Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

In readiness for next month’s tour of the Lake District, I need to perform various maintenance tasks on my bike.

Friday 11th August 2006

It all started so well on Friday evening, when I successfully changed my engine oil. This is an operation which requires the removal of vast amounts of plastic panels. This consisted of two side fairings, several smaller panels from under the radiator & above the tank and a large pot of screws, clips & bolts of various sizes. It’s fairly easy operation for someone who has done this a hundred times before.

Once all these bits & bobs are on the lose, the main problem becomes one of where to safely store them. Most were carefully placed in the store room, but there was no space left for the left hand fairing panel, which is always the dirtiest. It has a small rear section which is directly under the drive chain. This was fairly easy to wash off before the days of the hose-pipe ban, now it’s a right royal pain.

I left all the panels off the bike so I could continue with my maintenance adventures on Saturday.

Saturday 12th August 2006

Today’s task was to replace a long since worn out cam chain tensioner lifter (Item 4 below). Basically it’s job is to maintain the tension on the cam chain, but they do tend to wear out rather quickly on the CBR600-FX. Mine has been rattling for over a year now and I can no longer stand the noise. So last Sunday I order a new one and a gasket (item 5) at the local bike shop, which collected on Friday.

At breakfast I was greeted with the arrival of rain. Fantastic, just what I needed to help me along with my maintenance.

This is how my day panned out,

1. Remove fuel tank, remembering to turn the fuel valve to the ‘off’ position.
   
2. Cover bike to stop rain getting into the electrics and make some tea while waiting for rain to stop.
   
3. The little bolt on the end of the tensioner, which covers the spring mechanism will be reused on the new item. Using 8mm ring spanner, round off the corners of the bolt making it impossible to remove.
   
4. Phone bike shop to confirm that they do not have a replacement bolt in stock and can’t get one until Wednesday.
   
5. Make more tea and jump around the kitchen shouting “Why didn’t I order a new bolt when I ordered all the other parts?”
   
6. Mop up large amounts of water from the electrics that are now saturated in rain water.
   
7. Try to attack bolt with different 8mm spanners and discover mole grips wont fit between the frame and air-box.
   
8. Call on ex-bike racing neighbour who has a big tool kit.
   
9. Put head in hands as neighbour says “You’ve buggered that good and proper. That won’t come out now!”
   
10. Stop for lunch and another downpour of rain.
    
11. Dry bike and lower fuel tank back into place.
    
12. Remove tank as I’ve got all the pipes in to wrong places.
    
13. Dry bike and lower fuel tank back into place AGAIN!
    
14. Give up and sulk in front of the TV.
    

Sunday 13th August

Today was dryer that Saturday so I managed the top up the coolant, which was alarmingly low, oil the cables & various pivot points and replace the front brake shoes. I then cleaned the chain and removed as much gunge from the engine and plastic fairings as possible.

Just as I was about to refit all the panels to the bike, it was time for more rain. In fact we had thunder, lighten and gallons of rain. I continued to work in the rain as time was now running out and I needed to get everything back together for my Monday commute to Croydon. When the lightening got very close to my left ear I decided it would be wiser to wait until later.

After dinner the rain had given way to brighter skies. I was now able to safely finish the reassembly and enter the cleaning phase. After much scrubbing she looked like new and I lovingly dried her off with a chamois leather, just in time for another well timed downpour. In the end I dried her once more, after I’d got her inside.

Job done? Sort of. I’ll have to go through all the plastic and fuel tank removal again next week once I have my £2 bolt. Deep joy.