Zoogony

From Oil Changes to Cables and Throttle: Moped Maintenance

Scooters necessitate systematic servicing to prolong its useful life. Even though upkeep is ordinarily carried out to maximize the motorcycle’s lifespan, a large number of servicing tasks likewise impact positively on safety and reliability. Whether you’re changing oil or changing tyres, properly carried out maintenance is an important part of having a motorbike.

Changing Oil
Changing the oil is a critical chore, especially if your motorcycle has an engine cooled by air. Air cooled engines have an inclination to generate more heat than water cooled engines, for instance engines in trucks and cars. Motorcycles also function at really high revs, which can rapidly harm the oil. Moped changes of oil should be performed for each 300 to 500 miles travelled. The oil needs to be substituted utilising an oil that can withstand very hot temperatures. In cooler climates, 10W40 oil runs well. In hotter countries, 20W40 is commonly a better oil.

Brake and Throttle Cables
Over time, brake and throttle cables stretch and may impact on bike safety and functionality. Regular oil will aid in preventing the cables from tangling or stretching permanently. A couple of drops of machine oil or WD40 on the points where the cables leave the protective covers and enter the controls can help lubricate the brake and throttle cables. Although many mopeds possess self-tightening cables, it is a good idea to have your cables looked over with every oil change.

Wheel Bolts and Bearings
Wheel bolts, not to mention other types of motorcycle fastenings, ought to be regularly checked for tautness. This job is often best executed with each oil change, however in odd cases you may need to do spot examinations to guarantee that all fastenings are fastened down well.

Suspension and Tyre Servicing
You should on a regular basis examine the tyres for appropriate inflation air pressure. As time passes, shock absorbers get worn out and can result in tyres not having proper connection with the road. Worn down shocks and tyres compromise the safety of your scooter and must be replaced.

Ultimately it’s a great move to go online to increase your knowledge of moped upkeep - simply enter related key words in a search engine such as used motorcycle and scooter parts to get information on the topic of moped maintenance.

Costa Rica Mountain Biking - Volcano To Volcano By Mountain Bike!

Booking yourself and your friends on a Costa Rica mountain biking tour is essential, if you’re ready for exciting mountain biking with a difference!

How about getting dropped off at a magnificent 10 000 feet high volcano, and biking down a 7 mile descent to the foothills of the volcano next door?

Or riding all day through lush rain forests with 800 species of birds - not to mention the primates and crocodiles!

Costa Rica mountain biking is full of these and other exciting rides. The routes feature active volcanoes, very high mountain passes, lush tropical, sub-tropical and temperate forests, waterfalls, and river crossings.

As most of Costa Rica’s roads are dirt, the country easily lends itself to exploration by mountain bike. It is also extremely hilly, with many heart-stopping descents! Costa Rica mountain biking has trails suitable for riders just starting out, as well as experienced bikers looking for a challenge.

Your Costa Rica mountain biking adventure can start with a guided drive up to the top of the Irazu Volcano at 11,000 feet. Descend to 1,500 feet through miles of lush, green scenery, ending in the small town of Santa Cruz de Turrialba. If your timing is right, you may even get a taste of the Turrialba cheese fair!

The dirt road takes you through fertile dairy and farm land, cutting its way between the Irazu and Turrialba Volcano. A support van, with a driver and a guide-mechanic are available with extra bikes, food, and a first aid kit.

Alternatively, Costa Rica mountain biking can take you to the Aguila de Osa Inn from where you will be able to undertake many local rides on the bikes they provide. Most of the rides are between 1 and 3 hours in duration, and cover a wide variety of landscapes, from beach rides to river canyons (including suspension bridges!) to forests and farm areas.

The Costa Rica mountain biking experience truly is in a class of its own.

Quepos offers a number of guided biking trails. A combination bike/boat tour, will have you floating through a mangrove forest. Excellent backup is provided on the trail, as well as entertaining information about the fauna and flora.

Join an exclusive ride clinic and use your Costa Rica mountain biking travels to learn new skills, in spectacular surroundings.

Bikes are very well equipped, and safety is always taken into consideration. Romantic sunset rides are also available during high season. This is a very pleasurable way to beat the heat!

While Costa Rica mountain biking may seem more adventurous riding on your own, the conditions often make the presence of a guide preferable. You may just end up appreciating that support van after a tiring, fun-filled day…

If you want to combine Costa Rica mountain biking with other great adventures, you will find tours that include snorkeling the reefs of the Caribbean, or river rafting on the many great rivers, or just straightforward hiking with beautiful views and scenery.

A Costa Rica mountain biking tour is usually followed by delighted comments, about the fact that the places visited were not swarming with other bikers!

