Improvised A-frame, lol!

There are times that we may need to pull an engine out but lack resources or tools. I've removed engines from big bikes several times using an aluminum ladder. There were times that friends gave me a bikes that were stored at the back of their garage or warehouses where moving the bikes was impossible because of all the crap around the bikes and all I needed was the engine (same here with the jet ski). Here I've used several bike ratchet straps to lift the engine and pieces of wood to pry it out :)

Using an aluminum ladder as an A-frame is a bit of a balancing act but it does the job well as long as you know your ladder's weight capacity, plus it will be best or a lot safer if you have someone to spot/hold/guide you when you are removing or installing the engine especially if you are working on unstable grounds. The ladder may topple and fall once you've raised the engine because the legs of the ladder might sink or dig in the ground causing the ladder to fall. Make sure that you have secured your ladder on something solid like strapping the ladder on a wall, a car, a strong fence, etc. before raising the engine. Many people have done this and it works.

Just be careful, work slow and use common sense. Stay clear of the engine while it is lifted and if your engine is falling, don't be a super hero trying to catch it because you can't. 

Tubless Tire Air Leak

Have you ever experienced getting a flat tire (tubeless) and couldn't find anything wrong with it. No cracks, no nails, rim looks good, have dipped the whole tire in water but can't see no air leaks but is gets flat over night or after a few days. 

Based on my experiences with using old 2nd hand crappy tires (cars and bikes) that the tires are often OK but the air valve's body crack due to age (rubber) causing air to leak. Sometimes the crack is very small that we couldn't see it even when we dip the tire in water. The easiest way to know if you have a failing air valve body is to spray some liquid around the base of the air valve's body, twist it around and look for air bubbles. Just be ready with your spare/emergency tire (for cars) because twisting the air valve's body might fully break-up the crack and you might be pushing your car or bike home if you don't have a spare or if you are kilometers away from a repair shop.

I always keep new spare air valves (around 25 pieces/ pack) and I do use them all, lol! Just recently I have used 2 on my truck, 2 for a big bike, 2 for my wife's car and 2 for this scooter. This is why I keep spares :)

How to change the air valve is not for beginners. You have to know how to remove the tire from the rim to get to the air valve. You'll need levers, bead breaker, air compressor, etc. and working with tires can be dangerous for newbies so I strongly suggest that if you are a newbie and have detected that you have a leaking tire air valve is to get proper help from a pro. If you can do the replacement/repairs yourself, I suggest that you keep a few spares in your tool box.

Biker's Eyeglass Cheap Repair

My eyeglasses are my best friends. I couldn't go out without them plus I always have to bring a spare because there are countless times I forgot where I removed them and have stepped on two of my eyeglasses while searching for them. Another biggest problem is that my MX helmet is so tight that I have broken one the arms of my eyeglasses twice while trying to pry it inside my helmet. I tried contact lenses but they were not for me...

Loose Two Stroke Oil Tank Cap

A few months ago I crashed my dirtbike on the trails while I was lazily enjoying the view. My bike's oil cap flew several meters away. I was riding on a small stream and the rocks gave me a hard time finding the oil cap. Most of my two stroke oil was dumped on the dirt but was enough for me to ride it back for a re-fill. I knew that my bike has a lose oil cap but was too lazy to get a replacement. I was lucky to have brought a pocket tissue paper with me and used it's plastic wrapper for the cap. Months have passed and I am still using plastic wrapper and it never failed me. I know that I should get a new replacement but since the plastic wrapper works perfectly, I think that I'll just keep it as is... hahaha!
This is a no-brainer fix for lose two stroke oil tank caps. The photos says it all...

My Off-Roading Tools

I hate bringing tools when I ride off-road (Trials or off-road). Tools are heavy and since I always have my truck loaded with real tools (hand tools, bearing pullers, drill, bike stand, air compressor, etc.) I often ride without my toolpack before but I have learned my lesson from my experiences and can't leave without them now...

Kawasaki Estrella 250 Lever Repair, etc...

This bike was a goner when it first came to me. The engine wont start and had several missing and damaged parts. Most of the parts are good and all it needed was a bit of work and some TLC. 

I think that this is one of the most easiest bikes to do a frame swap. No special skills and special tools needed. I also did a frame swap on the ZZR on the background (have done 20+ ZZR frame swaps...) but I'd rather do Estrellas than ZZRs any day :)

Because I am too cheap to to buy a lever, I heated it and slowly bashed it using a plastic hammer  to make it straight again. I learned this technique riding Trials bikes because my levers often get bent when I fall off a boulder or hit a tree. The problem with non-racing bikes are that the materials used are crap compared to "for competition use only", and hammering the lever on a normal bike can cause it to break. The technique here is to use heat and slowly bash it with a plastic hammer. Unlike Trials race levers that you can bash them without using heat and they still wont break.

Here is the photo of the lever after bashing it several times. I still could straighten it a bit more but I didn't want it to break it so best for me to stop here. The funny thing is after straightening the lever, I found two new levers in my desk that I forgot about. I didn't use the new ones and still have them somewhere...

The sad thing about working on gravel is searching for parts that accidentally fell down. Here I lost three steering head bearing and had to steal the bearings from my other Estrella just to get this done. 

The tail pipe was covered with rust and I'm too cheap to buy a new one so I just painted it with heat resistant paint and it looked sexy again.

My son stole the headlight from my dead Honda Steed to replace it's damaged headlight and also overhauled the carburetor himself because he was very eager to test the bike that afternoon, and waiting for me to overhaul the carb will take ages... He got the engine to run, then he bled the brakes, changed the engine oil and took it for a spin. Notice how happy he is with his work :) 

retro Suzuki Colleda rear pipe repair

There are mainly two types of two stroke mufflers found on motorbikes, one type is welded shut and cannot be cleaned easily without cutting open the muffler with a disc grinder or by using a cutting torch. cleaning this type of two stroke muffler can also be done by tossing it in a furnace or by blow torching to melt the oil sludge inside the pipe.

seat shoe shine

The back seat has been polished with shoe wax. Notice and compare the front and back seat.

My bike's seat turned pale and white from the sun and rain. I've tried many ways to get some shine back and based on my experience, the best and easiest way to do this is to shine it with shoe wax/polish. I know this sounds crazy but I have tried more stupid stuffs like leather wax spray and WD-40 but the shine is only very temporary and it is like sitting on a slide. Using shoe wax holds the longest shine but this too is very slippery and can be very dangerous and only a looney (like me) will prefer to sit on a slippery seat. I don't advice shining your bike's seat like a shoe but if you are putting your bike for display or in a museum, your seat will look very nice. 

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UPDATE: I changed the seat because I really hated those tiny holes which make my bike less sexy (see pic.) Also gave it a good shoe shine :)

temporary quick oil leak fix

This is a Suzuki Djebel 250 that a good riding buddy gave me. My friend rides like a looney and couldn't control himself riding on boulders pretending that this off-roader is a Trials bike. He rode over a boulder and hit the engine hard and cracked the engine. I was looking for a donor engine but I wanted to take it for a spin before the repairs. The oil leak was bad but it didn't stop me from riding it. 

ZZR headlight repair

This repair is very simple and straight forward. The bike crashed and one of the headlight bracket broke. I was able to salvage the main piece of the broken bracket but a piece of the puzzle was missing. To rebuild the missing piece my tool for the job was a normal soldering iron. Before I glued the broken piece I inserted two small metal rods for strength and support inside the bracket and melt plastic that I got from my pile of parts rubbish using my soldering iron. I filed and sand papered the excess plastic and touched painted the repaired area and it's good as new :)