THIS Is Why You SHOULDN'T SKIP Basic Maintenance!

[@spitescorner]

Let that serve as a warning to you not to skip basic maintenance! What's the worst thing you've found in your bike?

[@dalecolegrove6652]

Bought a used KTM 690 and the first time I went to loosen the front axle nut, it was not even close to hand tight. I was surprised it hadn't fallen off already.

[@The_RC_Guru]

Harley ultra classic Electra glide- had new rear tire put on right before a 1300 mile round trip to Sturgis. Got home and went to check over the bike. Belt way too loose…. Rear axle nuts completely loose(eclips kept nut from falling off) Yeah my pre trips are much more thorough now especially after having a shop touch my stuff. Dumbest I’ve felt in a long time.

[@xXxLolerTypxXx]

The mechanic I brought my bike to for the last mandatory general inspection has put my front tire on backwards. I've been riding around for 2 years without noticing it. For the next inspection I used a checklist and found that out. Got some tire irons, weights and a balancing stand to put it on the right way. I guess if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself. Please do more maintenance videos if you want to. Really enjoyed this one, and it's an important topic!

[@MachoMadness69420]

Never found anything particularly nasty on my bikes. While changing wheels on a fwd car (not mine) one of the nuts, that is supposed to keep the driveshafts from falling out of the wheel hubs, fell off as I pulled the wheel 😵 Guy should probably have bought a lottery ticket that day.

[@annfranksus1531]

Not basic maintenance, but I bought a used bandit 1200s and the previous owner removed the air cleaner box for pods and rejetted the carb. Bike ran like crap and burned through its fuel. Took a few months to figure out since it was all new to me, now it runs beautifully and needs all the other attention like breaks and tire maintenance.

[@THMPR390]

How timely, I was just about to head out to the garage and change my brake fluid. Now I can procrastinate and watch you do it for 20 more mins. Good stuff.

[@SamWilliams78]

This is the way

[@blipco5]

So I’m not the only one who goofs off like that. 🍻

[@KeViNMCMXXCIX]

It's a good motivator to do it after, or simultaneously lol.

[@ryanashley347]

Maintenance videos are cool to watch. More videos of various projects working on your bikes would be great.

[@annfranksus1531]

Always good to have more recourse for how to do things. Really helps those of us who are still learning

[@wtfgebeurdmij2991]

Hey Spite, you where wondering if we liked this kind of free style video right? I like it, but it would have been very rewarding to see your reaction to the maintained bike with fresh fluids and brake pads. I always find that moment a very rewarding part for all the hard work and missed that moment in the video! But its no big deal, would still watch without it. Thanks for reading.

[@KeViNMCMXXCIX]

Spite getting/having/building a project bike would be lit!

[@SamWilliams78]

Spite, a great tip my dad taught me as a youth when starting bolts is to actually run them backwards until you feel it drop (when the threads just want to start) and then run them on in. It has been super handy over the years and I’ve never cross threaded anything using this method.

[@tohrmentrixabyss1713]

I do the same thing on anything with nuts, bolts, even pop bottle caps. It's just habit now

[@sabiti5428]

thats a good tip. Ive been doing that via muscle memory and never thought people did it any different.

[@Joao18]

@@tohrmentrixabyss1713 Me too, even in the water bottles i do it.

[@500ccRabbit]

The most common forgotten step: making sure your tires have the right amount of pressure

[@spitescorner]

I top em off every time I take is out

[@spartanx169x]

To your point,I have bought 10 different motorcycles. Not a single one had even close to the right amount of air. Most had dangerously low levels of air.

[@mattdrums4you]

​@@spitescorner same same

[@darius0lupus]

​@@spitescorner likewise

[@dillonreynolds370]

To what psi at what temp

[@shawnallen8470]

This stuff is amazing to watch. Would love to see more of these kind of videos especially for those who are trying to learn to do this ourselves.

[@dasko3]

Watched to the end. I enjoyed it. Also thank you for providing excellent evidence as to why and how center stands are key!

[@spitescorner]

Center stands are where it's at!

