Time To Start Thinking About Winter Bike Maintenance

Greetings to my potential readers.

Since the weather in Arkansas starting to turn colder I am considering starting winter maintenance on my bikes. I have two and half great bikes in my stable.  My bikes include a Suzuki Burgman 650, a Husqvarna TR650 Terra and a non-descript Chinese 50 cc scooter.

The Suzuki Burgman 650 Superscooter I purchased from my wonderful friend and brother from another mother, Tim.

Riding the Burgman is quite an experience. It's sort of like sitting on your recliner except when you hit the recline button or pull back on the lever the bike zooms off the line and you end up being first away from the traffic light or stop sign.  These things can really accelerate. Riding comfortably is truly an understatement. And, talk about utilitarian, wow.  The under seat storage is cavernous which lends itself really well to grocery shopping and running all sorts of errands.

Since I just finished regular maintenance including changing the oil, changing the transmission oil and the rear end gear fluid.  For my winter project I think I will be pulling the bike apart and checking the drive belt and if necessary replacing it.

My other bike is my Husqvarna TR650 Terra. This bike is a "one of" bike.  What I mean by that is, that it was originally built by BMW in Italy in 2013-2014. Those dates coincide with the years that BMW sold their interests in Husqvarna to KTM.  This left everyone that owned this bike without factory support. So, we fend for ourselves or have been since the sale of Husqvarna.  It seems that both companies are under a lot of government pressure world wide to insure that the 10 year required support and parts periods are honored and we are beginning to see that happen with Australia leading the way and Canada beginning to get support also. I am hopeful the US will fall into place soon.

As for maintenance, my Husky needs bearing maintenance. This winter I will replace or regrease the head bearings, swing arm bearings and front wheel bearings.  It already has new rear wheel and carrier sprocket bearings and new tires front and back. I've also done oil, oil filter changes and cleaned the air filter.

The "half bike" is my son's 50cc scooter that managed to be stolen this summer. When it came back to us the wiring harness was wrecked from the thieves hot wiring the bike.  I did get it running again but it now has carb problems.  I will need to put it on the lift and strip the carburetor out and clean it to see if it will run properly. I suspect it has the low idle jet clogged.

I will post some pictures of these bikes and post here soon.