The Twelve Days of Dirt bike Christmas: Tiny jobs to fill the holiday
We all know that Christmas is a time for family, but there’s no need to forget your bike! When you are faced with a week of lolling around stuffing your face with chocolate coins and mince pies and being nice to distant relatives, it’s good to have a plan to keep you sane and give some Christmas love to your scoot. So with that in mind, here’s The Twelve Days of Dirtbike Christmas: Tiny jobs to fill the holiday.
These are those things you really know you should have done ages ago, but never seem to get round to. Some will cost a bit of money and might need a bit of planning, some will just take a bit of time but give you that warm and fuzzy feeling of a job well done. All of them will give you a reason to escape to the garage for an hour or so, but not long enough to be missed.
And best of all – do one of them a day and by Twelfth night your bike will be feeling as refreshed as you and ready for that New Year’s Day ride out – perfect!
On the First Day of Christmas: Change the plug
So we’re starting small here, so you’ll only be out in the garage for ten minutes tops – hardly worth removing the Christmas hat from the cracker.
If your bike has done the whole year on the same plug, it won’t harm to slap in a new one between Christmas lunch and that cold buffet selection for tea.
Oh – you might need to allocate more time if you have one of those frustrating four-strokes that requires half the bike to be dismantled to access the plug. Soz.
ON THE SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS:CLEAN THE BRAKE PINS
Dirt bike brakes take a hammering every time you ride out, but aside from a blast with the jetwash, rarely get any love. But if the pins are corroded and rough, then your braking is hardly going to be at it’s best.
So for our Boxing Day task, whip those pins out, clean them up with some fine emery paper, coat them in some Coppaslip and whack them back in. Job done – time for an Egg Nog?
On THE THIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS: SORT THE CLUTCH
So your clutch has been dodgy for the last seven trail rides, but every time you just manage and put the bike back in the garage every time. It’s time to sort it out!
If you’ve got a hydraulic clutch, it’s time to spend ten minutes bleeding the clutch through with fresh new fluid – that’s the stuff the same colour as white wine rather than coffee ..
For you Japanese bike owners – don’t start oiling that knackered cable – pony up and fit a new one quicksharp. Now that feels better – Chocolate Orange anyone ?
ON THE FORTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS: CLEAN THE FUEL FILTER
This one requires some proper effort, but if our bike is more than a few years old and especially if you refuel with Jerry cans, it needs doing.
Drain the tank – preferably not into the same Jerry can that put the crap in there in the first place – flip the tank and whip off the tap. If there’s lots of rubbish there, it might be worth dismantling the tap completely, cleaning it all up and putting it back together.
If you’ve got EFI, just change that tiny inline filter! Do not however combine either of these tasks with your annual Christmas cigar …
On THE FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS: LOVE THE SPINDLES
A nice quick one today. Your spindles or axles rarely get to see the light of day except when changing tyres or wheels, and commonly they are just whipped in and out without a second look.
So why not give them some attention for a change? Put the bike on a stand, loosen off the nuts and remove the spindle.Clean it thoroughly with a suitable solvent or cleaner, dress up the surface with wire wool and then lightly grease the surface with a good quality waterproof grease. Check the bearings and dust seals while they are visible, then replace the spindle and enjoy the warm glow of satisfaction. Time for an After Eight mint I think …
ON THE SIXTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS: CHANGE THE OIL
Not a tricky one this, nor is the logic of swapping out that black muck for a litre of OPEC’s finest. Before you drop the oil, check in the manual whether it should be done hot or cold – do not ask on Facebook …
So undo the filler cap, loosen the drain plug with a suitable container underneath and let it drian while you watch ‘The Grinch”. Come back after, clean any swarf off the drain plug magnet before refitting and refilling with sparkly new oil. Fire it up, run till warm, kill the motor, check the level and top off if needed. Bosh!
UP FOR AN EPIC TRAIL RIDING HOLIDAY?
ON THE SEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAs:
FIT NEW GRIPS
Now this defo needs some planning, because if you haven’t got ant new grips to fit, then this project hits the buffers quicker than Hans Gruber in Die Hard. Fitting new grips is quick and easy, and now that you don’t have to use highly toxic and addictive glues, then it won’t leave you with a stinking headache and smelling like a teenage drop-out.
Fitting should take mere seconds. Slice of the old ones with a craft knife and clear any old glue of the bar and throttle tube. Put a small hole in the end of the grip to let the displaced air out, smear instant grip glue on the bar or throttle tube and slide on swiftly ensuring the position is correct. Lockwire the grips at both ends if trail riding and add an additional loop if racing, using the correct tool if you have it. Mixed nuts?
ON THE EIGHTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS: invest in A NEW BATTERY
Does your bike’s electric starter wheeze like an elderly asthmatic every time the bike’s been stood for a while? If so, it might be worth thinking about slipping in a new unit and enjoy foot free starting for another year. If you are feeling really flush from the Christmas money from your Mum, then invest in a trickle charger to keep it topped up. Then you can enjoy ‘The Wizard of Oz’ safe in the knowledge that ‘there’s no place like Ohm”…
ON THE NINTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS: TUNE YOUR SPOKES
We’ve spend a bit of cash in the last couple of days so let’s go with a cheap and cheerful option.Your spokes should all be the same tightness and to assess this you can simply just tap them with your spoke spanner.
If they all sound the same note, then all good. If they sound like Christmas bells with twenty different notes, then things are totally out of whack and you need it properly balanced by a professional. Hopefully it’s just a few out that can be nipped up to sound the same in just a few minutes. Perfect.
ON THE TENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS: CLEAN YOUR CHAIN
Just like your brake pins, the chain on your dirtbike puts up with lots of abuse with very little care than a hasty jetwash and a squirt of lube every now and again. This really doesn’t give it the best chance at longevity …
So for Day 10 in this Yuletide marathon, we’re suggesting getting some proper chain cleaner, like SDOC 100 to properly remove all that accumulated clag and old lube. Once done and it’s sparkly clean, you can dry it off and lube it up once more. Another sherry?
ON THE ELEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS: STRIP THE THROTTLE
When was the last time you took apart your throttle assembly? In the last year? In the last five years? Ever?
So it’s not going to be much of a jogb to take it all apart, clean it up, cover everything with WD40 and put it all back together. OK so it’s not going to look like new, but at least it might snap back into place once more …
ON THE TWELFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS: SHARPEN THE PEGS
Do you find yourself regularly slipping off you footpegs? If so it’s probably because there as blunt as a blunt stick. Now you might not wamt to go for Supercross level sharp as it will wreck your boots, but you might want to spend half an hour with a ‘flat bastard‘ file – that is the correct engineering term – to bring the edge back. Deeply satisfying.
OK folks – our work here is done. We’ve hopefully staved of a bit of boredom, used up some of that Christmas cash and your bike is now substantially better.
Think of this as our Christmas present to all of you!
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