[@ADingoTookMyDasco]

These types of video's are great. It's like sitting around in the garage watching a mate fix his bike while I sit there & drink his beer, only it's my beer I'm drinking & I can't point out what he did wrong after he spent an hour trying to do it. It's also given me some motivation to do a couple of things on my bike that I've been putting off, like an oil & filter change, new brake pads, brake fluid bleed, replacing the side stand, replacing the fork oil & seals, replacing the sprocket & chain, replacing the air filter, replacing the coolant fluid & installing the brackets for my panniers. Oh, and I need to do the fork oil & seals and replace the clutch on my other bike. On second thoughts I hate these video's because they remind me of how much I have to do to my bikes.

[@chrishart8548]

How do you put off brake pads and fork seals. I take it the bikes no really rideable at that point

[@ADingoTookMyDasco]

@@chrishart8548 The fork seal has just started to go on one of the stanchions & the pads are only being replaced because I'm bleeding the brakes & want new pads as a reference point when I'm refilling the fluid. I'm actually just waiting for the parts for the other bike to fix it first. My bikes are my only form of transport, so i can only have one of them off the road at a time.

[@thorstenmetalhead9666]

Thanks SPITE for this awesome video! This is the stuff, yammie would never post but is VERY IMPORTANT. I love this kind of content and will watch every minute of it! Tip for the rear breakpads: Just put a towel on the chain and clip it with clothing clips (so it acts like a barrier between your hand and the chain)

[@joellikness2121]

I like it. Anything you can do to encourage people to do their own routine maintenance is a good thing. To me makes the motorcycling experience that much better!

[@chrish6373]

Love the format. Putting your lumps into the process really helps send home that it's not magic, you need to put the effort into making things right.

[@emeraldspartan1135]

Loved this! The chest mount was a great call to see what you were seeing - thanks Spite!

[@gordlockwood1213]

I liked the honesty of your video. Some edit out everything except the perfect job. They have perfect tool for everything and never make a mistake or have melt down because manufacturer has made their life miserable due to some design stupidity. What I can relate to is having to run to store to buy some metric allen key I know I have, but can't find or talking to inanimate objects because I have to remove 7 bolts to take a side panel off off my quad. Thanks for the video!

[@naturally-youtube]

watching you do the work in the middle of a parking lot gives me so much confidence to work on my bike without a garage.

[@spitescorner]

Where there's a will there's a way! You can do your own maintenance anywhere

[@c10204]

This was really good to watch. The first time I worked on my bike it was a bit intimidating, and videos like this really help get over that feeling.

[@TheSar]

This was a really excellent, home-shop style, maintenance video. Great work man.

[@bukinnear]

Glad to see this video went exactly the same as every one of my own maintenance sessions. Oil change was perfunctory, brake job made me question my sanity and every life choice up until that moment, and by the end of it all at least one thing was no longer working the way it did when I started.

[@davegutierrez3670]

Better i hope

[@johnstanley6519]

This was good stuff to watch. It’s good to have a POV shot of what needs to get done and how to do it.

[@SummitCoyote]

The wrenching stuff is fun. Havent really found anything weird or out of the ordinary yet but I sure hope so with a brand new bike. That fluid was insane

[@cavalrycop1]

Great video! True to life frustrations when doing bike maintenance. I feel your pain brother! Job wee done!

[@bonacci01]

You inspired me to do my brake fluid, haven't done it since I owned it. No telling if previous owner did it! Thanks !

[@ChykenBoB]

Loved the video Spite! Would totally be down to see some more of this “loose” “Freeform” content. I just absolutely love how all of your videos are pieced together and laid out.

[@NC71]

Gloves and a garage might be handy. But it is good to see how someone does bike maintenance, great job.

[@danielrogers5113]

Timely as I start to get my bike ready as the season approaches in cold and windly New England.

[@Luun89]

I like how there's a section of this video titled "Spite's Mental Breakdown" 🤣

[@baymoto553]

I thought this was a very good effort on your part Spite. Good to see everyday maintenance tasks being done by a ''shady tree'' mechanic. Kind of reminded me of a Shadetree Surgeon video. Thanks

[@Lunchbox87km]

Nice video, for sure more vids like this would be awesome. I wish more stuff like this was out when I first started riding.

