Most riders avoid dirt bikes because they have always heard they are high maintenance. And you can’t blame them; after all, who wants to spend more time wrenching than riding? The good news is that despite any maintenance demands, dirt bikes are still a ton of fun to ride. In this blog, the Motomentum pros are out to answer the age-old question of whether or not dirt bikes are high maintenance and if they are still worth riding.
Why Dirt Bike Maintenance is Important
Like other motorized vehicles, dirt bike maintenance is essential for a number of reasons. Maintenance keeps a dirt bike looking good, prolongs life expectancy, and increases the number of hours a rider can get out of their machine.
Routine maintenance ensures a dirt bike stays functioning at peak performance and that the rider has a safe machine to ride on. Neglecting maintenance drastically reduces the value of a dirt bike and opens the gate to potential mechanical failures, which can endanger the rider’s life.
General Dirt Bike Maintenance
In order to answer whether or not dirt bikes are high maintenance, we will first cover some of the surface-level maintenance requirements for owning a dirt bike. The following is not an exhaustive maintenance checklist, but they are some of the most common maintenance steps every rider will need to perform to keep their bike running well, and longer.
Visual Check Before Riding
Before anybody gets on a dirt bike, they should do a visual once over to ensure nothing is out of place or needs attention. This is the time to check the forks, chain, sprockets, electronics, controls, and everything visible and paramount for a safe ride. This is less of a maintenance requirement and more of a way to give the rider an idea about the overall state of their bike.
Clean Your Bike After Riding
Riding dirt bikes isn’t the cleanest activity, and the dirt and grime that accumulate on a dirt bike can wreak havoc on bike parts. For this reason, cleaning a dirt bike after every ride is essential.
Leaving the dirt and grime on a bike after a ride causes significant wear on bike parts, reduces performance, and makes maintenance requirements more extensive. It takes 5 minutes to spray a bike down after a ride, and these five minutes can save a rider hours in bike work and hundreds of dollars. Motomentum carries thousands of cleaning accessories to keep bikes looking and running their best.
Check the Oil & Air Filter
Oil changes and air filter maintenance is the number one thing a rider can do to improve the functionality of their bike and keep it running longer. Failing to check oil levels and filter cleanliness can cause irreversible damage to the engine. This requirement will be different for two and four-stroke engines but paying close attention to oil levels is equally important with both.
Routine Oil Changes
In addition to checking oil levels, riders need to change their oil regularly. Routine oil changes keep the engine lubricated and reduce wear and tear. If there is one maintenance requirement more important than every other, regular oil changes are it. While some riders prefer to take their dirt bike to a shop for maintenance, many choose to save some money and do it themselves. It is a fairly simple and straightforward process, and Motomentum carries all the tools and supplies a rider needs to perform an oil change.
Dirt Bikes are Easy to Maintain
The answer to whether or not dirt bikes are high maintenance really depends on how high maintenance is measured. At the end of the day, there is no way to deny that dirt bikes require a fair bit of care. However, the maintenance tasks are typically simple and can be done with little time. Furthermore, the maintenance requirements of a dirt bike are not significantly more demanding than any other small-engine vehicle. So sure, dirt bikes are high maintenance, but the fun that comes from riding one makes such maintenance a small price to pay.
Shop Motomentum for all Your Dirt Bike Maintenance Needs
The Motomentum mission is to provide dirt bike riders all over the world with access to quality dirt bikes, parts, and supplies at an affordable price. Order everything you need for dirt bike maintenance online or contact the Motomentum team for more information.
