Tech tips and bike hacks for the creative and cost concious.

Buy 6 fasteners for $1 at Lowe's instead of $6 for 1 fastener at the Yamaha dealer. 

Turn your rear tire around for sharper knobs before you buy a new one.

Autozone sells brake cleaner, engine degreaser, and coolant for 35-50% less than the cost of the motorcycle brands. I stick to Bel-Ray or Maxima for premix, chain lube, waterproof grease, air filter oil and transmission oil, though. 

I use used engine oil for bar oil.  lol

Steel sprockets. Why anyone buys aluminum for a 450 is beyond me. 

I used a $9 roll of home window screen material to make radiator mud guards.  No more rinsing dirt out of the radiators after every race.

Walmart rotella T6….

I used steel sprockets when I was young and poor.

Now I'm old and poor but I don't give a shit I want a good looking sprocket.

I learned some years ago on Vital to use Wesson Oil and Dawn for the air filter, works like a charm.  I live in a place with a lot of fine dust and never had an issue.

Hardware store sells equivalent products to moto shop for most aerosol lubes (except filter oil). Cable lube, dry lube, even SC1 has a hardware store analog, though it probably doesn’t smell as nice. 

 

PB blaster’s silicone spray does the exact same thing as SC1, just doesn’t produce that sweet headhigh inducing smell. 

-Stoner (yes, that’s the brand …) Trim Shine instead of SC1

-wrap Teflon pipe thread tape around your bars under the perches/master cylinders. You can tighten the bolts but they’ll spin in a fall, likely saving levers/perches

-generic oreillys/etc engine cleaner for cleaning chains/sprockets/chain lube fling-off/air filter oil from airbox 

-cut cleaners like simple green with water by 50% for everything but tires and/or heavily soiled areas.

-try to carpool with riding buddies to the track. More fun, less money because everyone chips in or takes turns taking their rig.

-pack food at home. Make your own sandwiches, bag up bulk crackers/etc, refill gallon water jugs. Buying subway and bottled water adds up.

Find your local Chemical suppliers and get a Big container ( I get 20 / 25litre ones, sometimes 50litres) of Isopropyl Alcohol. With a Variety of high quality spray / injection bottles,  I can use it for anything. 

Besides my Shock and Brake work, and Weld prep, I use it for pretty much every workshop cleaning job. In bulk, it's quite cheap per litre - (far cheaper than buying so many 'things' that have their 'base' in Iso) and, it doesn't attack many surfaces / rubbers etc.

Be wary of Cheap contact cleaners etc. Years ago I sprayed a little bit of el cheapo contact cleaner at a bit of gunk at the steering head of one of the DH frames I made. I used incredibly tough baked paint on my own frames, but after only about half a minute of that crap on the frame, the paint was bubbling and giving off a burning smell. 

Couple things come to mind that haven't been mentioned yet.

• Keep an eye on chain tension and alignment. Running your chain way too tight puts a lot of tension on it deep in the shock stroke. Too loose brings it's own problems as well. The old three finger rule doesn't work for every bike. Rear wheel alignment helps things wear evenly. The marks on the swingarm and OEM axle blocks aren't always the greatest indicator...

• Don't cheap out on grease unless you like cleaning and repacking bearings every month. Be smart with the pressure washer and cleaning products near all the chassis pivot points. 

• Took me way too long to figure out that a good tire pressure gauge can save a lot of heartache and cash with pinch flats. Thank you Colorado square edge for teaching me that lesson.

• A hand file or Dremel works wonders in keeping pegs sharp. Most new bikes come with wide enough pegs that aftermarket stuff just isn't necessary.

• Clamp on grips are more expensive, but they definitely last longer. Don't have to buy grip glue and can swap on race day really fast if needed.

• Harbor freight stand sits perfectly on one of their small moving dollies. You can buy both cheaper than most branded dirt bike stands and have the ability to move bikes around the garage quickly.