G'day,

Doing some of the maintenance work on your bike is something that most people these days leave to a shop to do.

It is however, a good way to save a bit of money and get to know your bike better. One of the things that are an important part of regular maintenance is bearings and races, especially your wheels.

Best way to check is to lift the wheel off the ground  (Make sure you strap it well on the lift. OOOOOPPPS is not good.), and see if there is any play side-side and back-front. If you can feel ANY movement it's time to check your bearings and races and adjust.   Here is when investing on a workshop manual is invaluable, read it and follow the instructions to check and adjust. The good thing is that as you have the wheels off the ground you can also check your neck bearings for play and also the swingarm. 

Wheels aren’t hard to set up, however the neck bearings can be a bit tricky. An easy way to adjust them is while the bike is level off the ground,  loosen the pinch bolts on the lower tree, loosen the adjuster nut, with a rubber mallet give the bottom of the forks a tap (this makes it a bit easier to feel the adjustment.) Now tighten the adjuster nut till the front end drags slightly, then back it off a bit so it turns easy. Re-tighten the pinch bolts  and then the stem nut and that's it.

A good tip that an old mate by the name of Country gave me was this.

Get your swingarm and wheel hubs drilled and tapped to take a grease fitting. That way every time you change the oil you get your good old grease gun and give them a top up. This lengthens the life of your bearings and races.