A blog about motorcycles, motorcyclists, and motorcycle shops

Musings on riding and working on bikes, and observations as I travel and visits bikers, riders, motorcyclists, events and shops

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Sunday, May 17, 2020

Another inexpensive tool worth every penny

I've removed the rear wheel and tire from most of my bikes at least once. For the shaft drive Kawasaki Concours, it's an easy if somewhat cumbersome process getting the wheel back in place and everything lined up.

For my Harley-Davidsons it's a completely different problem. I can imagine it's the same for chain drive bikes, but I haven't owned one in a long time. Getting the wheel into place and the axle through is fairly easy, as a rear wheel without a gear drive attached is much lighter. But then the fun starts, getting the proper chain or belt tension and the rear wheel and axle aligned so the bike tracks properly.

What a PITA! Being cheap, I originally didn't buy an alignment tool-how hard could this be? Really hard, so I broke down and bought a simple tool.


Best $16 I've spent on a bike ever! Get the tension you need, use the tool to mark the distance on that side of the bike (yes, Harley Sportsters but the belt on the "other side"!), go to the opposite side, slide axle into alignment, tighten everything, check again, torque everything and go for a "test ride"!

Full Disclosure, I am an Amazon Associate and will receive a small percentage of sales made through the link.

Saturday, May 16, 2020

Cheap motorcycle tools that are very valuable for maintenance

Do you work on your own bike? Especially the routine maintenance that gives you time checking your bike and a feeling of accomplishment when you are finished with the task?

I do, and normally enjoy it and find it a good opportunity to check things out, spend some time doing mechanical things which is quite different than my normal day, and have that confidence that while I can't repair complex parts of the bike, I can take care of routine items myself.

The frustration comes when a project should be simple, but turns out to be overly complex or messy. One great example is changing the oil on a Harley-Davidson. Everything is pretty much right there out in the open. One hallmark of the Harley twin-v design is the oil filter placement forward of the front cylinder-looks good, works like a bit of an oil cooler, and makes accessing the filter for oil changes straightforward. Put an end cap filter wrench on, rachet drive with an extension and off it spins.

That's where things go wrong. About half a turn in and oil starts leaking out from the engine case all over the lower portion of the engine. I had tried all kinds of "solutions" on multiple twins-newspaper, cut up 2-liter "coke" bottles, tin foil. All worked to some degree, but all were also messy or a lot of effort for a simple job.

Then a friend let me borrow his oil change funnel kit. Available from a variety of manufacturers, these are purpose molded funnels that solve this problem, and the primary case fill problem too. A hard plastic funnel slides under the filter, has a drain and small rubber tubing to take oil right to your drain pan. A really good set is available on Amazon here, and for full disclosure (thank you nanny state) I am an Amazon Associate and get a few pennies if you buy from that link.

This is a simple tool, many companies offer a variety of them for less than $20, and the simplicity of doing oil changes with it is very welcome. I'll feature another simple but elegantly time-saving tool soon. Thank you for reading!