General
Gear Change
Lever
Rear Suspension
How to stop your engine from
clogging up
How to Clean a Motorcycle
Never use a pressure washer to clean any motorcycle,
water can get in to wheel bearings and in to the electrical system.
I have never needed to use any detergent or shampoo on a motorcycle (I just use
water).
At least one motorcycle manufacturer advises you not to use washing up liquid
since it contains salt that will scratch paintwork.
I use on paintwork, chrome and glass
General Microfiber Cleaning Cloth (often sold for normal house cleaning), very
good at removing grease, dirt and insects, not the best finish.
Genuine Chamois Wash Leather (available from car shops, do not get the
artificial type), not good at removing grease, dirt or insects but leaves a
smear free finish.
Spectacle / Camera Microfiber Cleaning Cloth (used to clean mirrors, instruments
and helmet visor), good at everything.
I also use Mer Car polish (every 6 months to 2 years on the paintwork to make
it really shine and make it slippery so insects do not stick like glue).
Mer Car polish is expensive but you use hardly any on a motorcycle so the
smallest bottle will last almost forever.
It can also be used on chrome and even on hot exhausts (if its chrome or smooth
paint).
See Silencer / Exhaust section only in Bike
part of Riding In Winter page to see how to
remove rust and stop rust coming back.
If I need a strong degreaser to remove for instants months of chain oil from
the back wheel, I use WD40 (only because I having it around anyway) and a old
cloth.
WD40 is a very powerful degreaser and flows like water in to all the very small
places,
this is very bad if it gets in to the wheel bearings and other places since it
will get past the rubber seals and dissolve the bearing grease.
So spray only a small amount on to the back wheel and rub with a cloth, it often
leaves a WD40 film of oil afterwards, do not let it get on the silencer or it
will stain.
I normally do not bother to remove the chain oil from the back wheel since it
protects the wheel and prevents rust.
Gear Change Lever
You can adjust the Gear Change Lever height to
the size of your boots or shoes.
The motorcycle dealers often set it pointing down, which is totally wrong since
your bike has a upright riding position (CBR125 is different).
The gear change lever probably wants to be at the same height as the foot rest (level
with the foot rest).
I found this to be correct for my boots and expect it to
be the same for most people.
See Owners manual.
Rear Suspension
Adjust the Suspension to the weight you are carrying.
The correct suspension setting for you will depend on your
weight and how old / worn the suspension is, all springs age / wear and drop in
stiffness.
Its simply a matter of trial and error, it will effect how
well the bike handles round bends and handles bumps in the road.
See Owners Manual.
How to stop your engine from clogging up
It's a good idea with any engine,
if it's only been on short trips, like 5 miles to work, to take the bike for a
long fast ride to clean it out.
Any engine that does not get up to full temperature (low engine revs or short trips) will get condensation inside and
burning deposits will build up excessively,
that's why you have to change the
oil more often in these cases, but you still need to blast the bike out, it can
also help the chain.
Lots of people think a 125cc engine is so small,
it will get up to full
temperature very quickly and its engine speeds are much higher in normal
operation than larger engines.
Well the temperature takes a lot
longer than many think, 5 miles just does not get it up to full heat.
I have noticed that if you do
loads of 5 mile trips at 40mph in 5th gear a bike suffers.
But when you take it out for a
50mph or faster run, of at least 15 miles it cleans it self out (you still need
to change the oil more frequently).
You may notice the bike starts
better, idling is faster and healthier, less vibration, smoother and more power.
If you do a lot of short, slow trips try to have a long
fast one now and again.
You can also buy better quality petrol that has extra
cleaners in to reduce the problem (see Petrol below).
Clutch
It is easy to blame yourself for a poor quality clutch, thinking its you not
being sensitive enough on the clutch or you not getting the throttle to clutch
right.
If you wear out a clutch on any make or model of bike,
I highly recommend fitting EBC clutch plates and clutch springs,
instead of the bike manufacturers genuine parts (which might not even be the
same as originally fitted).
EBC have a reputation for making high quality and performance parts including
their clutches.
My clutch tests also back this up and as a result,
I would expect EBC to outperform your original clutch or at worst equal it.
Of course I can not test every make and model of motorcycle, but I do know
the quality of EBC.
They even make their clutch springs 10 to 15% stiffer,
which only makes the clutch lever very slightly heavier (the muscles in your
hand very quickly adapt),
but results in much better clutch performance and less slipping (even on a 125cc
bike).
EBC make 3 types of Clutch plates for road motorcycles.
Standard CK series (thats what I have tried and are available for a very large
amount of motorcycles).
and 2 Race / Sports Clutch plates (only available for some bikes).
I was able to compare the EBC clutch to my 125cc bikes original clutch (even when
both were brand new),
the EBC Clutch is so much smoother and makes off the line starts perfect every
time (no juddering), even when you make a mistake.
I did not realise it at the time, but the original plates were always slipping
slightly (nothing to do with the oil myth, even happened on semi synthetic).
the EBC plates do not appear to be slipping,
resulting in a better connection between gearbox and rear wheel (more power and
smoother power delivery).
EBC make Clutches and Springs for the
CBR125
CBF125
YBR125 (no spring kit available when writing this article, that might have
changed by the time you read this).
Gearbox
What often seems like gearbox problems to a novice is often a bad quality
(or worn out or bad designed) clutch.
A mechanic will be able to advise / work out more after hearing your complaints
about it.
The faults below are due to the clutch or gearbox overheating due to bad
design in my motorcycle (other motorcycles may suffer the same or similar).
You can improve the overheating by using better quality oil.
Silkolene Comp 4 (real semi synthetic) engine oil was not able to stop the
faults.