[@miquelcolet6946]

Detailed maintenance and repair videos (and mod installs) are super helpful! Thx!

[@iceburg254]

I use a syringe to pull the old fluid out of the master cylinders, or a turkey baster. That way I do not mix old and new fluid.

[@Onereelrider]

I didn't see if you did it, but two things I would change is, place down a towl over your paint/handlebars to protect the paint from the brake fluid. Also I would have sucked most of the bad fluid first, so it doesn't have to go through the system.

[@Jagshemasher]

I've never seen brake fluid like that in my 40 odd years of wrenching on my own vehicles. What's more impressive is the degree to which your wrenching skills have improved over the years - looking very proficient! With brake fluid like that I would take a look at the fork oil also.

[@spitescorner]

I'm gonna get them serviced at the next valve service interval

[@wtfgebeurdmij2991]

​@@spitescorner Hey Spite, you where wondering if we liked this kind of free style video right? I like it, but it would have been very rewarding to see your reaction to the maintained bike with fresh fluids and brake pads. I always find that moment a very rewarding part for all the hard work and missed that moment in the video! But its no big deal, would still watch without it. Thanks for reading.

[@spartanx169x]

Same for me. I can't even begin to guess what would cause that. I have also never changed the fluid just be changing it.

[@wwktpplonius2675]

yeah I wonder if someone put some wrong fluid at some point.

[@Jagshemasher]

@@wwktpplonius2675 - yes - or added treacle to the brake fluid

[@validation119]

It was a good video style tbh. A back to basics way of doing it, it's nice to see. Thank you.

[@yescavol1637]

Good one and looking forward to the video of the trip to Florida

[@ATL_Rider79]

After flushing the rear system, put the cap back on the bottle (especially in Southern states) while prepping the front. Brake fluid is ultra hydrophilic 🤙🏼

[@andyb2311]

Mate that was real world stuff , Things sometimes never go to plan and that is always enjoyable to watch .

[@chadsacrey6274]

REALLY ENJOYED THIS STYLE OF VIDEO FOR SURE

[@secondwindrevivals9830]

nothing like a parking garage service. Word to the wise, put a tie wrap on the eyes on the circlip that's on the rear wheel axle nut. those have a tendency to magically disappear.....

[@jeremyvahle5861]

Thank you for making me feel normal. Thought it was just me when something won’t go back where it belongs when it came off so easily! Great video and reminder to do ALL THINGS motorcycle not just the riding.

[@RollinwithRoland]

Ahoy Jake! At 8:15... I'm suddenly flashing back to our conversation in front of FA about that "unique" rear brake design, hahaha!!!

[@waynemccurdy3899]

Great video Spite! This is exactly how every maintenance job goes for me - it was like watching myself except you were in much better humor and no cursing.

[@spitescorner]

There was sooooooooo much cursing lol I cut a ton out

[@hyperrhino9258]

As a Hyper 950 owner, would highly recommend when you come off the road to check the sump screen, replace gaskets and torque the filter and drain. It sounds snooty, Ducatis are picky about torque values. However, this all serves as a great road warrior method when you don't have the garage to setup in. Same for brake fluid, I pull out as much old as I can rather than flushing it through the ABS manifold.

[@ml3487]

It's all good, I can't get my front brake reservoir open. 🤣Happy riding.

[@rcvg69420]

a Protip, if you have your bleeder cup higher than the bleeder valve on the brake, you can usually leave it open and just cycle the lever, it will usually push about 90 percent through the line and only suck back about 10 percent.

[@chaseweeks2708]

Something I did to mine that you might consider: I wired my USB through a relay tied to the ACC circuit, then ran a USB cable directly to the GPS tracker so that I never have to take the thing out to charge it. Unfortunately, when I did that I found out that I didn't ride the bike quite enough to keep it charged (low amperage charger was likely the actual problem) so I swapped the cables around and tied it into constant 12v. As long as I ride it at least every 3 or 4 days it's good, and I'm running a lithium battery with low voltage cutoff just in case I forget. Haven't even looked at my tracker in several months.

