If you have a older motorcycle that’s on the edge of 10 years old or that can be classed as a project motorcycle, you should arm yourself with a wire stripping pliers and ratchet terminal crimps, this simple electrical tools make repairs and modifications so much easier.

The wire strippers are satisfying to use – neat, with easy exposure of the copper strands for fitting connectors or splicing in joins every time. The jaws have a variety of sizes to suit common wire diameters on Japanese or European motorcycles. Then you bring the ratchet crimps in to play.

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Have you ever had a flat tire while touring on your motorcycle? Should it happen, I’d prefer finding a tire flat when I came outside in the morning, as opposed to getting a flat while riding. That said, I have seen riders fall after simply jumping on their motorcycles in the morning and taking off. That first corner or stop sign is not where you want to find out that your front tire is flat, so it’s smart to check your motorcycle over each morning, and after each fuel or food stop. I pointed out a flat on a buddy’s motorcycle one morning, but he didn’t appreciate my humor when I informed him of the good news. ‘It’s only flat on the bottom,’ I said. He had the last laugh, though; he didn’t know where the air went in or how to keep it there, so I ended up fixing the flat.

If you’ve never experienced a flat tire while riding, it can feel like the wheels wants to wash out. If the tire’s low, steering will feel heavy, and if it’s flat, it will wobble and return a mushy response to steering inputs. Should you experience a flat on pavement, it’s best to slow down, carefully using the brake on the good tire, and stay on the pavement and continue decelerating carefully. Don’t move onto a soft shoulder at speed and then try to brake or you may end up with more than just a flat tire. Try to move as far off the road as possible so you can safely work on the motorcycle. Turn four-way flashers on if you have them, or leave the lights on if it’s dark.

I always carry the tools and parts I need to perform basic roadside repairs, but for more complicated repairs I always try to contact a repair shop in the nearest town or village.

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As a rule, I tend to avoid modified motorcycle and scooters. Generally, this is because they are changed to one particular person’s idea of what they should be, do or look like. Another reason is because so many are bodge jobs and few people are capable of significantly improving a manufacturer’s product.

Yet another is that they increase your parts hassles, unless you know exactly what has been done.

Changing things like rear shocks and other service items is one thing. But say you buy a Suzuki Bandit 1200 (which is not officially available in Thailand) that’s had a Suzuki GSX-R1000 front end fitted after a serious accident. What model? K5? K7? And what are the brakes from??? And that master cylinder doesn’t match anything you’ve seen from Suzuki. And after some serious searching and asking around you find that the calipers are from a Yamaha…

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Older motorcycles that still run points ignition systems can sometimes be a pain the behind.

The slotted crosshead screws that locate points and/or back plates are often badly damaged and resist all attempts to loosen impact driver used without a hammer normally sorts the problem.

Lean on the impact driver had with the head perpendicular to the back plate and turn; amazingly this will almost always work.

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When installing a new tire, it’s a good idea to put the rim on a truing stand to measure radial runout. Check lateral runout at the same to ensure it’s withing 0.80mm. Radial runout is up and down variance from concentric. If the rim has, say 0.80mm or less radial runout, proceed with tire mounting. If there’s more than 0.80mm, a wire spoke rum needs to be re-trued to bring the radial runout within specifications.

A aluminum-alloy cast rim may need replacing depending on how far above 0.80mm the radial runout actually is. Most motorcycle companies advise replacement if radial runout exceeds 0.85mm. It is easy to instruct this, but not everyone has deep pockets with fat wallets, so compromise may same some money.

I do not get worried when replacing a rim for less fortunate customers until hitting 1mm radial runout. I explain the pros and cons and let the customer decide. However, if it goes higher than 1mm, then it becomes a safety issue in my mind, and I will dig my heels and refuse to re-install the rim.

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Nearly a month ago, we looked at the problems created by crankcase ventilation. These ventilation systems route the combination of gasses escaping past the piston rings, mixed with vaporized engine oil from the crankcase, to the intake tract, where they are supposed to be burned on a second trip through the combustion chambers.

Although Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) systems have been required since 1961, they have serious drawbacks – mainly the accumulation of carbonized oil on the walls of the intake and exhaust passages, the backsides of the valves and in the combustion chambers, where it badly reduces airflow and can cause overheating. In addition, oil particles in the combustion chambers can initiate detonation, quickly creating major damage. Let’s look at what you can do to avoid such problems on your own motorcycle engines.

It has been reported that, at idle, typical blow-by composition is 67 percent oil, 22 percent fuel, 10 percent water and 1 percent solids by weight. An inevitable by-product of combustion, water is the greatest single cause of preventable engine wear, creating corrosion by oxidation and acid formation. Tests have shown 0.2 percent water in the engine oil is typical but levels of .4 to .5 percent are not uncommon, and at these higher concentrations, free water is likely to separate out as the engine cools. Plus, ironically, the situation is made worse by the water dispersal additives in modern engine oils, and the use of E10, E20 or E85 fuels (containing 10, 20 and 85% ethanol) that both attract water and are more electrically conductive than gasoline, creating galvanic corrosion.

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If you’ve got a motorcycle with a chain, then you’ll know that cleaning the chain is a filthy dirty job. No-one likes to do it. While it’s not as dirty a job, cleaning your brakes is also very important maintenance that you should be doing. Both dirty deeds will help the performance, riding and longevity of your motorcycle – and there is help out there to make both jobs easier.

We grabbed some specialist cleaning products and got to work… and still got filthy dirty in the process. Maybe you can be more careful! We bought online a motorcycle cleaning set. But let’s get started with the chain.

Find yourself a spot where you can lay down some old newspapers and cover up any parts of your motorcycle that you don’t want to cover in gunk. Now start spinning the rear wheel and spraying the chain cleaner onto the chain. It does help if you have an assistant, but it can be done alone if need be. Now spray a small section at a time and use a brush and scrub the chain clean, while spraying each section with more chain cleaner.

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Reliably delivering the right amount of fuel and air to our motorcycles’ engines goes right back to first principles. Old, worn carburetors cause much aggravation to many motorcycle owners. Ultrasonic cleaners have been a major boon to those happy to spanner their own motorcycles.

It’s also meant that a good amount of people are offering ultrasonic cleaning ‘services’ which vary wildly in their quality. Some, we hear, do little more than chuck the carburetor in whole without bothering to take it apart. Ultrasonic cleaners are not the universal panacea they’re perceived to be. It takes a little more than dumping carburetors in the bath and hoping for the best. They have to be properly stripped and inspected.

There’s no point cleaning carburetors with worn-out parts, and stripped-down carburetors will clean much better.

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