MOTORCYCLES

It’s an argument that’s being going on for a long time - whether or not people should have to wear a helmet when they’re riding a motorcycle. No matter what your life philosophy might be, or how your friends and family feel about it, the reality is that the laws are there and you have to abide by them. Maybe you feel a helmet cramps your style, but the fact is that helmets save lives. On a more personal level, wearing a motorcycle helmet also means you’ll save on your medical costs and insurance premiums thanks to the added safety.

When it comes to choosing a motorcycle helmet, there are three main types available - full-face, three-quarter shell and half-shell. Let’s take a look at each one, and see what their good and bad points are.

Full-Face Motorcycle Helmets

These are definitely the safest and most secure type of helmet that you can buy. They cover the face entirely, and also offer some protection to the neck. There’s also a clear visor covering the eyes for added safety. The visor helps to stop dirt and debris landing in your eyes, and the bottom part of the helmet also stops anything unwanted entering your mouth. A full-face motorcycle helmet is a very comfortable once it’s in place, and provides the highest level of safety, but some people find them difficult to get on and off, and restrictive when they’re in place.

Three-Quarter Shell Motorcycle Helmets

If you’ve seen a law enforcement official riding a motorbike, then chances are he or she was wearing a three-quarter shell helmet. This type of helmet covers most of the head, apart from the face, and are held in place by a chinstrap. They provide a good level of safety and security, similar to a full-face helmet. They’re also much simpler to use in conjunction with some type of communication device if you’re traveling with a group of motorcycle enthusiasts.

Half-Shell Motorcycle Helmets

Although this type of helmet is the least restrictive of the three types, it also offers the last amount of protection. A half-shell helmet really only protects the top of the head in an accident, hopefully preventing brain damage. The regulations in many states require a half-shell motorcycle helmet as the absolute minimum that can be worn, but for safety purposes they are very ineffective, and are quite likely to fall off in an accident, providing no protection at all.

Wearing a motorcycle helmet may not be your idea of fun, but when you consider what a dramatic effect a serious motorcycle accident could have on your quality of life, if you’re still alive, then it makes sense to wear one that provides as much protection as possible.

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In trailering a motorcycle you must be very careful, because motorcycles bounce around and even if they do not fall down if you have more than one motorcycle on the trailer they might bump into each other and scratch the paint. And that is exactly what you do not want to have happen.

The best way I have found to strap-down motorcycles is to let a little bit of the air out of the tires once they are in place and then you have strap them as tight as possible and to ratchet down straps a little bit more. Then fill the tires back up with air while the motorcycles are on the trailer.

Now once you get to your destination and on your way home you may not be able to do the same thing but at least it will be trouble-free one-way because those straps will be as tight as possible. Sometimes on a long haul it makes sense to go to a gas station near by and use their air.

You must remember when trailering a motorcycle that the motorcycles move from front to back and they bounce up and down when the trailer goes over bumps. They also move side to side if the straps get loose. If the straps work themselves loose because they go forward and backwards than they have more latitude to bounce up and down and this is why you must tighten straps from front to back and holding them down.

And still you must remember they can move side to side. If you do not have wheel holders on your trailer you need to also consider the side-to-side movement, which many people do not do. Please be careful when trailering your motorcycle and you’ll be glad you did.

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When troubleshooting a motorcycle, first start with the basics. These simple tests can work for any small engine. All engines need three basic things to run fuel, spark and air. These simple things can cause your motorbike to not start up or run poorly. First start off with the fuel remove the hose off the tank and make sure the fuel is flowing properly. Some bikes will have to turn the fuel selector to prime, not on, or fuel will not flow. Take a flashlight and look down into the tank, is the fuel varnished or is there dirt in the tank? Older motorbikes had a problem with tanks rusting inside and would plug the screen up inside the tank. Fuel delivery may still be a problem but we will come back to that later.

Next remove the spark plugs, you may need to remove the tank to reach them. Inspect every spark plug as you take them out. All the spark plugs should look the same. If a plug looks white colored, that cylinder may be (lean) and not getting enough fuel. If you have a plug that looks wet and black, that cylinder may getting too much fuel (rich) or not sparking good. Remove all the spark plugs and snap the plugs back into their wires. Set the spark plugs on the engine so that they can ground themselves. Crank the bike over and watch the plugs for sparks, preferably somewhere dark. Make sure you look at all the plugs to make sure they are all sparking. If one spark looks weak check the wire and plug, if old or worn replace them. If their is no spark the coil may be bad.

If you have any test equipment such as an ohm meter, you can find out what the resistance reading should be for your bikes coils. This way you will know for sure if the coils are o.k. If the ignition system looks fine move on to the carburetors. First, if the bike has not been maintained recently (a problem in itself) make sure the carbs are synchronized. To do this you need a vacuum gauge made for this. Remove the small rubber plug located between the carbs and the cylinder. Attach the gauge and take the readings from each cylinder. Replace the caps when not measuring or it won’t run right. Adjust the throttle screw or linkage for that carb until they all read close to one another.

Refer back to inspecting the spark plugs. If one cylinder looked lean or rich check all hoses for cracks and air leaks. If the motorcycle has not been run in awhile the carbs may be (gummed up). Remove the float bowl off the bottom of the carb. Look in the bowl for dark varnish looking gas. If the fuel looks dark you will probably have to remove the pilot and main jets and carefully run a wire through the center hole to clean them out. Be careful to not bend the float as the height needs to be correct to run well also. Check that the small needle attached to the float between the pivot point, is moving up and down. If it doesn’t move smoothly the carb will not fill up with gas or will run low as your driving down the road.

Make sure you check the battery also, if they become weak the ignition system won’t have enough power to keep the bike running smoothly. If you still haven’t found anything make sure you valve lash has been checked at the correct mileage intervals. If not this can cause many problems with the way it runs. Also you can screw a compression gauge into the spark plug holes and check that they are within 5-10% of each other. If one is way down you have a serious problem either with the pistons, bore or valves. This should be a good start to finding a general problem with your motorbike.

Jerry Lemke is the owner of http://www.freeengineinfo.com
A site commited to repair and information of all types of vehicles.

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