Pre-Trip Inspection on your Harley-Davidson!
As most of you know, pilots perform a walk-around, a visual and mechanical inspection of an aircraft every time they fly. You should as well - it's called a pre-ride check, it'll take just a minute. We know it slows you down a bit, but it could save your life.
Here's what to look for.
Tires: Check visually first, looking for excessive damage, wear, or nails in treads or sidewalls; check pressure with a gauge at least weekly. We see riders getting a ton of miles out of their tires and we see riders get a few thousand miles out of their tires. The difference is usually checking tire pressures.
Rims: If you have spokes. Inspect the spokes to make sure none are broken. Run a wrench or screwdriver over the spokes - this will emit a tone, and a loose spoke will sound different. Just a quick tap on each spoke once in a while will tell you if something is wrong. If you have your bike serviced at Wilkins H-D®, we do this for you. But a second set of eyes never hurt anyone!
Leaks: Your bike shouldn't be leaking oil, (coolant for twin-cooled, Streets, or V-Rods), fuel, or brake fluid. Look around. Do you see staining anywhere on the engine?
Throttle: It should operate smoothly, without binding, and fully close under its own power. If you have a screw under the throttle that you can tighten up - make sure it is 100% loose.
Brakes: Pull the front brake lever and depress the rear pedal to check for normal operation. Do they feel normal?
Lights: Make sure the brake, taillight, headlight, and indicators work right. If you do this in the garage, you can quickly see if the lights are working.
Engine oil: Check level and add if necessary. We always recommend checking the oil level when the bike is hot - it does give a better reading.
Fuel level: Obviously.
Drive belt: Check condition. Give it a push with your finger. Does it feel normal. If you get in the habit of checking this, you will notice an issue.
Clutch: Check for smooth operation. Does it disengage at the proper place.
Cables: Check for loose control cables. If you have changed your own handlebars, make sure none of the cables are rubbing or binding. Make sure no cable shows any wear.
Nuts and bolts: See if anything has vibrated loose or fallen off, especially before and after a ride. Give a light tug with a wrench on any known problem nuts and bolts, especially the ones located in the exhaust system and wheels. You don't need to know the perfect torque number if you just put a wrench on them occasionally and apply some pressure. If you want to know the perfect torque number, contact us with the year and model and we will look up the proper torque.
Ride safe! See you soon!