Getting your bike ready for summer by Richard Cook
			To ensure you get a summer that includes more riding than tinkering its good to attend to a few simple items. Change the oil in engine, transmission, and rear end if you haven’t yet.
			There are a few grease fittings and if they are functional grease them.
			For example there is grease fitting on my seat which has a rubber bushing. Do they think I’m dumb enough to grease the rubber bushing?
I’d say changing fork oil every few years is enough but if you are anal you can do this too. A set of spark plugs is about three bucks, set them to 25 thousandths and give them a drop of anti seize. New points, condenser and timing can only help. You are bound to have developed some leaks and now would be a good time to clean the bike up and repair your leaks. There are several common areas that leak; all the side cover bolts in my tranny were loose for example. OHVs only have a few extra spots for leaks like push rod tube seals and valve covers. If you have not removed the thick gasket from the rear end yet it is bound to leak over the summer so now is a good time to do it. Check the toolbox for articles on how. Check all the rear end bolts especially the one you can see me using the end of a wrench and a screwdriver to tighten in the picture. Use Locktite on everything that bolts on. Otherwise it falls off. Fill transmission and rear end only to the very bottom of the threads on the filer holes, otherwise the oil expands and will blow the seal as has happened to several folks. Check every bolt you can get to for tightness, even the ones that hold the sidecar have been known to fall off. Remove the battery and check the water. Clean the connections until they shine and charge it fully before reinstalling it. If you already have three years on it you may want to consider replacement. I have a lock spring on my lower fuel tank bolts instead of safety wire in case I need to repair it on the road. I also use a lock spring on my oil filler cap. My exhaust nuts are safety wired. Finally tune the carbs. Adjust your brakes, just jack up the wheel and tighten the adjuster until it just scrapes as you spin the wheel. At that point I loosen it back up just a bit. While spinning the wheel wiggle it to check the wheel bearings and for run out in rim and tire. With the front wheel in the air check the front fork by pulling it forward and back ward to check for loose head bearings and fork bushings. Inspect your tires and spokes, a broken spoke is very common and you won’t even notice it until you look. Look for missing cotter pins as they sometimes rust and fall out. Check clutch adjustment and condition of cables. Our good friend George adds….” A common source for leaks is around the bottom plate of the oil sump gasket. Either re-tighten the 8 nuts (torque to spec) if the gasket is in good shape, or replace the gasket and torque the nuts to spec.” This should have occurred to me since I have already replaced my pan gasket. If you add a trailer connector and set up your battery cables so that you can easily separate your sidecar it will be easier to do a proper service.