Patience, Resourcefulness, and Beer: Requirements when doing bike maintenance!
In preparation for a mini trip to Daytona, I had to get my very fist bike ready "Suzi" (Suzuki Boulevard M50 - 800 cc) because my Victory has too big of a butt to fit into a trailer with 3 other bikes. And I hate the T word, but MN weather doesn't allow for riding this time of year, at least not consistently. So, having only ridden Suzi locally in the past few years, I figured I better do some maintenance on her if she was going to keep up with the big dog bikes. First things first. I changed her oil and discovered my brand new torque wrench was busted right out of the box. No biggie, I can work around that. Next up: Brakes. Not a HUGE deal while riding locally - I just downshift a lot and sometimes drag my feet. Not safe, not recommended. I dug out the service manual for Suzi - while these manuals may seem too expensive for how little I hope to use it - they pay off 100% the first time it is needed! Especially for newer bikes, which offer maintenance instructions like ...