Top mechanic reveals how overzealous jetwashing almost caused a massive crash
Doncaster Motorcycles’ Dr Tepi reveals the damage a jet washer can cause
Looks can be deceiving and when a novice off-road rider brought a spotless Honda CRF450 for a service because ‘the steering feels heavy’ Kevin Hollingsworth (aka Dr Tepi) had little doubt on the cause. “Those lads come off the moors and they are straight down to Tesco’s and the jet washer to blast off the mud. They love the instant results but before they know it they are blasting off the grease around the steering head bearings,” said Tepi. Sure enough the taper roller bearings were stuck in a grinding paste of rust and grease, and were going to need replacing, but at least the bearings were still in one piece. “We’ve had them in the past where the cages that hold the bearings have broken apart completely. A Bandit 600 came in for an MoT once and we couldn’t move the bars more than a few degrees from side to side with a nasty crunching sound. How he didn’t career off at the first corner I’ll never know. But when we quizzed him about it, he just shrugged his shoulders. Bizarre as it sounds, if it’s slowly getting worse on a bike you ride every day, you don’t spot it.” Another common scenario is when a rider preps their bike for winter storage. They wash their bike too thoroughly around any exposed bearings, (wheel, swingarm and rear suspension linkage bearings are similarly vulnerable), then leave them stood for a few months. So the water gets plenty of time to eat into those shiny surfaces, and when they get their bike out for the first Spring days it feels awful and can catch you out as soon as you try a usual manoeuvre like a U-turn, making you veer across the road. It’s a pretty straightforward job to change head bearings once you’ve got the front end off and it only cost this rider £140 all in for parts and labour, but that’s a preventable expense.
‘When quizzed, he just shrugged his shoulders’