2500mi maintenance on TT250

[flopsweat]

Hard to believe, but in 8 short months (3 in winter), I actually already reached my first 2500mi "riding" miles, and I'm due for another service. I did the valve adjustment at the 500 mark, and a few oil changes, but wanted to ask if anyone has any other suggestions on what to check etc, other than what's listed in the manual maintenance schedule. I have a 400 mile camping trip coming up in a couple weeks so just want to be sure all my ducks are in order.

[Wild Dog]

Check every time of the maintenance schedule. What i would pay extra attention:

-The spokes, that they are not loose or have any kind of erosion.

-The rims for erosion, bends or anything that's not normal

-The wheel bearings even more if they are the original chinese ones

-The front fork fastener, see if they are loose or out of torque.

-Swingarm, same as front fork, check the fastener and check that there is no odd movement.

-The whole exhaust see if it is loose.

-Lube the clutch and throttle cable, see if you can feel any kind of drag, they
should be smooth

-Put a bit of lithium grease on the bolt that holds in place the cluch lever, not and insane amount but just enough to slow down the wear of the metal on metal.
Do the same for the bolt that holds the brake lever but use silicon grease instead

-Same goes for the rear brake lever use a bit of lithium grease for the shaft.

-Look for rust in the frame, if you need clean it and apply a bit of touch up paint.

-Fuel lines, if they feel dry and hard, change them.


The motorcycle is still a newborn and right now is the best time to find anything odd that could cause you a headache in the future.

[Megadan]

^^^^^ That

I would add a couple of small additions. Go beyond just simply checking the swing arm for play but remove the axle and apply a thin coat of marine grease to it and to the inner sleeves of the bushings in the swing arm just as it is common practice to smear a little grease on the wheel axles (which I would also do).

When you grease the clutch and brake lever pivot bolts as suggested put some medium thread locking compound (blue loctite) and the threads of the bolts and the lower nut if it has one.

[flopsweat]

Oh wow there's a lot more to check than I thought, so I'm just gonna run down the list of "things that I know nothing about".



-Wheel bearings. How involved are these to change? I know they're super cheap, seems like front guy would be easy, the rear one worries me. Would I need special tools, or is it more like loosen the axle, slide the wheel forward, lift off the chain, and pull it off?



-Cable lube. Lithium grease as well? Why would I use a tiny bit of lithium grease on the clutch lever mounting bolts, but use silicone grease on the brake lever bolts? I'm not questioning the method, just curious on the differences.


-Axle grease. Marine grease for this one? I get why, cuz it gets wet, but does that mean I should get three different kinds of grease for this and the above?

[Wild Dog]

Originally Posted by flopsweat

Oh wow there's a lot more to check than I thought, so I'm just gonna run down the list of "things that I know nothing about".



-Wheel bearings. How involved are these to change? I know they're super cheap, seems like front guy would be easy, the rear one worries me. Would I need special tools, or is it more like loosen the axle, slide the wheel forward, lift off the chain, and pull it off?



-Cable lube. Lithium grease as well? Why would I use a tiny bit of lithium grease on the clutch lever mounting bolts, but use silicone grease on the brake lever bolts? I'm not questioning the method, just curious on the differences.


-Axle grease. Marine grease for this one? I get why, cuz it gets wet, but does that mean I should get three different kinds of grease for this and the above?

Yes there are few things to check, but this is not unique for the chinese motorcycles, even if you had a similar Honda you would have to check the same stuff

About the wheel bearings they are quite easy to check and easy to remove IF
and it's a big IF you have the tools for the jobs. I have seen an insane amount of broken hubs due people trying to remove the bearings with a tube and a hammer.
The key to an easy job is to use the right tools to remove the bearings.


Cables you can use motor oil if you want, but they sell specialty oil for those cables. Check this video, i use the second method.



"Why would I use a tiny bit of lithium grease on the clutch lever mounting bolts"
Another lost in translation, things like this happen when you are not native to the language.
I was talking about the one in green.

Remove the bolt and you will see it has a non-threaded area, lube that part.
Why? To mitigate the natural wear and tear


"but use silicone grease on the brake lever bolts?"
Silicone grease is way friendlier with plastic and rubber parts, there are few parts of the brake system that is made out of small rubber pieces.
Even if you go to your local store and ask for brakes lube, they will give you silicone grease.

[flopsweat]

I might skip the wheel bearing replacement at the moment and just inspect them, I definitely don't have the right tools. I used to repair motor encoders and had to remove and install bearings all the time, and we did NOT have the right tools, and I ruined many of them using, yes, a tube and hammer. Not really wanting to gamble with that.


Makes sense about the silicone vs lithium on soft parts, as well as the bolt that holds the actual lever in place.


And as always.... You guys are a lifesaver.

[Megadan]

Most of this stuff is just inspecting things. You would be surprised how much a lot of this is easily done during the process of doing another. A good example is while checking the wheel bearings you will have both wheels off which makes something like checking the swing arm bushings and greasing the axle very easy.

The chances of you needing to change the wheel bearings are very small. What is being suggested is to just check them to make sure they are still good. If they feel dry and free spin at all it is a good idea to pop the seal off on each side and add some grease at a minimum. If they are notchy or grainy feeling then they are definitely bad and should be replaced.

As far as the grease question - Marine grease is just lithium based grease that has a formulation to make it stick better and not wash off when exposed to water as easily. The purpose of coating the axles is to actually help prevent the axle and bearings from corroding and seizing together.