Let's Ride Read online

  When the chain tension has been set to the proper level, roll the rear wheel to turn the chain and check it at various spots. If the tension varies from location to location, the chain may have tight spots, indicating that it is on its last legs.

  The condition of the sprockets will also tell you how long you can expect the chain to last. Since the wheel only turns one direction under power (no chain-driven motorcycles have reverse gears), the teeth of the sprockets only wear on one side. Because of this, they develop a distinct cupping appearance as they wear out—one side of each tooth appears worn and the other appears almost new.

  Sprockets usually wear out at almost identical rates as chains, requiring the chain and both sprockets to be replaced at the same time. Since wear is much easier to see on the sprockets than on the chain itself, you can expect that the chain will have about as much life left in it as do the sprockets. If the owner claims to have replaced the chain but not the sprockets, ignore anything the person says after that because he or she is either a liar or a fool.

  If the bike lacks a center stand, the process of checking the suspension and chassis gets a lot trickier. Here’s where taking the bike to a mechanic can be worthwhile, because any worthy mechanic will have a lift he or she can use to hoist the bike up for these types of examinations. Barring access to a secure lift, your next best bet is to use a good stand, like those built by the company Pit Bull. Quality stands will support either wheel (if you have two, you can support both ends at once), but unlike a lift designed specifically for motorcycles, which connect to a bike at the center of the frame, stands lift a bike at its wheels. This loads the suspension with the weight of the motorcycle, making it much more difficult to check for problems with the swingarm bushings or steering head bearing.

  Brakes

  The brakes on any motorcycle you’ll consider buying are perhaps the single most important items when it comes to saving your bacon out on the highway. There are two kinds of brakes: disc brakes and drum brakes. Disc brakes slow your motorcycle by squeezing pistons inside calipers, which are attached to your frame or fork so that they don’t rotate with the wheel. These pistons push pads against a disc that’s connected to the wheel so that it rotates with the wheel. The pressure of the pistons slows and gradually stops the wheel’s rotation.

  Drum brakes work by expanding the brake shoes—stationary, horseshoe-shaped devices—against the inner surface of a rotating wheel hub. As mentioned earlier, you’ll only run across drum brakes on extremely low-end motorcycles, usually the smallest cruisers from the Japanese manufacturers, which often still feature drum brakes in the back. The majority of quality motorcycles you’ll be considering will have discs at either end.

  Finding a bike you like with a drum rear brake shouldn’t cause you to exclude that bike automatically. Disc brakes are unquestionably better, but drum brakes can be at least adequate, provided a motorcycle isn’t too heavy. Make certain they work smoothly and stop the bike without shuddering.

  If there is a problem with the rear drum brake, this means the shoes are worn. Often these can be adjusted. There will be a lever coming out of the wheel hub that activates the shoes inside. Where the lever connects to the brake cable leading to the brake pedal on the right side of the engine, there should be an adjustable rod connecting the cable to the lever. This rod will have a spring on it to keep tension between the rod and the lever. You’ll find an adjustable nut at the end of the rod. If the nut is at the beginning of its travel and there is a lot of room to tighten it down before it reaches the end of its travel, chances are the brake shoes still have some usable life in them. If the nut has been adjusted down toward the end of its travel, most likely the brake shoes will need to be replaced soon.

  Replacing the brake shoes is a relatively inexpensive process, and one you can easily do yourself, even if you’re not mechanically inclined. The hardest part of replacing the shoes is getting the wheel off the bike. If you can do that, the brake cover should just pop off. Yet even simple tasks require your full attention to detail. Always remember that the life you are putting on the line will be your own. As you start taking the wheel apart, take careful notes, outlining where everything goes, so you can put it all back together correctly when you are finished. Leave off one cotter key or leave one bolt loose, and you might find that your wheel falls off when you stab at the brake pedal. If you have any doubts whatsoever about your ability to fix your own brakes, leave the job to a professional.

  If you find a bike with a drum brake in front, it will either be too old or too small for you to seriously consider buying. Any bike worth purchasing will have at least one disc brake up front, and likely two. The process for checking disc brakes is quite a bit different than it is for drum brakes.

  The first thing you need to check is the condition of the fluid. This will be in a reservoir on the handlebar, right up by the front brake lever. Some BMWs from the 1970s placed the reservoir under the tank, and custom bike builders often place reservoirs in the oddest places you can imagine. But if you’re following my advice, you’re not going to be looking at antiques or hand-built customs, so any bike you should be looking at will have the front brake reservoir on the right handlebar.

  Check both the clarity and level of the brake fluid. The fluid should be relatively clear and set to the correct level. Generally speaking, brake fluid levels don’t vary all that much on a properly functioning brake system. In hundreds of thousands of miles of riding, I’ve rarely had to add fluid to modern disc brakes. A low fluid level usually means there is some sort of leak in the system or that it hasn’t been properly maintained and is seriously overdue for a fluid change. Either case is bad news and ought to ring alarm bells.

