Tank Removal

And now for a break from chain maintenance... occasionally other maintenance is necessary as well. On the Bandit it's necessary to remove the tank for many tune-up services including valve adjustment and carburetor sychronization.

Time

15 minutes

Materials

• 2x4 or wood block
• pliars
• needlenose pliars
• small phillps screwdriver
• 10mm socket
• rag
• milk crate

Note, it's easiest to do this when there isn't much gas in the tank.

Steps

• Remove the seat
• Remove the fuel valve handle with a phillips screwdriver
  



• Remove the two bolts securing the tank with a 10mm socket

• Remove the rubber mounts underneath the two rear tabs on the tank

• Pull the tank about 1" toward the back of the motorcycle, then lift the front and rest the front tab on top of the rubber mount at the front of the frame. When reinstalling the tank, note that this tab slides underneath the rubber mount.
  

• put the 2x4 under the two tabs at the rear of the tank.

• Disconnect the fuel sensor on the right side of the bike by pressing in on the lower end.
  

• Disconnect the overflow hose behind the fuel sensor

• On the left side of the bike, use the regular pliars to move the hose clamp down the braided hose a few inches, then disconnect the braided hose.

• At this point the tank can be raised a bit more. Cover the engine with a rag to catch any gas that leaks after the next step.

• From the right side of the bike, remove the vacuum hose from the fuel valve. Then use the needlenose pliars to loosen the hose clamp and disconnect the fuel hose. Fuel may drip from the fuel hose and/or fuel valve.
  

• Tank may now be removed. Store it on a milk crate to avoid putting any pressure on the fuel valve. The seal is prone to leaking.
  

• To reinstall the tank, reverse steps above. The two bolts securing the tank do not need to be very tight at all--finger tight plus half-turn at most.
  

Chain Lubing

After cleaning the chain, make sure the kerosene is dry and apply a thin coat of chain lube. It's best to do this on a warm chain, i.e. right after a ride.

1.) With the bike up on the center stand, rotate the rear wheel while applying chain lube to the outside surface of the rollers.



2.) Apply chain lube to the inside surface of the rollers.



3.) Wipe off any excess, which would otherwise fling all over the bike and make a mess.

Chain Cleaning

It's a sad fact about commuting on chain-driven bikes that chains are fiddly and require some attention. Bandits seem to be especially hard on chains. In the wet season chain cleaning is a weekly ritual. Otherwise, every two weeks/600 miles. Regular cleaning and adjustment can triple or even quadruple the life of the chain. At 43k miles, my Yamaha FZ1 is still on its original chain.

Time

20 - 30 min

Materials

1. Kerosene
2. Can
3. Old toothbrush
4. Cardboard
5. Rags or paper towels
6. Nitrile gloves

• Place bike on center stand or rear wheel stand
• Scrub exposed rear sprocket teeth with kerosene-dipped brush and wipe clean
• Scrub top, sides, and bottom of chain links, rollers, and plates with kerosene; wipe clean
• Rotate wheel to expose more dirty sprocket teeth/chain links
• Repeat
• Allow to dry, either by going for a short ride or letting the bike sit overnight.

Every so often it's also good to remove the chain guard and scrub the plastic chain slider that protects the top of the swingarm. Rocks and dirt tend to collect there.

Mid-week Wet Weather Maintenance

I have a 5-minute maintenance routine which I perform in the evenings if it rains:

1.) Spray a thin coat of WD-40 on the chain and wipe off (this may take more than a few minutes if you don't have a rear wheel stand or center stand). WD-40 will keep the chain from rusting. However it will fling and smell like cat pee when it's hot so it's important to wipe most of it off.

At the end of a rainy week I scrub the chain thoroughly with kerosene and re-lube it.



There is some controversy about using WD-40 on o-ring chains. While I can't guarantee that WD-40 isn't harmful to o-rings, I've been using it for wet-weather maintenance for thousands of miles with no observable damage so far. I replaced my last chain with 20k miles on it and it was still in decent shape. I gave the used chain to a coworker who plans to put it on his GSX-R1000 and run it at triple digits.

2.) Wipe the fork sliders with a clean soft cloth and mild soapy water, rinse and dry. This will help keep dirt out of the fork seals so they last longer.



3.) A conscientious person with a new bike would also probably want to clean off the exhaust pipe and headers to prevent stains and discoloration from baked-on road grime. The Bandit's header pipes are already spotted so I don't worry about it.

Why I Stopped Washing my Bike so Much

May in the North Bay...

Introduction to The Bandit Files

About Me

There are many blogs on political, social, technical, and ethical issues. Although I have opinions on those topics, I don't intend to write about any of them here. This is a journal about life with motorcycles.

Like many people I'm an avid motorcyclist and appreciator of two-wheeled things. Unlike most motorcyclists here in the States I had no car for 15 years. My wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, and I attempted to convert vehicles marketed as lifestyle accessories into practical daily transportation. As we pressed bikes and gear designed to last a season or two into daily service, we found that what would be considered normal use for a car is considered extreme service for a lifestyle accessory. We learned to commute, grocery shop, travel, go to the gym, go out to dinner, etc. in all kinds of weather and traffic conditions on our motorcycles. A lot of what we road-tested simply fell apart under daily use.

At the same time my desire for more living space pushed us further out from work and even more miles piled up on the bikes. My original 3-mile commute across town from my tiny studio in San Francisco is now a 55-mile round trip from our house in the North Bay to Oakland, and my wife rides even further. The sheer number of miles made it expensive and inconvenient to take the bikes to shops for every recommended service and we started learning to keep them running ourselves. My wife took maintenance classes at CCSF and I stayed overnight at friends houses to learn valve adjustments and engine teardown. I found that maintaining motorcycles with upwards of 50k miles can be challenging. At that mileage the bikes no longer resembled the pristine photos in shop manuals. Bolts stuck, threads stripped, and there were unexplained problems without clearly documented disassemble/inspect/reassemble procedures. I hope to document some of those types of issues here.

Thanks to the generous donation of my Dad's old pickup our car-free lifestyle is at an end. However we still maintain a "car-light" lifestyle by commuting on two wheels--mostly still by motorcycle although I recently started cycling after a 20-year break. So while this is motorcycle blog, I may sneak in the occasional bicycle commuting entry as I get back into it.

About the Bikes
Our motorcycles:

1. 2001 Suzuki SV650, 55k miles (wife's),
2. main commuter, 2001 Suzuki Bandit 1200, 53k miles,
3. backup commuter, 2003 Yamaha FZ1, 43k miles.

We bought the Suzukis used with a few thousand miles each, and I bought the Yamaha new back in '03. There were a few cruiser-type bikes in our past as well. My bicycle is an old Bridgestone MB-5 mountain bike from the early 90s.

During the years we've used motorcycles for transportation we've learned a bit about survival techniques, gear, maintenance, and generally what works for us. While I'm by no means an expert wrench or rider, I hope my maintenance notes, road tests, and other observations will be useful for others who are attempting to do the same. Bike-only isn't always fun and it's not easy. Good luck and rubber-side down, as they say.