I have bought and sold a hefty amount of different types of vehicles over the years and recently started reflecting on some of my experiences. I have bought bikes that have run well, did not run at all, were partly assembled, or were complete basket cases. Sometimes there have been great deals and sometimes there have been total lemons. Occasionally I have even purchased bikes sight unseen and put my good faith in others to collect them for me. Has some of my behavior been risky when buying a used bike? Absolutely, but because of those experiences a lot of hard earned knowledge has come my way...
How many of you have bought your fair share of used bikes only to discover the moment you get it home that something is wrong with it?
I have bought and sold a hefty amount of different types of vehicles over the years and recently started reflecting on some of my experiences. I have bought bikes that have run well, did not run at all, were partly assembled, or were complete basket cases. Sometimes there have been great deals and sometimes there have been total lemons. Occasionally I have even purchased bikes sight unseen and put my good faith in others to collect them for me. Has some of my behavior been risky when buying a used bike? Absolutely, but because of those experiences a lot of hard earned knowledge has come my way...
Having a simple ride log/service sheet is a great way to keep track of your machine’s maintenance and stay ahead of any potential problems. Another great device to pick up for your dirt bike is an hour meter. Hour meters are great since they only record actual engine running time, which gives you a more realistic time value than estimating how long your engine ran while you were out on your ride.
I wanted to share with you the log I use to keep track of the time I put on my bikes. Click the link below to download a free copy. I have set up three versions, one for Excel users, one for Google Docs users, and a PDF that can be printed for the folks that like to document their riding on paper...
Wondering what is the best way to figure out if you two-stroke dirt bike engine has an air leak? These leaks include anything coming from the crank seals, cylinder head gasket, base gasket, the spark plug hole, power valve mechanism, intake manifold, or exhaust manifold. No matter where these air leaks originate, they affect the performance of your engine, make the engine difficult to tune, and are not normal for a healthy engine.
Performing a leak down test is the best method for determining if and where air leaks are coming from. A leak down test is fairly simple to perform and can provide tremendous amounts of information about the health of an engine. I typically like to perform a leak down test on an engine if I’m having trouble jetting the engine consistently, if I’ve bought a used bike with a suspect past history, or when I’m finishing up assembling a new engine. The biggest mistake I see a lot of people make is when they rebuild an engine with new parts and skip the leak down test. I cannot count the number of times where I have rebuilt an engine with new parts and then performed a leak down test to find a gasket that was not sealing properly or another part that was causing a problem. The leak down test is imperative and ultimately becomes a form of cheap insurance against the time and money that has gone into the build... |
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