Silkolene Pro 4 Plus 5W-40 engine oil has substantially reduced the problem (see Silkolene Pro 4 Plus for more information).
I then tried an EBC Clutch (see Clutch above), which improved things even more.
When you are in 5th gear and want to change down
to 3rd or below, you must let the clutch out in 4th gear.
If you do not, the gearbox will refuse to change down to 3rd or below, until you
let the clutch out (in 4th gear) and then pull it in again.
If you are stuck with this problem at a standstill,
briefly let the clutch out and back in
again before the bike stalls, or rock the bike forwards and backwards while
blipping the throttle.
When the fault is fixed you will hear a mechanical click from the gearbox.
The gearbox / clutch will overheat if for instance, you
race from one set of stopped traffic lights to another a short distance away on
a hot day.
You will not have any problems if you let the clutch out in
every gear when changing down, but the gearbox will refuse to change down if you
do not.
When it refuses to change down and your stuck at a
standstill,
the only ways to fix it are to let the
clutch out briefly (pull it back in before the engine stalls) or wait for things
to cool down,
you will hear a click when it's fixed
Petrol
This section was last updated in Feb 2012 (petrol is constantly changing and
ethanol increasing so it may be out of date after a while).
Also see Ethanol in Petrol Warning
In the UK I very highly recommend you never use supermarket petrol in any
engine including motorcycles and cars.
The only branded petrol that I would dare to put in any of my petrol engines are
Shell, BP, Esso, Texaco, Total.
I am not alone in making the above statements,
many car and motorcycle mechanics and shops have been going on for years about
never use supermarket petrol.
Supermarket fuel has been causing so much trouble over the last few years,
some shops have been telling their customers when they pick up their new car /
motorcycle,
that if they put supermarket petrol in it their warrantee will be invalid.
Supermarket fuel may often be cheaper, but you may well find your fuel
economy reduces making it more expensive than branded petrol.
Your throttle may also become sluggish.
But the most worrying problems may include the purity of the petrol
(contamination), stale petrol (gone off) and not enough cleaners.
If the cleaners are not strong enough, burning deposits will build up reducing
the performance of the engine and may well increase engine wear.
If it was an emergency and I had no choice but to use supermarket fuel.
I would only use Tesco and only if they sell 2 types of petrol, the most
expensive one is the only thing I would dare to use.
All but the smallest petrol stations that sell Shell, BP, Esso, Texaco or
Total have two types of petrol.
The cheapest petrol is the standard unleaded.
The expensive petrol is their quality unleaded,
it is not only higher octane but often has more / better cleaners and
performance enhancing things in it (maybe even better fuel economy).
The expensive petrol should really be called super unleaded, but every
company has come up with their own name for it.
Super unleaded often has less or no Ethanol in it compared with standard
unleaded.
Super unleaded of different brands will perform differently and will depend on
your engine,
so the only way to find what's best is to try them all in your engine.
Please note petrol does go off with age,
super unleaded does not sell in large
quantity's so a remote / small petrol station may have old stock.
Many BMW, Mercedes, Subaru cars can only run on super unleaded, they are often
found at branded petrol stations on busy roads.
So the places they go to will often have fresher stock.
From time to time any petrol station of any brand or supermarket can have a
faulty batch of petrol or a contaminated tank.
If your engine suddenly shows symptoms of bad fuel, try to avoid that petrol
station for a while.
Below are the results I had experimenting with petrol in my engine a few
years ago.
Please note petrol has and still is changing a lot due to the UK government
forcing more ethanol in to petrol.
The amount of ethanol in petrol often depends on the brand and where the petrol
station is in the UK.
Super unleaded is much better than normal unleaded in at least the Front
Disc Brake Honda CG125 engine.
The effects of super unleaded and the different makes will
depend on the engine design,
the following results are from the Front Disc brake model Honda CG125,
another make or model of bike / car engine (or even the Front Drum Brake model
Honda CG125),
might have less
improvement or no noticeable improvement or improve even more.
I started off with Sainsburys super unleaded which is only 2p a litre more than unleaded,
the bike increased in power, torque (pulling power) and the
engine ran smoother.
The improvement was largest in the lower and mid rev range of the
engine.
I then tried Shell Super (it's called V Power, the
old version was called Optimax) that costs 7p a litre more than normal unleaded.
The Shell Super improved my petrol consumption by more than
7p a litre,
the bike increased in power, torque (pulling power) and the
engine ran smoother.
The improvement was largest in the lower and mid rev range of the
engine.
That was all compared to the Sainsburys super unleaded.
I would say the jump from normal unleaded to Sainsburys
super was small compared to the jump to Shell super.
The Shell super also kept improving all of the above the
more I used it, it took a tank or two before it slowed the improving down to a
crawl.
It does claim to have extra cleaning powers to clean out
your engine and improve all of the above.
It also significantly reduced the amount of time the choke
is on for.
You can mix any super unleaded brand with another brand of super unleaded
or normal unleaded,
but expect the improvement to only be 50% if you only have
50% super with 50% normal unleaded.
Which brand of super unleaded petrol is best for your engine I can not say.
The best way is for you to test them yourself. You may or
may not find a large difference between them.
Watch out for fuel consumption, cleaning and performance
differences.
I went back to Sainsburys super (put nearly a whole tank of
it in), immediately the bike lost most of the Shell V Power differences.
But as I used more and more of the Sainsburys super in the
tank, the bike got slower and slower (no Shell V Power to keep it clean).
When I was down to half a tank, I filled up with Shell V
Power and got half the benefits back.
This proves the engine was being cleaned by Shell V Power
and Sainsburys Super was making the engine dirtier, like normal unleaded.
Also see Ethanol in Petrol
Warning
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