All of this is probably only possible with a Costa Rica mountain biking package, where over a quarter of the country was designated forever wild…

For more information visit Best-Mountain-Biking.com

Rika Susan of http://www.Article-Alert.com researches, writes, and publishes full-time on the Web.

Copyright of this article: 2006 Rika Susan. This article may be reprinted if the resource box - including the link - is left intact.

History of Pocket Bikes

With the sudden influx of pocket bikes, many Americans may believe that this is a new sport. But small, motorized bikes have been around since the 50’s. They appeared soon after mechanized racing karts became common. There were goofy contests such as “jousting.” Two riders would ride at each other while holding rolled up newspapers and try to pop a balloon tied to their opponent’s helmet. After the 60’s, the mini bikes became relatively rare in the states.

During the 70’s, pocket bike racing became a serious sport in Japan. They used inexpensive and low-tech bikes for racing. In the 80’s the Italians took the sport up a notch and began racing better quality, high-tech bikes. Still, the bikes they first used were powered by relatively weak engines with no more power than an electric screwdriver.

By the later 90’s the sport had spread all over Europe. In 1996 the Swiss Pocket Bike Championship was created. This championship grew to include other pocket bike clubs to eventually become one of the largest in the world. Over 120 people compete in 8- 11 races every year. The races, which are held on different tracks, are divided up by the age and sex of the participants as well as the type of pocket bike (junior, stock or racing).
Pocket bike racing remains one of the fastest growing sports in Europe and is also spreading to other countries in Asia and North America. In certain European countries the races are even televised. Italy remains the number one producer of Minimotos, though the machines they create are now much more powerful than the earlier models. The Chinese have recently began making the bikes, which although of a much lower quality than their Italian counterparts, are nonetheless much less expensive.

Many of the top motorcycle racers first learned their sport on a Minimoto. World champs who began on pocket bikes include Valentino Rossi (Italian), Loris Capirossi (Italian), Nobuatsu Aoki (Japanese) and Daijiro Kato (Japanese). However, an English motorcycle instructor named Alec Tague holds the latest land speed record. Alec, who is 39 years old and 5 foot 10, reached 78 MPH on his 12-inch bike. The old record, held by American Dave Myers was 63.888 MPH.

Modern pocket bikes that have not been souped up usually have between 4 and 14 horsepower. Entry-level bikes produce 3 to 4 hp, while racing models can have the power output of 11 to 12 hp. Most bikes weigh around 40 pounds and run anywhere from $200 for a low end Chinese model, to $5,000 for a well-crafted, top of the line Italian bike.

Gerry runs the site PocketBikeInfo.org which is a source of Pocket Bike/Minimoto related articles. Everything from maintanance to racing PocketBikes.

For more information please visit: PocketBikeInfo.org

Custom Pocket Bikes

So you buy your first pocket bike, or maybe you buy your first major upgrade. It’s a great looking bike, you go to show it off and realize there are two other people who have the exact same bike. That takes the wind out of the sails a bit, but the good news is that it does not have to stay that way. One of the nice things about pocket bikes is that you don’t have to buy a customized bike to have one! You can change your pocket bike’s appearance, upgrade its performance, and transform your machine into a custom pocket rocket you can be proud of. You’ll find all the tools, parts, and accessories you’ll need at pocket bike chop shops.

Turn your normal stock pocket bike into your personal custom pocket rocket! If you’re not sure where to find the parts you need, a good place to start is at one of the numerous mini bike forums or that have recently rolled into action on the Internet. There you’ll find an enthusiasts’ community with unsolicited testimonials (because have you ever seen a company’s website with a bad testimonial?) from members other bikers, who’ll tell you where they’ve found the best deals, and even more importantly, they’ll tell you where and what to avoid at all costs!

You may also want to check with your mini-bike dealer. Because of the mushrooming popularity of minimoto and custom pocket bikes, many dealers who originally didn’t sell spare pocket bike parts have recently added both parts and accessories to their inventories to meet an increased interest and demand in both. Along with individual parts, you’ll see that many chop shop owners and pocket bike dealers also sell performance-enhancing kits that are even complete with instructions that will tell you how to touch up everything. These are very helpful if you’re new to the mechanics of custom pocket bikes.

You don’t have to look the same as everyone else. Make your custom pocket bike look as good as it rides. Between the Internet and chop shops you will have a wide choice of accessories to make you custom bike stand out from the rest of the group with accessory designs, saddles and saddlebags, trunks, tanks and tank pouches, headlights, horns, chromed wheels, decal kits, etc. If you’ve seen something done to a pocket bike, you can probably either get it or do it to your own!

Dave is the owner of big-pocket-bikes.info a website that provides information on pocket bikes and mini moto racing.