Please tell me how to look after my bike

[Shez rs250 FirstBikeEver]

Hi everyone, i bought a black rs250 last week, had under 2500 on the clock n is r reg, only got it for £1850, the condition is mint!

My question to all u lot is that i require guidance on how to look after my bike. I always warm it up until the temp is about 40C (is that enough?). I have also been told to only use the best 2 stroke oil; silkolene. If there is anything else I should do then please tell me because I really love my bike and i love the whole motorbike scene; most bikers nod at me and its really convenient, park anywhere! Any help will be appreciated.

[spanairRS125]

40 is enough, I go out with 35c, but take it easy untill is warmed to about 45c-49c. So yeah it's fine ;) .

About the oil, I've used once silkone so far (And it's this week i bought it, to test it). They say that silkolene oil soils the carbs or something, not sure about that tho. But I try to use the best oils I can get. I will say the best 2 fully synthetic 2 stroke oil out there is castrol TTS ( i think it's called)

:)

[doc wat]

As long as the temp gauge has stopped flashing 'cold' you're ok to ride it, always get it serviced and use the best 2stroke oil. I use Castrol TTS (£10 a litre, but worth it). One more thing if you plan to go winter riding, DONT, the salt will kill your aprilia.Stay cool & enjoy.:cool:

[chrisiball]

I always use Putoline tt extra (nowknown as TTS)
and i always will, Dont think Silkolene will soil your carbs as no oil passes through the carbs! But i have heard some negative reports about silkolene!
Also i would only use Shell Optimax or BP super unleaded, you can feel the difference if you put crappy normal stuff in. And the engine will benefit from higher RON fuel

[keean]

With reference to the running temperature, The manual recomends nor hammering it until 55 degrees C, you should also know that power from the engine drops above 65 degrees C - so you should try and keep the temperature between the two.

[dowzerr]

dont nail it until its at least 50. I use castrol R2, I have used most oils and this is the best by far.

[Shez rs250 FirstBikeEver]

how often should I service it, every year? every 2000 miles? and what products do u lot recommend?

[dowzerr]

The service indicator comes up every 5000miles but depending on how hard you ride you may wanna service it more regularly. I always run my bike on high octane fuel (98 minimum) and use octane booster to get it higher, You want to run these bikes as clean as possible. Their are a few performance enhancing bits you can get for your bike (a few on this site) like exhaust systems, reeds etc. myself I have a Suzuki kit ignition, Giannelli exhausts, carbon fibre reeds, carbon fibre bodywork. It all depends how much you wanna change and your bank balance.:D

[keean]

Basic daily maintanance (if your riding on the road).

something called the POWER checks (its to make it easy to remember)

Petrol: check you have enough petrol, check the fuel tap is on...
Oil: check there is enough oil in the oil tank.
Water: Check the water level for the coolent.
Electrics: check all your lights and horn work (indicators,sidelight,headlight,taillight,brakelig ht), check the kill switch is off.
Rubber: check the tyres are not flat and have sufficient tread. Check the brake pads are not worn out and work without problems (ie no leaks when you apply the brakes), and the amount of fluid in the reservoirs is between the max and min lines...

Finally one they miss out on is the chain, you should check chain tension and lubrication. People use different things to lubricate their chain, I personally don't touch thick chain goo which tends to trap grit and form an abrasive paste making your chain wear out... I use plain WD40 - you only need a very little and it is such a light weight lubricant surface tension keeps it on the chain rather than stickyness - also because it is so light weight you probably get an extra half a horsepower at the back wheel! The only drawback is that you have to apply much more regularly than you would with sticky chain lube (basically apply a very little every day - you dont want it dripping off the chain)

Less often it is worth checking the suspension, you should push down, and release the bike. The bike should not spring up, but rather return to the start position at a controlled speed. You should check front and rear separately...

Also when you check suspension (weekly or monthly) check the bearings... lift the front wheel off the ground (get someone to help you) try to wiggle the wheel whilst they hold the handlebars straight. There should be no side-to-side play in the wheel. Also try to move it forwards and backwards to check the headstock bearings - a slight movement may be acceptable for the headstock bearing - you can always tighten the adjuster... Do the same for the rear wheel, IE check the wheel bearing by trying to wiggle the wheel whilst someone holds it off the ground. Check the swing arm bearing by trying to move the whole swing arm from side to side.

Lastly check the spark plugs, Take them out, check the spark gap with a feeler guage - compare with a new plug... Check the colour, they should be biscuit brown with possibly a dark oily coating, however the oily coating should not be too much ... finally clean them up with a brass bruch and check the ceramic part for cracks. Any cracks replace the sparkplug...

Probably also check gearbox oil level...

Doing the daily checks will take under 5 minutes. The other checks will take longer - which is why you dont do them every day - I would say at least once a month. This should allow you to catch most potential problems before they get too serious.

[spanairRS125]

lol some very very good advice there by keean :lol: ;)

[dowzerr]

dont forget powervalve cleaning, ang greasing the kickstart pivot, that thing is prone to seizing in the upright position.

[PCP]

I like the subject but, there is something I think must be said about maintenance. Rings and Pistons substitution (interval?) and powervalves...

V´s

[keean]

Well, okay I thought this was basic maintainance... Check piston rings (for a road bike) ever 12,000 to 15,000 miles, pistons, probably about every 50,000 (or more) as long as no problems on visual inspection, and rings have been regularly replaced. Powervalves don't really need any maintainance on a road bike - just soak in petrol when doing the rings, and scrub with a nylon brush... You can get vented power valve covers but then the bike needs an oil catch tank that needs emptying every few hundred miles...

[PCP]

Keean, I´ve heard different oppinions on the Rings and Pistons replacement intervals for road use (with 3-4 track day per year), and yours seem too distanced to what I´ve heard (they said to me between 3200-6250 miles to replace rings and pistons every two changes of the rings) is that right?, Why so much difference? I´m confused but I´d love your answer were the rigth one (cheaper maintenance):lol:

[keean]

Firstly those should have been kilometers not miles (oops), which works out about 10000/12000 miles...

The manual recommends you check them every 5000/6000 miles - so I guess thats where the confusion comes from. A lot of people probably think "I have them out to check, I may as well put new ones in" ... Actually there was still quite a bit of meat left on my piston rings after 10,000 miles, and I though they probably could have been left for a bit longer... (albeit with probably a bit too much blow-by).

As for pistons they recommend changing every 10,000 miles as well - but I suspect you can get away with a bit longer... (mine have certainly done longer)... But 50k was probably way over (that will teach me to reply without checking the manual)

Before I started servicing my bike myself, I am reasonably certain the mechanics at the garage never took the heads off - that was one of the reasons I started doing it myself...