New owner - couple maintenance questions

Biometrix

Hey guys. New member, new owner and I pick up my Bird in two weeks (bought her on Wednesday). I have a shop manual on order and have searched this board but because I am impatient I was hoping you could answer a few questions.

New tires will be in order over the Winter. Can I remove both wheels with the bike on the center stand? I found in my searching that you can't really use a traditional bike jack to lift the Bird so what is the preferred method for getting her up high enough to get both wheels off?

Also, while I have the wheels off, what other maintenance "stuff" should I be looking to do?

I do all the wrenching on my 2 cruisers but they can both go up on the lift. Plus haven't owned a chain drive bike for a loooong time.

Bike is an '01 with 7500 miles. All work until now has been done at a dealer.

Thanks for your help.

PJNXX

With the bike on the centerstand, it is easy to remove the rear wheel. To remove the front wheel, however it's best to get a front stand to lift the front of the bike high enough. Do a search on this site on "front stands" and you'll be sure to get a lot of info as to the different types of front stands there are.

With the wheels off you can rotate the wheel bearings with your finger to check for any "notchiness", but at only 7,500 miles they are sure to be fine.

Sprockets and chain should also be fine at that mileage, too.

The bird is as reliable as they come, so just RIDE IT.

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-Paul

mikedevine

The bird is as reliable as they come, so just RIDE IT. [/quote]

Well said!

X1rider

I use a Lockhart Philips front stand. I had to always remove the horn mounting bracket before I fabricated a mount for the horn to get it out of the way when I wanted to change a tire.

New Pilot Road 2s waiting to be scuffed in tomorrow............

Nutter67

It has already been mentioned to check wheel bearings. Chain and sprockets should be alright, but it wont hurt to check them anyway - you never know.

The only other things you might want to change is your fluids. Oil (& filter), coolant, brake and clutch.

If you get into the maintenance groove, you could also check steering head bearings and make sure asteering head is torqued up correctly.

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Paul

Never let a motorcycle take you somewhere your brain didn't get to three seconds earlier

FiXXation

To swap out tires, I put the center stand up on a piece of 3/4" plywood to give a little extra clearance. I remove the rear wheel first, swap the tires, and put it back on.

Then I put a hydraulic jack under the factory header pipe (per the manual), and jack the front up so that the rear tire just barely touches the floor for a little extra stability. I then remove the fender and right caliper to proceed with removal of the front wheel.

Doing one at a time works for me because I do my own tire changing.

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No bugs were harmed in the making of my motorcycle ride memories; they only got the snot knocked out of them.