Took the bike out for the first time yesterday.. words cannot describe the joy.

Anyway, I changed the oil and filter this weekend after bringing it out of storage. The battery seems to have survived the winter months well. I charged it periodically and once I had it in the bike it started right up.

My 98 CBR600 has 5300 miles on it. What sort of service schedule should I be on? After xx miles or xx length of time do _________.

Also, what else should I do to ensure the bike is in proper running condition? Check the plugs, lube the chain, anything else? I'll have a lot of stupid n00b questions to come.

Edit: More questions: How can I tell if my tires need replacing? The penny trick? Also, it seems like the bike takes quite a while to warm up. And even after riding a ways, it seems to sit only a little bit above the C (for cold) .. maybe 1/5 of the way up the temperature scale, not near half way, but completely off the C.


Modified by nerdish at 10:00 AM 4/29/2003

 

Bump. C'mon, these are easy!

 

your owners manual has a maint sched in it.

Replace the oil/filter each 3k
clean Lube chain each 500
Replace plugs and air filter ~16k
...

 

The bike is a 98, I don't know if the air filter or plugs were ever replaced..

 

clean and lube your chain right after a ride... when the chain is a little warm. Penny trick does not apply to bike tires. Don't worry about temp. Low is good. Don't worry so much about the bike. Just ride. If things are bad you'll know it. It's not like a car where a dumb driver can drive the rotors down to the vanes. Glad to hear you got out for a ride.

 

Thanks Tony. Questions just pop into my head as I'm riding..

For instance, when I put the jacket on it's fairly snug, I think a size smaller would be a little constricting. Once on the bike and leaned over though the jacket seems to bunch a little in the midsection. The sleeves are a good length, though.

Is this normal or does it mean the jacket is too big?

 

motorcycle maintenance is about the same importance as aircraft. LOL. a blow-out in a car for example from lack of attention is no big deal in most circumstances. On a bike...

Be smart, think about the bike. Its not going to be thinking about you.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by figment &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Be smart, think about the bike. Its not going to be thinking about you.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's what I'm trying to do.. but nobody is answering my questions.