What to do for winter motorcycle maintenance?

If you're sitting inside bumming about the cold, wet weather, we have just the cure: motorcycle maintenance projects can definitely be fun and will help with your blues. While many areas of the United States get to experience year-long riding conditions, us riders in the Northeast, Pennsylvania more specifically, have some down time ponder all of life's questions. This doesn't mean we get to sit around and mope until Spring! It means that we get back into the garage and work on our trusty steeds. These 5 (fairly) simple projects could be just what you need.

5 Maintenance Projects For Your Motorcycle

1. Go ahead and change all of your fluids! It's never a good idea to leave old fluids sitting in your motorcycle. They can cause corrosion and ruin things from the inside out: not good. Always check your engine oil, brake fluid, coolant, as well as various engine parts with specific lubrication needs like the primary chain case.

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2. Time to replace those worn brake pads. If you can't do a visual check, it shouldn't be too much effort to get to your pads to make a determination if they need to be replaced or not. Trust us, there is no worse thing than that awful grinding coming from worn out brake pads. We carry replacement pads as well as rotors, calipers, and full brake kits.

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3. How old is your chain? What kind of condition is it in? The chain takes a ton of abuse on the road and from the engine. Here's how to check your chain: pull it as much as possible off of the rear socket. If you can see more than half of the tooth then you probably need a new chain. Also, if the teeth are curved then it's time for a new chain.

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4. Change your oil, duh! This is a no brainer, but what better time for a messy project than when your motorcycle is sitting comfortably in the garage. Oil is king when it comes to engine life. Make sure you never leave cruddy oil in a bike over any length of time.

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5. How are your tires? You spent a season tearing up that rubber so it's always a good idea to check for tread depth and dry rot especially as they get older. If you see any, get some new tires.

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We never like to leave our bikes sitting idly by (crappy pun intended). However, there is plenty we can do during that time to mitigate the boredom of our lives!