[@shelby.daytona6890]

Great job man...i appreciate you doing this as the home dude with no experience and no professional tools...on a frikkin texas rooftop...👍

[@admireinspire]

Way more fun to watch other people struggle than to do it yourself but it probably motivated a few slackers to do theirs which is always good. Spite out here casually saving lives.

[@Wintersdark]

Strong agree on brakes - I do it every spring personally - just bleed through a bunch of new fluid. It's REALLY easy, and if you're doing it anally or twice a year it doesn't matter if you're not changing 100% of the fluid, you'll keep cycling through it and keep it fresh. More importantly you're actually looking at it frequently so you're not going to be surprised, you'll catch problems early.

[@spartanx169x]

Why? Unless you are abusing your brakes. Brake fluid is not like oil. It doesn't just wear out. It would only need replacing if the fluid got so hot it boiled out of the master cylinder for some odd reason. I had a Toyota Corolla that I put 376,000 miles on and not once did I do a brake fluid change. Not a single time, and the brakes never once failed me.

[@Wintersdark]

@@spartanx169x it degrades over time. Yeah, you can run it for years and it won't fail abruptly but there's a noticeable change of brake feel as it does so. It picks up substantial heat and cooks. The heat buildup tends to be a lot more extreme as you've basically just got the small volume in the front absorbing heat from more rapid braking all on one tire. Motorcycle maintenance schedules typically show 2 - 4 years for fluid, but new fluid gives better brake feel and response from the front tire under braking, and over-changing it helps prevent potential problems such as gradual water ingress over time. After all, did you not see the brake fluid in the front reservoir of his Ducati? It was goopy. That's BAD. Brake failure may be unlikely, but even just poor performance when you need to rely on them could mean a lengthy hospital stay... Or death. Or you can just properly maintain your motorcycle. You ABSOLUTELY should have changed your Corollas brake fluid over that distance, but the demands on a Corolla's brakes or generally not remotely like those of a motorcycle's brakes, and more importantly the consequences of inadequate braking is WAY less severe in the car. Toyota recommends every 48 months you replace brake fluid. Your failure to properly maintain your Corolla is not a good guide to how you should treat a motorcycle.

[@maguslascivious4980]

LOL that 2 hole thing was how old folks had to drink beer. V8 used to come in huge cans. Juice too. Can openers had a little triangle thing on the end just for opening that kind of stuff. Brake honey? Brake marmalade.. na not citrus... Ducati brake jam? ...

[@ahakim98006]

I am restoring an old 1990 FZR600. When I opened the front brake res the fluid was like a gel. More like toothpaste. I was able to clean the master cylinder and calipers, but decided to replace the lines.

[@spitescorner]

I'm hoping fresh fluid is enough to solve the issue, but I'm keeping an eye on it

[@victorraynes4962]

Love the vid. I can see based on the sun that it took you longer than you may have thought. Sundown but hey, you got it done. 😊

[@tarasmithskitchen2614]

Awesome video! Patreon notification and link works... was wrenching on my bike yesterday, everyone should work on their bike! Just be careful not to void any warranty.

[@krisc4578]

Loved it, thanks for taking us along!

[@cwroberts79]

Good stuff. I enjoy doing maintenance and for some reason also watching it being done.

[@stevegee218]

On the Ducati rear caliper, you can get a air bubble that will go to the high point. It just happens that they like to put the bleeder screw on the bottom. On a 748/916/996, you can take the caliper off the bracket and flip it to the top of the rotor to bleed with the bleeder at the high point and still give the pads something to press against. I don't know if they gave you enough brake line on the Hyper to flip it.

[@Hi.my.name.is.___]

Great vid! It was great hanging at the campout. Keep up the great work, can’t wait to see what you got coming up!

[@shaybladescutlery9151]

If you start a bolt by turning it counterclockwise, you can feel the threads gently click into alignment then you can go clockwise to tighten.

