Am i harming my bike? Maintenance Tips?

[Leahy]

Just bought a 2007 Crf250r for my first bike. I was wondering what maintenance I should be doing on it and how often I should be doing it. I ride mainly in the woods, (dirt, mud, sand, etc.) and I only ride on the weekends for maybe 1-3 hours per weekend. I know I have no change my oil and keep my air filter clean. But how often do I do this? And is there anything else I need to do?

 

Also, since im new to riding, im mainly in first gear throughout the woods. Am I hurting my bike? Also, I was told to ride the clutch more to get going and in every turn... but I also don't want to burn out my clutch.

 

Any help is really appreciated!

 

 

[BigBoyBike]

If your not over reving it it would help to shift through the gears a little bit but if you don't don't want to burn out your clutch just let it out slowly when your taking your turns don't hold it wide open and let the clutch out

[Red Mountain Addict]

Riding first gear won't hurt a thing unless you're over revving it and chancing it to explode. Try 2nd gear, it's more fun. Regarding riding in mud/water, plan on keeping an eye on all your rear suspension linkage and make sure it's always lubricated, otherwise you'll have a seize and go through hell fixing it. I generally try to keep my rigs dry and is why I ride desert, but every so often I come across a pools of water left from flash floods I can't ignore. It's those times that I make a mental note that my rear suspension just got wet and needs a look see. And don't ride your clutch. Get comfortable not even using a clutch. The only times I use a clutch is to stop or when I have to restart the bike. I never use my clutch to change gears and I'm not recommending you do the same. It's an art that can blow your rig up if you're not careful. Let's see a picture of that bad boy.

[not_again]

Riding first gear won't hurt a thing unless you're over revving it and chancing it to explode. Try 2nd gear, it's more fun. Regarding riding in mud/water, plan on keeping an eye on all your rear suspension linkage and make sure it's always lubricated, otherwise you'll have a seize and go through hell fixing it. I generally try to keep my rigs dry and is why I ride desert, but every so often I come across a pools of water left from flash floods I can't ignore. It's those times that I make a mental note that my rear suspension just got wet and needs a look see. And don't ride your clutch. Get comfortable not even using a clutch. The only times I use a clutch is to stop or when I have to restart the bike. I never use my clutch to change gears and I'm not recommending you do the same. It's an art that can blow your rig up if you're not careful. Let's see a picture of that bad boy.

I dunno if I agree with ya 100% there, YZ...

The wet clutch is a durable beast and it's meant to be ridden. Tight woods needs to be clutched...a lot. That means clutching when you lock up the back wheel or approach a big rock or log, or clutching in and out of a hairpin, etc. Fire roads and open trails are about the only places where I'm not on the clutch. And my clutches last forever, I mean years literally. Wet clutches are built for this. I don't always use it for gear changes but I'm on and off it a lot for drive and most other woods riders do this as well. 

Agree wholeheartedly that 2nd gear is more fun. I'm hardly ever in 1st, even on gnarly hillclimbs and rock gardens- I'm clutching the hell out of 2nd or third to keep in the powerband and maintain drive. 

 

Agreed on chassis greasing and to the OP: The factory applies almost no grease to the chassis bearings during assembly. You need to disassemble and grease yours- these are swingarm bearings, swingarm linkage bearings, and steering head bearings. The previous owner may have already done this, in which case it's long since time for it to be done again. If it's never been done then it's long overdue and possibly damaged.

Also grease your rear brake pedal pivot and hand lever pivots. I pressure wash my bike, so I disassemble and grease probably 5 times a year to keep them in good shape.

 

Git yourself a cable luber and keep your clutch, hotstart and throttle cables lubed.

 

Air filter clean and oil daily if it's very dusty, less if it's not. It's easier to have at least one spare air filter so you can just swap them in. I like Maxima filter oil.

 

Lube the chain. I like Maxima chain wax.

 

Check the valve clearances and shim as necessary.

 

A good oil change interval engine & trans in a CRF's case is 5-10 hours depending on how hard you work your engine. I change the filter every 2nd or third oil change. I change the tranny oil when I do the engine oil and always see some metal so it's obviously not premature. I use HP4M engine and Dexron6 trans.

 

This is off the top of my head so I'm sure I have forgotten something...

[Leahy]

I dunno if I agree with ya 100% there, YZ...

The wet clutch is a durable beast and it's meant to be ridden. Tight woods needs to be clutched...a lot. That means clutching when you lock up the back wheel or approach a big rock or log, or clutching in and out of a hairpin, etc. Fire roads and open trails are about the only places where I'm not on the clutch. And my clutches last forever, I mean years literally. Wet clutches are built for this. I don't always use it for gear changes but I'm on and off it a lot for drive and most other woods riders do this as well. 