  Likewise fluid that is cloudy or dirty-looking is a sign that something isn’t right. This indicates that the bike’s owner has neglected to perform routine maintenance or that the brake system is contaminated. If the fluid level is low or if the fluid itself looks murky, chances are an expensive brake repair is in the bike’s near future—or worse yet, the system is on the verge of experiencing a catastrophic failure that could end with you being crippled or killed.

  After checking the fluid in the front brake master cylinder, move on to the brake hoses. Make certain the visible hoses aren’t cracked, kinked, or obviously leaking. If they appear to be in rough condition, it’s another sign the bike has been seriously neglected.

  But even hoses that look good on the outside might be worn out, especially if the bike is more than five or six years old. You’ll only be able to determine this with a test ride. If the front brake lever feels mushy; if there is a slight pause between pulling the brake lever and when the brake pads start to bite into the disc; or if the brake lever seems to move too close to the handlebar, you’ve got a bike with problematic brakes. It may be something extremely simple, like air in the brake lines. This can be cured by bleeding the brakes. (If you don’t know how to do this already, you should probably leave it to a mechanic. If the bike has ABS, then you’ll definitely want to leave bleeding to a trained mechanic, even if you know how to bleed brakes yourself, because ABS systems are incredibly complicated.) On the other hand, a mushy brake lever could also indicate the need for new brake lines.

  Needing new brake lines is not a major issue and shouldn’t dissuade you from buying a bike. In fact, if the bike is more than five or six years old, expect to replace them sooner or later, even if they aren’t causing obvious problems when you buy the bike. It’s a relatively simple procedure, but like everything else related to motorcycle maintenance, it is expensive. Get an estimate and, as always, include the replacement cost in your offer.

  (A side note on brakes: if you need to replace the brake lines, you should spend a few extra dollars and replace them with braided-steel lines, which will last much longer and are also much better-looking.)

  Next you’ll need to check the brake pads. Most brake calipers will have some sort of cap on top of them. You should be able to pop this cap off
and visually inspect the pads. This consists of simply looking at the pads to see how far down the material that grabs the brake discs has worn. Generally, new pads have at least a quarter inch of material on them. Most have a groove in the middle of the pads that runs almost all the way through the material. You can use that groove as a gauge to determine how far the pads have worn down.

  Worn brake pads really aren’t an issue when buying a used bike because pads are relatively easy and cheap to replace. The most expensive pads on the market seldom cost more than $50, and if you change the pads yourself, you’ll save hundreds of dollars over the cost of having the pads replaced in a shop. The first step is usually to remove the calipers by unfastening the two bolts that hold them to the caliper carriers. (On some bikes you don’t even have to do this—you can replace the pads with the calipers in place.) Then you pop the inspection cover off, remove a couple of pins, and remove the pads. Putting in the new pads is just a little more difficult, because you’ll have to press the pistons back into the calipers to make room for the new pads, which will be much thicker than the old ones due to their additional pad material. This might require using a little force.

  Be aware that the pistons are easily damaged. If you try to pry them apart with a metal tool, you’ll likely damage the metal on the pistons, creating sharp edges that can tear seals and cause costly leaks. You’ll need something soft, like a wood stick, to safely pry apart the pistons. After that, you should be able to drop the calipers in, replace the pins (along with the clips or keys that secure the pins in place), and you’re done. Again, if you’re going to replace the brake pads yourself, as with any repair, make certain you take careful notes and put everything back together properly. No helmet, riding jacket, boots, gloves, or any other protective gear will save you if your brake calipers fall off. Because of this, if you have any doubts at all about your ability to change the brake pads, leave the job to a professional.

  The last part of the brake system you’ll examine will be the rotors. These will also be the easiest parts to examine, since they are usually right out in the open where you can see them. Look at them from the front or from the top, whichever gives you the best view, and make sure they’re straight and not warped. Have the owner or a friend roll the bike while you look at the brakes because any warping will be more obvious while the wheel is turning.

  When the bike is stationary, run your hands across the braking surfaces. The faces of the discs should feel smooth. If the bike has any miles at all on it, you’ll most likely feel some ridges, but these shouldn’t be numerous or deep. Damaged discs could be another sign of a crash; at the very least they’re evidence of improper maintenance.

  Checking the Oil

  You would think that anyone selling a bike would have the sense to make certain the engine had oil, but I didn’t live this long by overestimating the average person’s capacity for common sense. Most people will have the oil filled to the proper level, but you don’t want to have an engine seize up and cause you to crash because you happened across the one idiot who didn’t.

  Most modern motorcycles use wet-sump oil systems. These are similar to automotive systems in that the oil is held in a reservoir at the bottom of the crankcase and is checked via a dipstick.

  However, unlike automotive dipsticks, which are usually held in place by rubber plugs and their own weight, motorcycle dipsticks are usually made of lightweight plastic and screwed in place. This can lead to confusion when checking the oil, since some manufacturers require you to screw the dipstick all the way down to check the level while others require you to unscrew it and simply let it rest in the filler hole to get the proper level. The difference between these two methods is significant and can lead to underfilling, or worse yet, overfilling the oil reservoir by as much as one quart. The only way to find out for certain which method you need to use is to check the owner’s manual (any conscientious owner will have an owner’s manual to go with a bike—if he or she doesn’t, you should probably find another bike).

