Garage Night TV has turned 10! Well, it’s our 10th episode, anyway. In this instalment, Pete replaces the rear wheel bearings on his Honda Africa Twin 750 – and gets a nasty shock when he finds what some previous mechanic has done in this department.
Sealed bearings. Great! They come from the factory with lots of lovely grease inside, and their own integral seals to make sure the grease stays in, and the muck stays out.
Right? WRONG! For me, the biggest revelation of this episode came when Trent popped open one of Pete’s new bearings and showed that inside was little more than a token smear of factory lubricant. So if you really care about those bearings lasting, it’s a good idea to check them – how to go about this is one of the numerous tips you’ll get by watching the video.
If there’s a lack of grease, you might consider adding some yourself. It’s not recommended to pack them solid, though, due to the possibility of overheating or hydraulic lock. There’s a bit of debate on this, but about 1/3 full of grease is one recommended figure. Continue reading ‘Ep 10: Replacing rear wheel bearings’
This time around we get an overview of a bike’s wiring harness, or wiring loom. This spaghetti-like confusion of wires and plugs is the backbone of the electrical system – and after a ride across a partly flooded South American salt lake, the KTM’s needed replacing. Pete gives a brief rundown on rear suspension compression, rebound and preload settings, and how even though the shock and spring are a single unit, they do different jobs.
Trent and Waz discusses the dry-sump oil system used on most adventure bikes. Richard gets his number two bike up and running (creating a bit of smoke for added drama) and Trent grapples with the last spokes to be removed from the front wheel hub that he’s helping Waz rebuild. Make sure to leave a comment after you watch!
Electrics and suspension tend to be voodoo areas of bike mechanicals. Just looking at a wiring diagram is frightening enough, without delving into the loom itself, which of course looks nothing like the diagram! But troubleshooting bike wiring is less about an in-depth knowledge of electrical systems – and more about the ability to work through a problem, starting with the simplest and most likely cause, such as a ‘bad earth’. Continue reading ‘Ep 4: Wires, shocks and smoke’
In this episode, we dismantle a front wheel, removing the brake discs, spokes and nipples – and Trent brings out the blowtorch to free up some sticky bolts. Pete builds a sandblasting cabinet, mostly out of junk, and continues work on his KTM 950, while Rich is getting close to his BMW being back on the road.
There was no way Pete was letting me put the new twin-disc front wheel on my bike without at least giving the shabby hub a paint job. That means stripping the hub, which means breaking down the wheel, which means removing the spokes and nipples, which means replacing any that are in poor shape or simply don’t survive disassembly … you can see how this job snowballed.
The first stage is to remove the brake discs. You do this with the wheel still fully assembled – because you probably couldn’t get the spokes out with the discs still on, and even if you could, it’s easier to remove the discs while you’ve still got the rim to hang on to. Continue reading ‘Ep 3: Sand, heat and nipples’
Ep 17: Restoring anodised aluminium on your motorbike
Ep 16: DIY soda blasting – build your own rig!
Ep 15: Replacing swingarm bearings, part 2
Ep 14, Dremel on a lathe: replacing swingarm bearings
Ep 13: Mountain Madness 2009
Ep 12: KTM forks on a BMW part 2
Ep 11: KTM forks on a BMW F650
Ep 9: New spokes on an old wheel
Ep 8: Chain and sprockets part 2
Ep 7: Changing a chain and sprockets
Ep 6: Mountain Madness
Ep 5: Replacing steering head bearings
Ep 4: Wires, shocks and smoke
Ep 3: Sand, heat and nipples
Ep 2: Beads and bearings
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