A few q's

Hey guys, as you may remember I am a new owner of an 06 GSX-R 600. I am very mechanically knowledgable when it comes to cars, but bikes is a different story for me. I am the kind of person that likes to know alot about the things I do. An I hate feeling like a newb riding my bike an not knowling a WHOLE lot about them, but I know I have to start somewhere. so here are some questions for now

1) Basic maintenance- will wd-40 work for lubing the chain?. other things i should do before i ride.
2) I know that the default suspension setup for my bike are too soft for me. I would like to stiffen up the rear an the front a little, would you guys be abe to assist me to do this myself?(I would like to learn), or should I just take it to a shop.
3) Washing..lol I know it sounds stupid but, but just want to make sure that simply spraying down the bike with water will not hurt it anywhere. an where should I lube after washing.

thats all for now...THANKS fellow riders

Well, the chain youll need chain lube. Sells in a can at any bike shop. WD-40 wont work. As long as youre not pressure washing the air filter intake, water shouldnt hurt it, but I usually use a wash cloth and soapy water of some sort to clean then just rinse lightly and dry. Others on here have a few different cleaners they use, but water wont hurt it. Hell, what if you get caught riding in the rain? Itll survive.

Thanx for answering the WD an water question..now to go wash my bike.

don't use WD40. it'll stuff it quick smart. WD is a water dispersant and degreaser. good to lube up rusted metal to metal.


you can buy a can of chain cleaner to remove old and worn out lubricant. or kerosene will do the job to apparently. wipe the chain over and re-apply the lubricant to the inside of the chain. you should adjust the chain as well so there is enough slack that when you sit on the bike, the chain is not taught. you need some slack for suspension movement.

as for suspension, its best left for someone who can help you set it up properly. if you play around with it, you may stuff it up real bad. take it to the shop and they should do it infront of you and get you to sit on the bike. ask questions then.

when you wash it, watch out for heavy duty degreasers, don't be fooled. suzukis paint is usually the thinnest and after 5yrs shows signs of poor treatment. degreasers may eventually strip the paint on the wheels. my '96 model suffered this fate from the previous owner. the chain cleaner is good for any degreaser but will be costly.

Another thing. I hear about pulling in the clutch with certain amount of fingers, or even one finger. I use 4 fingers to pull in the clutch, it seems when i try to use less, its really really hard an the clutch wont pull in all the way.

Another thing. I hear about pulling in the clutch with certain amount of fingers, or even one finger. I use 4 fingers to pull in the clutch, it seems when i try to use less, its really really hard an the clutch wont pull in all the way.

Never heard that, maybe it's a sportbike thing...you don't have to go very deep with the clutch once you get a feel for when your RPM and roadspeed match the next gear, you can just squeeze the clutch enough to break the torque on the driveline and make it shift fast but smooth (really you can do it without clutch at all when you get real good, but broken gear teeth and worn shifter dogs are the cost of learning...)

after awhile you'll probably change up without the clutch. downshifts should be done with the clutch. it will come with time. don't forget you started on a bike with will be hard for newbies. older bikes would be all run in and worn abit.
the clutch on your bike is designed for alot of power so the pressure plates will be harder, therefore the clutch lever will be harder to pull in

Well I understand what you are talking about now. I started pulling the clutch for upshifts with just fingers an I can do it easiest with my index an middle. But its alot rougher I can feel for downshifts, an nearly impossible to find nuetral with it pulled in only that far.

Unless youre racing it around, I would use the clutch. Youll get mroe life out of it. Damage to 2nd gear is the typical answer to clutchless shifting.

Well I understand what you are talking about now. I started pulling the clutch for upshifts with just fingers an I can do it easiest with my index an middle. But its alot rougher I can feel for downshifts, an nearly impossible to find nuetral with it pulled in only that far.

You need a lever pulled to the grip for hunting gears when you're not moving or rolling to a stop, floating downshifts can be done but it's even harder to master than floating upshifts, I don't even try downshifting clutchless on a bike except for in a couple of instances, like when my clutch cable broke 150 miles from home....:eek:

The thing to remember if you're gonna play with clutchless or shallow dipping the clutch on upshifts is that while a bike will upshift under full power, that crunch you hear is money flying outta your wallet in the near future...you have to drop power for a split second to ease up the torque on the driveline to make things go smoothly...which is what the clutch is there for, but in setups for drag racing and F1 cars and stuff like that, they are shifting clutchless with an air or electric solenoid that bangs the shifts for them, which is tied to a module that momentarily cuts the power to the driveline, either by cutting fuel delivery or retarding spark just enough to cause the cogs to be in a power nuetral condition just as the upshift happens...and likewise blips the throttle to bring rpms UP for a downshift to a lower range....

When I shift the semi I don't use any clutch at all, except for getting into first at a stop...but that's easy to master, big diesel engines max out at around 2000 rpm, and the cogs are so huge and slow turning, you can actually "feel" the individual teeth as you try to mesh them...bike engines respond so fast and have such a broad rpm range that you have to be much more precise, disciplined and acquire a good ear for what your motor sounds like in any condition before you can do it without brutalizing the driveline....

Ya I went out an tried a few clutchless upshifts an think I got it down, no griding noise or anything. But I don't see why I would do it, I dont mind pullin in the clutch a lil

Well I stiffened up the suspension a lil on the gixx. It needed it bad, since I am about 190lbs it was waaay to soft. What a difference now. Was behind Wal-Mart earlier getting use to it, ended up learning how to get a lil stoppie goin(brake torque actually i guess) go to rear to lift up a bit. An the front end wants to come up alot more with the recent tweaks. We will see how it goes

Update: Man I have not been on these forums in a while. Well I still got the gixxer, I've put it through hell but love it. My skills on 2 wheels have improved a lot.

http://img400.imageshack.us/img400/3968/mondaystuntinwd0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

the pic kinda makes it look funny.

awesome looking bike. love the red.

I agree on the red, sharp bike. Although relatively easy to do on a sportbike, stoppies are a bad idea. They stress the front suspension and if landed improperly, can tweak the rear as well. In a worst case scenario, you'll leave some of that pretty red paint on the tarmac as you fall over.

Well I can roll some 50+ footers now but don't do em too often on the 06 so not too worried about my suspension setup. Its fine