[@nealsmo4359]

Couple things I would recommend addressing- Clean the rotors with pad change. At least brake cleaner, but Scotchbrite pad to remove old pad glazing is best. Second would be to bed the new pads to rotors. They need a heat cycle sequence to properly seat and lay new pad material on the rotor.

[@tomfriedman8554]

Love these kinds of videos as a new rider! Thanks spike!!

[@Uhrmacher2]

I really enjoyed seeing the basic maintenance in first person. I only have two addendums: 1. Did you replace the crush gasket on the oil drain plug? It seems like this would be an important step. It would suck to have a leaky plug and have to redo the oil changing process. You can buy a crush washer assortment for $7 at Harbor Freight. 2. What are your reasons for pre-filling the oil filter? There seems to be two camps of people- those that pre-fill and those who do not. Do you pre-fill the filters on all of your bikes, or do you specifically look for what the manufacturer says?

[@AndrewChristopherEnriquez]

I loved this content. I really enjoyed seeing you work out the issues you found when you ran into them. Good stuff!

[@Arsgawad]

Great content! I think being able to perform basic maintenance on your bike is essential, and will save you a lot of money.

[@raleighrider5631]

Great video man. Riding adventures, bike maintenance, these are the ones I like.

[@rfrake]

Needed to see this. Thanks for making this video!

[@jessz900]

Really enjoyed this video spite!!

[@bradleyjones5932]

you forgot to mention , putting on a new crush washer on the sump plug, keep up the great vids

[@shelby.daytona6890]

BTW the reason the brake fluid was goo is its dot4 and its hygroscopic wich absorbs moisture and that turns into a gel over time...great vid and nice to finally meet you at the FA campout...your doing great things with your channel keep it up bro...

[@soderstromk]

Way to keep it real. This is how it usually goes. And then you forget and assume it will be trouble-free the next time - because why shouldn't it be? The important thing is to just do it - easy or not.

[@ethanmontoya6162]

Great video. Makes me feel like I’ll be doing this stuff myself when I finally get a bike

[@craignh75]

Thank you for this informative video. I think you need to ask a friend to use their shop space, though. It looks like you are the mall, or airport. No bench, no stool. I felt for you. 😊

[@The_Entity]

be cool if you had a "playlist" of videos, each one focussing on a differnt aspect of maintenance. chain maintenance, brake bleeding, etc. it could be like an online how to guide .

[@zimman20]

Always appreciate your content, Spite - loose-form or not! Be safe on your way to/from Florida!

[@MinnowMoto]

I stayed, and it was great. Videos like these are very helpful and educational. Inspires me to try new things, like brake pads lol.

[@alwaysalphaofficial]

Watching you struggle with the rear brake pin reminds me of feeding the throttle cable barrel into the throttle plate actuator…

[@seanylewl]

Fantastic video, easily one of my favourites. Love this format and mechanical work.

[@danielangel5887]

Uncle Spite ain't having it, that quarter better bounce of this bed!! 😂

[@mwaychoff]

Love seeing videos like this, keep it up Spite! Maybe next time though don't show where you're putting your tracker if you want to be sure it'll do its job ;)

[@chrishart8548]

Was it just tucked under the seat Like all youtubers do with the tracker

[@mwaychoff]

@@chrishart8548 yes….it was lol

[@chrishart8548]

@Matt Waychoff I think they just don't want to give way the good hiding places. There are usually many. On most bikes it could probably be hidden in the air box.

[@taylodl]

I would LOVE to see more motorcycle maintenance videos, shade tree mechanic style. This is awesome!

[@bmohr9826]

This video is informative and relatable. I too have all of the tools except the one I need😂

[@carver7689]

Maintenance tips are always good, even if it's routine stuff like this. I'd forgotten about bleeding the front brakes, to do the longer line first. And sometimes it's good to just see how somebody else does the same task. Maybe your way is better, or at least might give a different helpful perspective. I've seen milky nasty brake fluid, but never gelatinous like that. I wonder if the PO used two different kinds of fluid at some point? I've heard of people converting their system from DOT 4 to DOT 5, but it's a time-consuming and potentially expensive project. Or maybe the PO was just a yutz who didn't know how to do a brake job. Either way, glad to see it worked out in the end.

