On Board Diagnostics
The carburetor is dead. That's it. In another ten years a powersports carburetor will be something that shows up in a thrift store, ready to be mounted on a plaque or a trophy base, destined to be a conversation starter at the next barbecue. “Yeah, you used to see those things on every bike, now they're all fuel injected.” The death of the lowly fuel mixer is not to be lamented. Computerized ignition and fuel injection systems have revolutionized all our four-wheeled transportation, and soon even the simplest, bottom line ATVs will be all computer controlled, and that's a good thing. Savings in fuel consumption, cleaner running engines, none of the advantages can be disputed. Are they more complicated than a simple carburetor? … [Read More...]
Checking Your Nuts and Bolts
Everyone knows how important oil and air filter changes are to the health of a bike. Checking the condition of brakes, greasing the pivot points in the frame and keeping clean fuel in the intake system, all tops on the list of tasks that must be done to make sure a customer's ride is ready to go when they want to get on it. But what about that oft-neglected task way down on the list in the periodic maintenance table, checking all the nuts and bolts on the machine? Not very exciting, huh? It's so much more interesting to get into a debate over what kind of oil to use than what kind of wrenches to spin, but keeping everything properly tightened should be high on the list of maintenance chores if you want every ride to be trouble free. Any … [Read More...]