Welcome to Part 3 of The Dirt Garage: 101 Tips & Tricks for you and your dirt bike. Here you will find one-hundred-and-one different things you can do to your riding, your technique, your bike and your body to help you out on the track and in the garage. If you haven’t yet checked out Part 1 - CLICK HERE. And for Part 2 - CLICK HERE. Now - enjoy the final installment.

71. Mousse Lube

Using tyre mounting compound or ‘Monkey Snot’ as the tyre guys call it is a cheap an effective mousse lube.

72. Recycle Lens

Use an old lens as a helmet peak extender in muddy conditions.

73. Bleed Your Forks

This is an easy and free way to keep your front end working like it should and only takes a few seconds.

74. Half Waffle

If you don’t like full waffle grips, try the half waffle. The palm of your hand still has the smooth surface while your fingers can grip the waffle in muddy conditions.

75. Grip Glue & Wire

Use grip glue as well as wire to guarantee you don’t end up with two throttles.

76. Chest To Bars

Tackling steep or vertical, short uphill sections? Don’t be afraid to get your chest touching the bar pad to get yourself in the right position.

77. Steer with the rear

Practice steering with the rear wheel, including brake slides and power slides. Great skills to have.

78. Stand Braking

Standing while braking into a corner give you more control of the bike and the ability to maneuver much easier.

79. Knees On Shrouds

When you put your leg out, keep it nice and close to the bike, touching the shrouds.

80. Gas Tank Breather Hose

Always check your breather hose is not kinked. This can create a vacuum and starve your carb from fuel

81. Straight Bar vs Sweep Bar

A straighter handlebar is quicker to turn, while a bar with more sweep is slower.

82. Brake Or Accelerate

Your bike is designed to either be on the gas or on the brakes. Anything in between can cause unbalance.

83. Chain Guide

The chain guide is very important to keeping the chain on or at the right tension. Check it regularly.

84. Cable Routing

Wen replacing cables, route the new cable alongside the old one taking it out to insure correct placement.Or even better, leave the old one in place as a spare.

85. Stay On The Gas

Stay on gas over kickers to help stop the rear end kicking and you going over the front.

86. Seat Bouncing

It is important to keep the throttle on hard all the way till both your wheels are airborne

87. Waterproof Grease

This kind of grease is best for axles as when the track is wet, your axles are always the first to go under water.

88. Lower Tyre Pressure

When riding in sand, lower pressures will flatten out the tyre helping you ride across the sand, not through it.

89. Riding Backwards

Never go backwards on the track - EVER.

90. Clutch Plates

Clutch plate steels are machined with a rounded and sharp edge. Install with the sharp edge facing outwards.

91. Death Grip

Death gripping the handle bars will lead to early onset of arm pump. Grip with your knees to relieve your arms.

92. Breaking in Boots

Break in your boots by using them how you normally would. Other methods can actually cause more harm than good.

93. Drowned Bike

Wring out the air filter. Flip a two-stroke upside down take out the spark plug if you can and wind it over till all the water is out. Keep a four-stroke up normally and remove the spark plug if you can and wind it over till all the water is out. Or tip it up on its back wheel.

94. Handlebars Settings.

Your grips are not exactly equal distance from the centre of the bike because of the throttle tube. If you want to be pedantic AF - offset your bars by a few millimeters to have the grips exactly the same distance from the centre.

95. Four-Stroke Problems

Ideally you don’t want to bump start a four-stroke. If it has valve problems you could be doing some serious damage. This should be a last resort scenario.

96. Safety Wire

Not just good for grips, but also plugs, spokes, cables and holding things in place when you are out of zip-ties

97. Running Gear

If you install a new chain, make sure you install new sprockets too. And vice-versa.

98. Bum On Rear Fender

On steep downhills don’t be shy to get your bum way back on the rear fender. Like right, right back.

99. CRC Yes

Put CRC on parts like your foot peg pivots, linkage, chain, lever bolts and any other moving metal parts after a wash to disperse water and stop seizing.

100. CRC No

Do not put CRC on your brake pads, discs, seat, grips, or anywhere else you will be contacting the bike. You want grip when riding, no slip.

101. Fading Brakes

Push in with your knee or foot on the brake caliper to force all the air up and out of the line into the Master cylinder. This should increase your braking feel and performance.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE