Easy! Easy maintenance before a long tour

The long rainy season is over and summer is finally here!

I'm sure many of you are refraining from going out because of the new corona, but the desire to go touring that has been building up must be on the verge of exploding.
There! In preparation for the long touring that is to come, the first step is to prepare for theEasy maintenance you can do yourselfWhy don't we do a

When it comes to bike touring, you can go to ......

We tend to focus on flashy items such as nets to secure your stuff to the seat, tank bags, intercoms, and Drorekos for day trips solo, and tents, shrugs, and gas stoves for full-blown camp touring.
Shh!
in the first placeBike touring is a fun way to get to your destination.You should not forget that
If you just want to arrive at your destination in an easy way, a car is fine, or if you want to get around domestically, there are bicycles.
But we are motorcycles!Ba-ik!

And a motorcycle is a vehicle that requires serious maintenance in order to enjoy the ultimate in fun.
So, do your own easy and effective maintenance while you're at it.
(If you want more serious maintenance and don't want to get your hands dirty, go to a bike shop!

Maintenance tips before long touring

Just because it's a long touring trip doesn't mean you have to do anything special.
There's no need to suddenly do super serious maintenance.of.
Because now it's moving and riding normally.

However, the bike you usually ride has parts that are damaged without you realizing it, so if you do some light maintenance on the parts that have been bothering you for a while, you'll be able to get a better idea of what you're looking for.It makes touring, which is just plain fun, even more fun!Guaranteed!
In this article, I'm going to focus on the parts that you can easily do by yourself, and also the parts that work for you to run comfortably.
It's really easy.

The articles start with simple maintenance and go in order, so please try to do as much as you can.

Easy Maintenance #1: Check Tire Pressure

It doesn't matter if it's a long ride or not, tire pressure is always the key to a good ride.
You'll want to check the air pressure at least once a month as it will naturally decrease, but you should check the air pressure once again before a long tour.

Air pressure should not be too high or too low.
If you don't have the correct air pressure, you won't get the original handling the manufacturer was aiming for, and you will always get negative handling.
If we don't get it right here, touring in comfort, peace of mind, and fun is a dream come true!

Symptoms of being too high or too low vary from vehicle to vehicle, so it's hard to say.There is absolutely no such thing as a better pressure other than the specified pressure.
This is especially true if you are on a long touring trip where you will encounter a variety of situations.

So what is the correct air pressure?

There is no reason to be confused if the vehicle was purchased new and the tires are new tires.
Just set the air pressure to the manufacturer's specifications.
I assure you, there are no exceptions.

The problem is when you change the tires and replace them with a brand of tire that is not stock.
In this case, the air pressure specified by the vehicle manufacturer and the tire manufacturer's recommended air pressure are often different.
Which one should I adapt to?

This isIt is correct to adjust to the tire manufacturer's recommended pressure.It is.
However, since the weight of the car varies from car to car, you can adjust the air pressure up or down according to your personal preference.
There are many theories about the standard, but about 10% above and below the recommended air pressure should not be a danger to you.

By the way, the air pressure adjustment before a long touring trip.What you should never do.There is one
It's "long touring might hurt your butt, so lower the air pressure for ride comfort".
It's easy to do this, but all you get out of it is a straight-line ride.
And in exchange, you have nothing to lose but everything else!
In the extreme, it could be said that 'you're throwing away safety features to avoid an accident for the sake of riding in a straight line'.
Air pressure should not be lowered easily, ever.

Easy Maintenance #2: Greasing up the left and right levers

Next to the tires are the left and right levers.
It works for a pleasant ride, and most importantly, 'stopping' is the most important thing.
If you can't run, you can simply not go on, but the inability to stop is a direct result of the worst of it.

If you're not familiar with just the brakes, it can be dangerous to do serious maintenance on them, so the only thing we're going to show you is the grease up at the base of the lever.
With this, you don't have to worry about the super difficult task of "bleeding brake fluid".

Poor operability also means poor safety, which is a venerable problem.
So, it's a simple maintenance that can be done easily.Grease up the pivot at the base of the lever.' recommended.

It's basically just a matter of loosening the nuts and removing the bolts, so the level of difficulty is fairly low.
Simply removing the lever will not cause a sudden spurt of unearthly liquid or unseen parts to pop out, so don't worry about it.
Even if you put too much grease on it, you can rest assured that it won't cause your brakes to stop working.
Depending on the model of car, there may be small parts or small springs that are used to push the brake stop light switch, so the trick is to remove the bolts and levers slowly and not with great force.

This part of the grease up isIt works better than you can imagine.
Most of the time the lever that was removed is either out of grease and parched or blackened with shaved aluminum powder.
I'll clean it and grease it up, so you'll have dramatically more control, especially if it feels creaky when you grip the brakes!

Finally, it's best to grease up the root of the clutch lever as well as the brake lever.
Especially with the wire system, I found the clutch wire was about to break when I removed the lever! What a common story.

Easy Maintenance #3: Lubricate the clutch cable

It's also recommended to lubricate the clutch cable while greasing up the lever.
In the case of a hydraulic clutch type, there is no clutch wire, so skip it.

What is a good clutch operation while touring?
Besides the lightness of the lever and the lack of snagging, the fact that the wire doesn't break while touring is also important.
Lubricating the clutch wires works on all of these.

Spray oil with a wire injector is the most common method, but I personally recommend the classic method of 'binding a plastic bag with a rubber band and letting the oil fall freely from the top'.
Yes, it's a bit of a pain in the ass, but we're not professionals, so there's no need to rush to work on it on time, and the cost is practically $0.
And in this classic wayYou can choose which oil to inject.That's sometimes the point.

Wire injectors are usually injected with chain oil or spray grease, but I personally recommend differential oil (aka differential oil) for four wheels.
It's very hard oil, but it's not as sticky as grease, so it makes the lever operation lighter.
There is no such thing as "spray differential oil" in the world, so the only way to fill it is with a plastic bag, but it feels good to run well with a different kind of maintenance that is different from others.

By the way, fork oil injection is sometimes recommended for throttle wires, but again, the spray type doesn't exist anywhere else in the world, so you can only use the plastic bag method.
(The fork oil is shabby so the throttle movement is super light.)
The reason I didn't introduce lubrication of the throttle wire in this article is because it's a bit more challenging.

Easy Maintenance #4: Chain tension adjustment

This will be the heaviest content this time.
The chain tension is not a part of the chain that should be serviced just because it's before a long touring trip, as it's not something that can suddenly become loose or taut.
It's the same as the story above about air pressure, levers and wires.
However, if you're going to go on a long touring trip, it's better to make sure you're in good shape to ride and make sure you're well adjusted before you leave.

Basically, the chain will not be stretched during use, but if it is not straightened due to sticking links, etc., the phenomenon of "reduction of chain play", which should not happen originally, will occur.
A seized link means that the grease sealed inside the chain has leaked out for some reason.
In other words, it's a lifetime.
If the tension changes depending on the position of the chain, don't hesitate to replace it as it is 100% sticking to the chain.
Even if it still looks usable at first glance, it will certainly damage the sprocket and cause you to spend extra money.

It usually goes unnoticed and becomes a phenomenon of "more chain play".
The more you play with it, the more likely you are to get a wobbly shock when you turn the gas pedal on and off.
Owners get so used to the shock that they don't even notice it, but it's a completely different feeling compared to the smooth on-off feeling.

Now, the tensioning adjustment, if you're not confident, you might want to stop.
What you're trying to do is simple, but there's a knack to it and it can take an awful lot of time if you're unfamiliar with it.
I want to work with the rear tire floating, so having a maintenance stand makes it suddenly easier, but trying to do it with the side stand (which I can do) is quite difficult.
You will also have to check the series of tires when adjusting the tension, and sometimes you need to do the trick to check them.
It looks easy, but it's more difficult for maintenance beginners.

However, there's nothing you can't do.
When I didn't have the money to buy a rear stand.And I was doing it in the eaves of my apartment.
(I once knocked him over because of a bad stance: ......)

Just in case you need to know: how to replace a valve

At the end of the day, I'm going to deviate a bit from the maintenance discussion.
We need to know how to change a valve! That's the story.

Headlight bulbs of any type will suddenly turn off.
Technically, it cuts off after it gets darker and darker, but the sensation is nothing more than a sudden cut.

It's not something you can cut very often.There is absolutely no need to replace it before touring.
But if the valve breaks during a long touring trip, ......, if you don't know how to replace it, you're screwed.
So, just know how to replace it.
I'm sure it's not useful, but that's okay then.

The reason I'm making such a strong case for this is because I once got cut off in the middle of the night in the mountains with no streetlights.
At the time, there were no cell phones, no cell phones, no flashlights, and so on.
The only reason I was able to make the exchange with only a handful of moonlight to rely on was 'because I knew in advance'.
If you're on your own and want to take the road with less traffic, you should know thatI think so.
Seriously.