Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

1. Should I loctite the handlebar bolts and disc bolts etc. that the manual says I should? Or is it safe to race with out it if I check them often? They will probably come off and on a fair bit....

2. I have gotten some grease etc on the front discs, what is safe to use to get it off? Metho? I will give them a light sanding afterwards too.

3. What grease is good to use on the axles, and is readily available etc.? And do ya just whack a whole bunch of the stuff in there? They seem pretty dry ATM.

Thanks.

1. If your taking it apart regularly, loctite shouldn't be necessary. Just make sure its all tight

2. Metho is fine, just make sure you ride it and get some heat in the brakes before you need to use em in anger.

3. Don't over grease the axles as it can get everwhere. Push some into the bearings and small amount onto the axle to help slide it in. Clean of any excess..

Thanks a lot Madkaw, that is what I was looking for.

Do you know what grease I should use?

Thanks.

i would just use a little locktite on the disc bolts (dont have to though)
and use a good quality Brake cleaner like CRC brake cleaner
you can get it from Repco and most auto stores

Thanks for that.

Can I just use general purpose grease on the axles?

HemiDuty wrote:Thanks for that.

Can I just use general purpose grease on the axles?

If you are going to grease your wheel bearings you should use a high-temperature bearing grease, so just use the same stuff on your axles. I use Shell Retinax LX2 on mine.

I'm pretty sure if you are going to only grease the axle then ordinary grease will be ok. Not suitable for bearings though...

HTH.

Normal grease is *OK*, but for the racetrack I reckon you should use Castrol HTB ( High Temperature Bearing) grease. Just enough to cover the axle as Mad Kaw has said, and clean up all excess. (I usually also bung a blob on the threaded end of the axle, and when you run it through the hub, it will smear itself inside the hub. )

Clean the discs with metho as recommended, but I wouldn't sand them at all. Check your pads as well, make sure they haven't got any crappola on them.

Handlebar bolts.....*shrugs* do 'em up tight.....don't forget, nothing worse than a clip-on coming loose through a fast corner

Your disc bolts should be safety-wired, not loctited. Its a slight pain in the arse to do them all, but I would be really surprised if you could get through scrutineering without safety-wire. All bolts/nuts that contain any fluid should be safety-wired. ( sump plug, radiator caps/overflow/brake caliper bolts as well should be done, put some gaffer tape over your drain plugs on the fork leg lowers, safety-wire the oil-filler cap on the block, and all oil-cooler fittings as well...............that should see you right

cheers and Good Luck Mate !!!!
MyBikeWasBannedFromRacingDave

1. definitely loctite disc bolts, handlebar bolts, exhaust header bolts, and any other bolts you can be bothered doing!! i had too many bolts come undone when racing, even though they were done up tight and correctly.


2. brake cleaner is a good idea.

3. as Gosling said, Castrol HTB grease, and you only neeed to smeeear it over, dont go lumping heaps on, or else you will pick up every bit of dirt around and its a bugger...
basically, put a small dollop on the pad of the index finger, and rub that over the axle

Just dont use super stud locctite on threads for nuts ok, usually red in color, the stuff to use is blue from memory or even green which is a weaker compound, goto the loctite site and read up on it.

http://www.loctite.com.au/int_henkel/loctite_au/index.cfm?&pageid=19&layout=3

Well it is finally back together, I have just put it together without loctite for now, will check them after first practice session and at the end of practice, and after first race as well. I just did the metho thing on the discs. And just put a litte bit of normal grease in the front axle, and left the back one as is. I will do them again soon anyway, along with the rest of it.

Have the butterflies started yet mate ???????

Give It The Berries !!!!!!!!

cheers

More than started mate. I am more worried about being way too slow than anything else. I just cannot wait though.

just go as quick as you are comfortable with........if you are getting passed, don't worry about it, other people also make mistakes, and when you pass them back after they have run off the track by being a bit too *exuberant*, its a good feeling.

Besides, once you settle down into a *race* pace, its always good to learn faster lines from those that are passing you......I am sure you know what I am trying to say here

practice makes perfect - record all your suspension settings/tyre pressures and track conditions, i Know it sounds anal, but you need reference points for next time, if you want to improve your lap times......

its an old saying, but still very true - "To Finish First, First You Must Finish."

cheers

Thanks Gozzo, I went well but did not write a thing down! Oh well maybe next time.

Just a side-note, once you get grease on your actual pads they are stuffed...no amount of degreaser will save them.