  If a bike has a center stand, place the bike on the stand to check the oil level. On bikes that lack center stands, you’ll have to consult the owner’s manual to find out whether you should check the oil with the bike on its side stand or if you need to have someone hold the bike upright while you check the oil. You’d think that manufacturers who neglected to fit bikes with center stands would design their dipsticks to work with the bike on its side stand, but you’d be wrong most of the time. More often than not you’ll have to figure out a way to hold the bike upright to check oil, which is a major pain in the ass and very unsafe if you don’t have a stand or have someone to help you.

  While you’re checking the oil level, check the condition of the oil. It should be relatively clear and brown. The blacker and dirtier it is, the longer it’s been since the oil was changed. In addition to being sludgy and dirty, old oil doesn’t provide adequate lubrication. The job of the oil is to coat the moving metal parts with a thin film so that the metal moves on the oil film rather than having metal rub against metal.

  Oil is classified in two categories: organic and synthetic. Organic oil is the black stuff that is pumped out of the ground. Synthetic oil is man-made and is better in just about every respect than organic oil. Organic oil starts to break down after a thousand or so miles of use; synthetic oil doesn’t start to break down until two thousand miles of use. When the molecules in oil start to break down, oil loses its ability to evenly coat the metal with a layer of film, leading to metal-on-metal contact, which is what makes an engine wear out.

  Because of this, you’ll want to change oil at least every two thousand to three thousand miles if you use organic oil. I use organic oil and change it every twenty-five hundred miles. If you run synthetic oil, you can go three thousand to four thousand miles between oil changes. Many manufacturers specify oil changes at six thousand to eight thousand miles, but this is just marketing hype. My coauthor, Darwin Holmstrom, once asked Erik Buell, former president of the late Buell Motorcycle Company, about this. Buell is a straight shooter and answered honestly. “Of course anyone who knows anything about engines won’t go any longer than four thousand miles without changing oil on any bike,” he said, “but the other manufacturers still recommend longer intervals for marketing reasons. We have to play their game.”

  If the oil is black and dirty-looking, then it’s gone longer than three thousand to four thousand miles between oil changes. This means that the engine has experienced abnormal wear. Modern engines are tough and will take a certain amount of abuse, so if everything checks out on the bike (and it doesn’t have very many miles on the clock), then you still might consider buying one with dirty oil, but I’d probably find another bike. Changing oil is the most basic routine maintenance you can perform on a bike. If an owner has neglected this, he or she has probably neglected everything else, too.

  When you examine the oil, smell it. A burnt smell indicates serious engine problems and should cause you to move on to another bike. Also look for specs of crud in the oil. These could be metal shavings and indicate a serious problem. If the bike is barely broken in, you might find a few small metal shavings in the oil, an indication that it left the factory with tolerances that might have been on the tight side, but if the bike is well broken in, metal shavings in the oil are bad news.

  In liquid-cooled bikes, also watch for any creamy froth on top of the oil. This indicates a leaking head gasket that allows antifreeze into the oil, which means the bike will need extensive repairs before it’s safe and reliable to ride. If you see evidence of this on the dipstick, thank the owner for taking the time to show you the bike and move on to the next bike.

  THE ROAD TEST

  AT THIS POINT YOU’LL have learned about as much as you can from examining a stationary bike. If a used motorcycle meets your standards up until here, you’ll have to take it for a road test to determine whether the engine and transmission are up to snuff. I know you’ll likely want to get straight to the roa
d test, which is by far the most fun part of the entire process, but there’s a reason you save this for last—you need to check out everything else to make certain the bike is safe to ride before you risk your life by taking it out on the road.

  Although the road test may be exciting for the buyer, it’s the least enjoyable for the seller. A dealership might not let you ride a bike at all, though they are more likely to let you ride a used bike than a new one. The dealer may tell you that you won’t be able to ride the bike because of insurance reasons, but if you can convince the dealer you’re seriously considering buying the bike, you should be able to talk the salesperson into a test ride. It helps if you look like a potentially serious buyer. This is one time it pays to dress conservatively; if you have tribal tattoos on your forehead and are wearing a T-shirt that says “Fuck Death!” your odds of getting a test ride diminish considerably.

  Even a private seller may be reluctant to let you ride his or her motorcycle. You can hardly blame the owner; the person is trying to get money by selling his or her bike. To get the most money for the bike, the person likely has worked hard to make it as presentable as possible. Should some dimwit take the bike on a test ride and drop it, the owner loses.

  The seller can’t count on the potential buyer to do the right thing if a mishap occurs on a test drive; that is, financially compensate the seller for any potential damage to the bike. If that happens, the seller may have to show the bike to an insurance company, which will probably require the seller to pay some sort of deductible, and then the company may jack up his or her rates. So, although you really should ride any bike you are considering buying, don’t be surprised if the seller requires some sort of written agreement or security deposit before he or she lets you take out the bike. It might be a bit of an overreaction, but it is understandable.