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Tire pressure tends to be something I have to read up on every now and then. I got myself a new set of tires today and it’s crucial to get to know how much air pressure there should be in them as they are a different brand than the stock tires that came with the bike.

In some manuals and online you’ll find that tire pressure values will be mentioned in both PSI and BAR values. Americans usually mention tire pressure in PSI and Europeans in BAR. Since most of the information I get about my Vulcan 900 is from American sources I’ve decided to use PSI when I check my tires and also for this blog as most of my readers are American – I guess you American boys and girls can’t get enough of Norwegian nature photographs! :)

PSI = Pounds per Square Inch – an imperial value used in the U.S.
BAR = European standard measurement for tire pressure

So, how do you convert PSI into BAR and vice versa? Use Google! Google is awesome at converting stuff like this. It’s even a calculator and an exchange rate converter as well!

Go to Google.com and type for example “32psi in bar” – voila! You get an answer. That’s pretty neat!

Metzeler’s website is great for finding out which Metzeler tires that fit your bike and model. There’s an application half way down the front page where you chose your bike and model and the set of tires that will fit your bike comes up:

MetzelerMoto.com

Remember this post from spring 2009?

Here’s another guide on how to install the Kuryakin ISO grips.

Red goes on red and black on black…

Manufacturers don’t recommend attempting to jump start a motorcycle battery from a car… but when in a pinch without alternatives here’s how to do it.

WARNING! I am NOT an expert. I mostly learn from reading online just like you. This is meant as a guideline only. Please do contact a certified motorcycle mechanic if you do not know what you’re doing…

Car batteries usually pack more power (ampere) than a motorcycle battery, so be careful! …and stomp out that cigarette before starting! On the bright side, newer 12-volt systems can usually be jump started with a 12-volt car battery without any help from the car’s engine with little risk of ruining your motorcycle or battery.

1.

Take the keys out of both vehicles. Make sure the car does not touch the motorcycle. Leave the car turned off until you are finished jump starting the motorcycle and have disconnected the jumper cables. Failing to do so may result in an overload on the motorcycle’s electrical system.

2.

Remove any protective caps that cover the battery terminals. Connect the RED jumper cable to the positive (+) terminal of the dead motorcycle battery. Keep the red jumpers away from any other area of your bike at all times (especially if you try to hook the red cables with the car battery first as this could send an electrical charge through your bike and do damage to the electrical components – which surely sucks bigtime!).

3.

Connect the other end of the RED cable to the positive (+) terminal on the battery of the car.

4.

All right, so now you got red on red right? Good! Now go ahead and connect the BLACK (negative) jumper to the negative (-) terminal of the car’s battery. Again, make sure you don’t fiddle around with the clamp and accidentally touch the positive clamp with it or something, you want to keep these apart at all times.

5.

Now go ahead and connect the BLACK (negative) jumper to the motorcycle frame and away from the battery. (You don’t connect the negative jumper to the negative (-) terminal of your motorcycle battery because that increases the risk of damaging your battery).

6.

Double check! red on red and black on black, right?

7.

Leave the car off. Start the motorcycle.

HINT! If you at this point is actually hooking up your motorcycle battery to another motorcycle battery instead of a car battery, you should actually turn on the motorcycle with the good battery first and then turn on the motorcycle with the bad battery last.

If the battery’s not entirely flat, the motorcycle should now start. Leave the motor running for a few minutes to warm up the engine.

8.

Disconnect the jumper cables in the reverse order you connected them.Make sure the clamps don’t touch metal in the process.

- Disconnect the negative lead (BLACK) from motorcycle
- Disconnect the other negative lead (BLACK) from the car battery
- Disconnect the positive clamp lead (RED) from the car battery
- Disconnect the other positive lead (RED) from the motorcycle battery

DO NOT turn off the motorcycle engine – or you’ll have to do the entire process all over again. Leave the motor running until you’re ready to drive home or to the mechanic to properly recharge or replace your battery. Ride your bike on high revs for the first few minutes.

That’s it! Pretty easy when you know what to do, huh?

Please do comment if you feel that the instructions are wrong or needs improvement in any way. Oh, and also, if you found these instructions helpful, please do tell your story in the comments field or sign my guestbook …or send me an email.

Sources:

How to Jump-Start a Motorcycle Using a Car Battery
http://www.ehow.com/how_7310322_jump_start-motorcycle-using-car-battery.html

How to Jump Start a Motorcycle
http://www.ehow.com/how_2221369_jump-start-motorcycle.html

Jump starting a motorcycle battery
http://www.cyclemaintenance.com/elec/jump_starting.htm

How to Jump Start a Motorcycle Battery From a Car
http://www.ehow.com/how_4842968_jump-start-motorcycle-battery-car.html

Wikipedia: Jump start (vehicle)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_start_(vehicle)

I found an excellent guide on how to prepare your motorcycle for winter storage. Thanks to TotalMotorcycle.com for writing this guide!

Click here to read all about winter storage:
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/maintenance/motorcyclewinterstorage.htm

Happy new year everybody! Even though it’s -10 to -40 degrees Celcius here in Norway and colder than it has been in many years motorcycle season is getting closer by the day – Amen!

I just stumbled upon some a great little video collection by Michael Levin from EverythingMotorcycles.com. They’re more like tiny little video clips really, but they all introduce you to motorcycle maintenance and are great for beginners like me!

Click here for all the 5 videos:
http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_10623_motorcycle-maintenance-tips.html

…or click the individual links below for a specific video:

1. Troubleshoot Motorcycle Starting Systems Issues
2. How to Make Motorcycle Mufflers Louder
3. Reviewing Motorcycle Engine Oil Filters
4. How to Clean Plexiglass Windshields on Motorcycles
5. Motorcycle Repair Tips

I found this great instruction video on YouTube on how to change the oil and oil filtre on a Kawasaki Vulcan 900. Enjoy!

I checked the accuracy of the trip meter on my VN900 recently. I hooked up my Garmin Zumo 500 GPS to my bike and rode 100KM, at least that’s what the trip meter read. The GPS, on the other hand, said that I had only travelled 96KM. I decided to check this further and sure enough, when the trip meter read 200KM the GPS told me that I had only travelled 192KM.

I’m not an expert on this but I chose to trust my GPS more than my trip meter. Therefore my conclusion is that you can deduct approximately 4% from your trip meter or odometer to get a more accurate view of actual mileage.

Any thoughts on this? Please do add your comment! :)

Links:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/odometer.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odometer