Cheap Motorcycle Maintenance

When it comes to maintenance, motorcycles are just like any other vehicle that you own. They’ll need tuning up, washing, and the occasional self-inspection to keep them going in tiptop shape. The good news is that there are quite a few tweaks and maintenance repairs that you can do by yourself that won’t break the bank and they’ll be a lot less expensive than if you were to go to a shop to have them done.

If you notice that your bike has gotten slightly dirty, it’ll be a lot cheaper to wash it yourself and you can put the money you’ve saved back into your family for other reasons. All you really need are some cleansers, a sponge made for auto cleaning, and wax to get the job done effectively. Just keep in mind that motorcycle paint is just like that of a car and you shouldn’t use any type of detergent on it as that will likely dull or strip it.

The cheapest maintenance that you can do your motorcycle is actually free. Some people don’t realize that many motorcycles come with their suspensions aligned for someone who only weighs a little over one hundred pounds, meaning if you weight more than that, you’ll need to adjust it or you’ll risk hurting the tires and the suspension system. All this requires is that you measure the suspension on its own and then measure it again with you sitting on it as this will give you a measurement difference that you can then compare to your owner’s manual. The manual will be able to tell you how much of a difference there should be and you can adjust it from there.  If you’re looking for more comfort, try getting to about 30mm.

Brakes are one of the most inexpensive things you can do to any vehicle including bikes. To have your brakes done in a shop, you’ll end up paying a few hundred dollars, which can be quite a hit for a good number of us. Buying brakes on your own will yield much cheaper results and you won’t need to pay someone the hourly rate for labor since you’re doing it on your own.  You can look through your owner’s manual to see what kind of brakes you need or you can just search most auto store websites with the make, model, and year of your bike.  A set of brake pads will only run you about fifty dollars, which is a huge savings.

It’s no secret that having to get your bike professionally re-framed will be a huge hit to your family’s finances because it will generally be quite expensive, even for bikes.  Although there is no good way to get around the price of a new frame, you can definitely try to prevent ever needing one. Buy buying a cheap pair of frame sliders for about sixty dollars, you’ll have something to break your bike’s fall should you ever tip it over or it gets hit with anything. It’s not fool proof, but it could be just the buffer you need from unscathed to losing a few hundred dollars at the auto body shop.

Maintenance is something people typically avoid because of the high costs involved, but there are quite a few maintenance tweaks that can you can do for much less. With a little patience and perhaps some research as you find the correct parts, you’ll end up saving quite a lot of cash.