Next week I'm really looking forward to a trip to the northern part of Arkansas and can't wait to get in to the Ozarks.
Its starting to get hot here in Texas and work has been kicking my butt.
Many of my peers at work have already taken a number of long weekends to golf and do whatever.
To put it bluntly it's my turn and when I do stress relief it's with 1600 CC of mean beastie between my legs and a road with a lot of fast curves.
To ensure the trip is as problem free as I can make it I'll take some time this weekend to give my bike a do over, wash, and detail to start the trip off right.
It has been a while, to long a while in my opinion, since I've had a notable motorcycle outing so I need to do all those pre-trip maintenance things like change oil, check the belt, battery, give the tires the once over, get the shock air pressure correct.
Because my bike has a lot of vibration I need to go over it with my wrenches and double check everything for tightness.
This is also the time to take a moment or three and make a quick list of the tools I want to take along.
My motorcycle came with a tool kit and while I agree that it's sufficient for many things.
It is definitely not all you want to end up with when you're stuck on the side of the road especially when you consider the electrical side of things.
So here we go:
) Tire Plugger kit b.
) Air Compressor Word to the wise, I do a lot of my own work and know what to do with my tools.
If you don't normally pick up a wrench quite frankly the best tools you could have are your cell phone, an auto charger for the phone and the number of a tow company.
The point I'm trying to make is don't carry or buy more tools than you could conceivable use but if you know which end of a wrench is up and there's room why wouldn't you carry as many as possible.
The only bad tool is the one you need and don't have.
Its starting to get hot here in Texas and work has been kicking my butt.
Many of my peers at work have already taken a number of long weekends to golf and do whatever.
To put it bluntly it's my turn and when I do stress relief it's with 1600 CC of mean beastie between my legs and a road with a lot of fast curves.
To ensure the trip is as problem free as I can make it I'll take some time this weekend to give my bike a do over, wash, and detail to start the trip off right.
It has been a while, to long a while in my opinion, since I've had a notable motorcycle outing so I need to do all those pre-trip maintenance things like change oil, check the belt, battery, give the tires the once over, get the shock air pressure correct.
Because my bike has a lot of vibration I need to go over it with my wrenches and double check everything for tightness.
This is also the time to take a moment or three and make a quick list of the tools I want to take along.
My motorcycle came with a tool kit and while I agree that it's sufficient for many things.
It is definitely not all you want to end up with when you're stuck on the side of the road especially when you consider the electrical side of things.
So here we go:
- A set of fuses that fit the bike
- A NEW roll of electrical tape
- A few zip ties
- A role of electrical wire - 10 feet or so
- A small volt meter with a fresh battery
- A set of phillips and flat blade screwdrivers
- A set of hex/torx/socket/flat wrenches that fit the fasteners on your bike
- Air pressure gauge
- A good set of pliers
- A mid size metric conversion wrench otherwise known as a cresent wrench
- A small tube of threadlock
- Small spray bottle of my favorite cleaner
- A few clean rags
) Tire Plugger kit b.
) Air Compressor Word to the wise, I do a lot of my own work and know what to do with my tools.
If you don't normally pick up a wrench quite frankly the best tools you could have are your cell phone, an auto charger for the phone and the number of a tow company.
The point I'm trying to make is don't carry or buy more tools than you could conceivable use but if you know which end of a wrench is up and there's room why wouldn't you carry as many as possible.
The only bad tool is the one you need and don't have.