You'll get mixed responses about this one. My theory is that if you can ride them through tank deep water, washing it won't stuff anything up. I always pressure wash mine, I just try to avoid putting pressure on the bearings (wheel, linkage etc). Don't get too close to your stickers- you'll lose them. I wash mine with the engine off, otherwise it gets hot sitting at idle...but I always run it afterwards. Or you could use one of those butt plug things in the exhaust. Once it's all clean, I give my whole bike a spray of WD40/CRC/whatever is around.... it makes the next wash easier, and helps prevent surface rust (especially if you've been anywhere near salt.)
Here's a tip to avoid getting water in the exhaust, instead of buying a dedicated bung, you can use a used latex / rubber glove from your garage. Nothing wasted, and you'll get two washes from a pair, plus they fit over most exhaust tips, from DRZ to GS, and being inherently stretchy they will stay in place until you remove them..
The mud usually comes off easier if you wash it as soon as you get home. The sooner the better. I always use a tire brush and just a garden hose after each ride and it comes right off. I never need to use my pressure washer on the bike. If you let the mud dry overnight it is considerably harder to clean off. If you keep it clean all the time it isn't such a big job either. My bike has been muddy enough that it more than half filled a 5 gallon bucket when I cleaned up the driveway after washing it but you would never know it by looking at it.
Just be ready to grease and check, the engine mounting bolts, swing arm bolt, bearings on a regular basis, but you do that anyway right? Id avoid any direct pressure, just pressure wash from 6 or more feet away. Personally ive only needed to pressure was out dried caked on mud and still a constant stream from 6 feet away worked fine. On another note, being as the.bike is new to you, you have pulled the swing arm rod and greased the crap out of it right...right...
Thanks for the tips guys, the mud is dried up, on top of other dried up mud, on top of ... you get the point its so thick i gotta stab it with a flat head screwdriver to get it to knock off, lol As far as greasing, guilty as charged, havent done a thing. :huh
Nope. At altitude, 3500 ft, before jetting it took a bit of cranking. Now at 36F sea level and altitude it fires up quite easily. Which carb, jetting, needle position and pilot are you using? Altitude?
Glad you like it, not my idea, lots of guys do it over on thumpertalk, as can be seen here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=de6i_02PnDg Cheerio.
pressure washer - twenty feet away is OK brush n hose if you have to put your beer down, you're washing too much remember, its a dirt bike, not a piece of ass
Im a pressure washing guy. Some say don't but if your into your annual maintenance I don't think there is a problem. The chassis lube is important though. Check your wheel bearings, swing arm, shock connections, steerer tube and fork seals annually and hose away.
So right after I bought my bike I started going through it and figuring out what needed to be done, fixed, or upgraded. I quickly realized that the PO had neglected to tell me a fork seal was leaking and that that fork had a gouge in it which he tried to buff out. Of course the leaking seal also took out the brake pads. So off I went to find a new set of forks, I quickly found a set on eBay for a decent price...done. So I bought some new oil/dust seals and some new springs and commenced to taking it apart. Little did I know that taking it apart and riding my 200 2 stroke would change my life for a while. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=830324 So since I was out of commission and needed to get the bike back together and out of the garage I elected to send the forks off to Cogent Dynamics with my parts for a full upgrade to include revalving. I got the forks back several weeks later and noticed that the fork boots were quite torn up and needed replacing. After searching several places I found I would be out about $80.00, not that $80.00 is a lot but I find the boots kind of ugly. Having a lot of time on my hands now I found a link over on Thumper Talk http://www.thumpertalk.com/topic/751949-ktm-blade-style-fork-guards-drz400-s-or-e-model/ which talked about using hard plastic covers or blades which are similar to the same things used on USD forks. I figured what the Hell I will give those a try. So I began sourcing parts only to find out that a key component, plastic fork clamp, was no longer available but only after buying all the other pieces. I called several KTM parts guys and everyone had the same story....out of stock and will not be replenished. So I went to the secondary market, used, and found a set...again on eBay. I got the parts in and the one part I really needed which was the clamp was damaged. :eek1 I made it work and just finished getting them installed yesterday. I still can't ride but at least the bike is back operational again. Here are a few pictures of my install. Shows the blade guide and clamp (clamp is discontinued) Just showing how the brake line feeds up behind the blade through a hole so that it can move freely during compression and rebound. Because the clamp is slightly too big for the fork I added a few turns of electrical tape to give the clamp something to bite on. This shows how the brake line gets pinched between the two clamps to keep it in place and the last picture just shows my dash configuration with GPS mount, SPOT mount, and fold away mirrors, I would like to upgrade the complete dash area with some type of rally setup someday so I can get all the crap off the bars....maybe some day! I just want to thank my good buddy Dave, EOD3MC, who helped me get the bike back together and test the new suspension. Thanks Dave!!! The good news is because he helped me, the DRZ bug bit him and he now is the proud owner of a DRZ as well. Merry Christmas!
Spannering Any form of mechanical work on a vehicle, be it a bicycle, motorcycle, car or even a lawnmower. "What did you do at the weekend?" "I spent all weekend in the garage spannering, got the car running again by Sunday" Had to look that one up.
Them strange folk that we rebelled against a few hundred years ago still don't know what a wrench should be called.
The Good News?? That's twice you've gotten me to get another bike after riding one of yours.... I'm running out of garage space....
