The importance of washing your bike

Talk about washing your bike (especially if its a dirtbike) and some people may look at you funny. "But its got -dirt- in the name! Why would I bother?" Just because its built to ride in the dirt, does not mean all the components are meant to live in dirt.

After our Gravelly range ride, I washed the bike, bars to wheels. I pulled off the skid-plate and noticed that there was a section of caked mud and dirt that -still- looked wet, after four days. It could only be an oil leak. After some troubleshooting, I tracked it down to a bolt behind the countershaft sprocket. Hard to get to, and hard to see (unless your looking for it).


The bolt had backed out, and was rubbing against the countershaft sprocket, slowly wearing away the head, and in the process bending it pretty good. Not only does this bolt hold on an important part (clutch slave cylinder), but it also holds back oil. Could have spelt disaster if the bolt finally worked its way out hundreds of miles from home, or worse yet, jammed into the countershaft sprocket, and ripped out a portion of the case.

I have long since given up with getting the OEM bolts from dealers. Not only are they ridiculously expensive, but in the time it takes you to explain to the parks clerk which one it is, you might as well had sorted through a box of bolts at the hardware store. I picked up an M6x16 bolt at Home Depot. Below are the two bolts. Original on the right, new one on the left:


As you can see from the picture, the original bolt head is shorter than the new bolt, to clear the countershaft sprocket. (Some of the wear is visible, but you can still see the grade 8 stamp in the bolt cap). At this point I could have simply ground down the bolt head enough to clear, but then I'd have spent a bit of time trying to clear out the allen hole to accept a 5mm wrench with a file. Not my idea of a fun Saturday evening. So I chucked it up in the lathe instead.


Couple of quick passes with minimal cutting fluid, and it was done. A nice even flat cut, and still plenty enough of the 5mm allen key left to get good purchase on, and not strip out. The original is on the left, the new bolt is on the right:


I generously applied some Loctite 243 to the bolt, and re-assembled everything. The countershaft sprocket cleared with plenty of room, and the loctite should keep it from spinning out again. Just in time for "Dirt Church" tommorow afternoon with Lincoln and the rest of the dirty-birds! Moto-diasater avoided!