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The Essential Guide to Motorcycle Maintenance: Tips & Techniques to Keep Your Motorcycle in Top Condition
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About The Essential Guide To Motorcycle Maintenance: Tips
Product Description Popular motorcycle journalist and author Mark Zimmerman brings a comfortable, conversational tone to his easy-to-understand explanations of how motorcycles work and how to maintain them and fix them when they don't. This practical tutorial covers all brands and styles of bikes, making it a perfect companion to the owner's service manual whether you need to use the step-by-step instructions for basic maintenance techniques to wrench on your bike yourself or just want to learn enough to become an informed customer at your local motorcycle service department. This book includes more than 500 color photos and a thorough index to make it an especially user-friendly reference for home motorcycle mechanics of all skill levels. Review "...lots of different motorcycle systems and the theories they're based on, explained by a pro..." -- American Iron magazine "...we can all use the detailed tricks of the trade that Mark shares in this book..." -- RoadBike, June 2004 "I received [the book and]...changed my final drive oil. Quite a trick for a non-wrench like me." -- Bruce Hansen, author of Motorcycle Journeys Through the Northwest "Required Reading...cover[s] everything you need to know...photos and illustrations to lead you through simple and complex tasks." -- Motorcyclist magazine, April 2004 issue "This is a book to be treasured. A book for the ages." -- Keystone Motorcycle Press About the Author Mark Zimmerman is the Technical Editor of Motorcycle Cruiser magazine, and a contributor to Classic Bike Guide magazine. He lives in Danbury, Connecticut. Jeff Hackett has been photographing motorcycles for magazines, books, and calendars for 19 years. He lives outside New Haven, Connecticut. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Troubleshooting the Charging System Many, certainly the majority of us, are more than likely going to ride our motorcycles for a very long time without ever experiencing a catastrophic charging-system failure. Of course, that doesnt mean we wont run into the occasional dead battery or other charging system glitch. In most cases, some simple troubleshooting procedures and a little common sense will have you back in the saddle ASAP. Lots of charging system faults can be traced to either poor maintenance or bad electrical connections, including broken wires and bad grounds. Frequently, the first sign of charging-circuit problems is hard starting. The bike may turn over slowly or not at all. Your first inclination may be to simply replace the battery at this point and hope for the bestdont. First, check the charging voltage using a voltmeter. If the voltage is within specifications, remove the battery, service it, and charge it. If you find something obviously wrong, for instance, a dry cell or two, or a bad battery connection, its more than likely youve found your problem. If the charge rate is low, look for corrosion at the system-component connections. All of the connections need to be in good, clean condition. If they arent, make them so before reconnecting the component. Coat the terminals with a dielectric silicone grease to prevent any further problems. Use your wiring diagram to locate all of the connections and their grounds. Separate each connection and thoroughly clean the terminals. Likewise, remove each ground, clean the terminal, and clean its grounding point, usually the frame. Dont be afraid to get a little aggressive here. A small file or piece of sandpaper should be used to reach bright, shiny metal. Use your brain. If the problem cropped up just after you installed some kind of high-zoot electrical accessory, disconnect the item to see if the problem goes away. Likewise, if the problem cropped up after you removed some component or bodywork for service, you may have inadvertently left a ground wire or connection loose. Investigate. Some alternator connections are routed perilously close to drive chains, hot exhausts, or