[@ctrlaltowned5223]

As someone who has done oil changes on many cars, I’ve been told best to change the oil warm so it gets the fluid out faster.

[@spitescorner]

Yup, I ran it for a few minutes prior to dropping it. You don't want to let it get too hot though, otherwise you can't work on it

[@totemeren]

I can super reccomend getting a pack of latex gloves from your local parts shop, for working on your bike, my dad taught me to always have a box in my car and by my toolset so whenever i have to dip my hands into the dirty bits, i get to dodge the huge mess i make of myself. Love the video though, i can just feel the raw human emotzioné!

[@DaBurntToaster]

rather than turning a bolt with your hands, you can turn the bolt with a tool in reverse while applying pressure till you hear a click, the click is the bolt backing out from reversing it, and once you've passed the opening the bolt smacks the threads making a click. i've been doing this for years, its never failed me, even works or other random things like the hydraulic dust caps and overboard drain plugs on the aircraft i work on. unscrew before screwing on, never cross thread again

[@alexisvazquez611]

More maintenance vids plz!

[@tohrmentrixabyss1713]

This is just what I needed. I'm about to do my oil and brakes for the first time this summer. I'll KZbin my specific bike but this was a great intro. I plan to buy a quadlock but also want to install a USB charger but I'm not sure about how to hide all the wiring

[@Fr3ddyM3hrCurry]

I liked the vid. this kinda free flowing talk quiet suits you

[@goldmanstacks1445]

Solid video thanks man!

[@dmitrijr7065]

Spite is one of the few, who is filling up the oil filter👍

[@andrewhoffman4328]

Really enjoy your maintenance videos

[@billowyvilla]

Good to see someone else having trouble with 'simple' tasks. BTW, the tracker needs to be somewhere hard to find. Under the seat is too obvious.

[@awpgaming7505]

when doing pads for the front, you gotta put them in dont tighten the caliper yet rotate the wheel then clamp down on the front brake making sure your pads are aligned correctly then go ahead and tighten the calipers

[@ktmracer3587]

Love this type of content seems relatable for a lot a lot of people.

[@JasonRidesmoto]

I watched til the end and enjoyed every minute!

[@motoBG12]

Really nice video! Very useful for me as a beginner rider😎

[@KeViNMCMXXCIX]

I most definitely enjoyed this video. Really liked the more free forming of it. Felt real immersive to me. Also great you're going to the campout on the Ducati. She'll/He'll be fine after this for sure! The brake fluid though, sheeshhh. 😮😂 I was thinking and joking to myself when you were checking the rear brakes when we got to look at your hair: "Spite, Do I see some grey hairs growing now?" 😂 (I didn't spot one 😆) And I paused the video for a bit there and saw the chapter name and laughed. It's so relatable, stuff should be easy sometimes hard to reach but doable for sure, and you just can't get it in for whatever reason. Fun fact I always do tread nuts and bolts in with the hand. Whether it be car, motorcycle, bicycle and even furniture lol. Whilst a lot of my colleagues don't and I always be thinking like bro, wtf you doing?! You want to strip the entire treads out or what?! 😂 I guess that just means I have more technical insight and handiness or just want to be more safe with that then them, lol. Also isn't it wise to hide where the tracker is on a motorcycle to make it less easy for thieves. Well on the other hand it means they either seen this video or other videos of other people or just guess right lol.

[@Magic_Toaster]

I was going to go look up how to change my brake pads, now I know, woo!

[@deo8737]

More of this!

[@etiennecarriere2838]

Loved this type of video!!

[@ChykenBoB]

Yea… I have a list of maintenance I need to get done before the weather really starts getting nice where I’m at. Brake bleed, coolant flush, oil change, chain cleaned and lubed, and then it needs a good wash and polish

[@tonyjourneyman1944]

Enjoyed the video. I think you need some gloves. I bought a box of 300 for about $10, well worth it. I never used them before but now I'm converted.

[@1905flyer3]

Damn, I thought that was you in FL, plenty of BBQ and beer… Nice video!