the bike up. Let her warm up nice and easy without revving the throttle. When she\u2019s good to go, check the idle speed and make any necessary adjustments. Make sure the kill switch is functioning properly, and that should complete your basic maintenance check.<\/p>\n

11. Finally, seeing as how each and every machine is different, make sure you\u2019re checking your owner\u2019s manual and the manufacturer\u2019s service manual for anything bike-specific you may need to take care of. If you\u2019re not comfortable servicing your bike yourself, just take her in to your local shop for a spring tune-up. Happy riding!<\/p>\n

12. Many thanks to Dan Krumwiede who pointed out that we forgot to mention checking your tires!
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Share your two cents in the comments below: Do you have any maintenance tips or tricks of the trade to share with your fellow riders?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We know not everyone lives at the North Pole like we do, (and by the way, we are pretty jealous that you all get to…<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_angie_page":false,"page_builder":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[879],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-84","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-motorcycle-tips"},"yoast_head":"\nGetting Ready for Riding Season - Dennis Kirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denniskirk.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/25\/getting-ready-for-riding-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Getting Ready for Riding Season\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We know not everyone lives at the North Pole like we do, (and by the way, we are pretty jealous that you all get to… Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.denniskirk.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/25\/getting-ready-for-riding-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dennis Kirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dennis.kirk.fb\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-25T17:02:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-12T15:26:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/media.tumblr.com\/tumblr_limhcd26fp1qai5g3.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dennis Kirk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dennis Kirk\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.denniskirk.com\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/25\\\/getting-ready-for-riding-season\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.denniskirk.com\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/25\\\/getting-ready-for-riding-season\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dennis Kirk\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.denniskirk.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/51debf3d2396abe73c2adfa1fd46195b\"},\"headline\":\"Getting Ready for Riding Season\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-25T17:02:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-12T15:26:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.denniskirk.com\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/25\\\/getting-ready-for-riding-season\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":677,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.denniskirk.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.denniskirk.com\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/25\\\/getting-ready-for-riding-season\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/media.tumblr.com\\\/tumblr_limhcd26fp1qai5g3.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Motorcycle Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.denniskirk.com\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/25\\\/getting-ready-for-riding-season\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.denniskirk.com\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/25\\\/getting-ready-for-riding-season\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.denniskirk.com\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/25\\\/getting-ready-for-riding-season\\\/\",\"name\":\"Getting Ready for Riding Season - 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