Agree wholeheartedly that 2nd gear is more fun. I'm hardly ever in 1st, even on gnarly hillclimbs and rock gardens- I'm clutching the hell out of 2nd or third to keep in the powerband and maintain drive. 

 

Agreed on chassis greasing and to the OP: The factory applies almost no grease to the chassis bearings during assembly. You need to disassemble and grease yours- these are swingarm bearings, swingarm linkage bearings, and steering head bearings. The previous owner may have already done this, in which case it's long since time for it to be done again. If it's never been done then it's long overdue and possibly damaged.

Also grease your rear brake pedal pivot and hand lever pivots. I pressure wash my bike, so I disassemble and grease probably 5 times a year to keep them in good shape.

 

Git yourself a cable luber and keep your clutch, hotstart and throttle cables lubed.

 

Air filter clean and oil daily if it's very dusty, less if it's not. It's easier to have at least one spare air filter so you can just swap them in. I like Maxima filter oil.

 

Lube the chain. I like Maxima chain wax.

 

Check the valve clearances and shim as necessary.

 

A good oil change interval engine & trans in a CRF's case is 5-10 hours depending on how hard you work your engine. I change the filter every 2nd or third oil change. I change the tranny oil when I do the engine oil and always see some metal so it's obviously not premature. I use HP4M engine and Dexron6 trans.

 

This is off the top of my head so I'm sure I have forgotten something...

 

Thanks for the advice! Ill be sure to get into second in the woods this weekend. Is it hard to disassemble the bearings to grease them? And I just bought this bike so I was going to change the engine and tranny fluid probably this weekend. My air filter is clean but im going to buy that filter oil to clean it up after every ride or so.

[Rooster72]

All good advice, but I believe if your running it in such a low gear and not stretching it out regularly that it could be at risk of overheating. Your bike does not have a cooling fan and needs to have plenty of air flow. Just keep an eye on it during long periods of slow high RPM operation and give those poor valves a break for and shift up .  

[Beau 88]

Best investment you can make is a service manual and read it. You will get a lot of service tips here but doing them you should always keep a book handy. 

[1987CR250R]

Clean your air filter when it gets dirty.  Change your oil regularly.  You clutch will fry itself.  It is consumable.  They are tough and hard to kill but can be expensive to replace if you kill it good.  Watch your valves, that is critical on 4-strokes.  Lube your swingarm, linkage, and head set at least anually.  Do this and your bike will love you.  Everything else including chains and brakes just do them as they wear out.  Bikes are tough and it's really hard to actually screw anything up.  The worst thing you can do is never pull the swingarm bolt and let it rust into the engine cases.

[Hoosier-Daddy]

I would go through several things on a used bike like that. A service manual is very helpful.

-Tear down the linkage and swingarm and grease or replace bearings.

-check/adjust valve clearance

-check/replace wheel bearings

-grease steering stem bearings.

-pull chain adjustment bolts out and apply anti seize.

-fresh coolant (I use engine ice)

I suggest concentrating more on how the bike runs than how the bike looks.

Edited May 22, 2014 by Hoosier-Daddy

[SellYour4Stroke]

First gear doesn't get a lot of air flow through the radiator so keep an eye on your coolant for sure.

 

There's a lot of good info in a service manual, but some of it can be overkill. Your riding buddies might be able to shed some light on the common maintenance without going overboard.

[Rooster72]

my sons got an 07 250 in my garage too, bike of the year I think then! 350+ hrs at least and still killing it!Not in 1st gear Edited December 17, 2014 by Rooster72

[Jeff@bigborethumpers]

Make maintenance a routine with every ride. And remember take care of her so she takes care of you. Thats one of the best life lessons I have ever received. Get into a good routine and the bike will last you a long long time. Mine is every other ride no mater the time It gets the wash, oil changed engine side, filter cleaned, chain and rear link check and lubed, and i do the trans every other oil change. The reason I do it every other ride is incase I lost track of time from my last ride. I have had rides where I put a solid 8 hours on the bike in 1 day and went out 2 weeks later and forgot that I had put 8 hours on the bike the last ride. Just keep a routine. And some say well what if you only ride twice for an hour are you still going to change the oil. Yes! some say thats a waist, I say its cheap insurance. Plus you can use that oil in the lawnmower. It loves it. And i know the bike is ready if I want to do some long hours on it. 

 

Remember to have fun and stay safe new guy. Happy trails. And welcome to the best Honda fam.