Garage Basics

Check, lubricate and reassemble or replace outright – do the right thing.
Now, what’s a throttle cable anyway? In these days of throttle-by-wire, we’ll tell you all about it, ’cos the throttle isn’t controlled by electrical impulses but in a more classic way, that is to say: mechanically.
A vintage bike usually has a throttle cable, a thin steel wire living in a Bowden cable housing, telling the engine how much power the rider wants at any given moment in time. It opens the throttle butterfly, or the slide in a slide carb, letting more or less fuel/air mixture reach the engine. It’s a part that needs to be absolutely reliable, so a little tlc every now and then won’t hurt. If you’re on the road often, or your bike spends the night outdoors it’s a good idea to keep the cable regularly lubed. It’s supposed to glide smoothly in its housing.
Here’s our real life check list for disassembly, inspection, decision making and reassembly:

Checking and adjusting your secondary chain is a routine job every 1.000 miles. There will be a point when the old chain can’t be adjusted any more, that it becomes necessary to install a new one. Changing a chain is no rocket science, if you have your wits together and the right tools at hand.

At the end of this checklist we rounded up a few useful tools that make your life easier, ready to order.

And now: Let's go!

If you have to shrug, when the term fork oil pops up, and turn back to the work on your bench, you are probably the guy who has a springer, girder or leaf spring fork in his chop, and generally keeps to Harleys before the 1949 vintage.
1949 is the year when Harley-Davidson introduced the red-hot Panhead "Hydra Glide" motorcycle, which came with a "hydra-ulic" front end. Steel tubes sliding on steel tubes, and deep down inside long springs swimming in oil raised the riding comfort to unheard of levels, reducing back-breaking potholes, back then a daily menace to riders, to minor bumps in the road.
With all this sliding action going on, it’s no wonder the oil gets tired and saturated with microscopic metal particles due to abrasion, which makes regular change a necessity. The viscosity of fork oil can be used to adjust the damping characterisics (and levels of comfort) of hydraulic forks. SAE 30 W was standard on HDs up to 1978 (and up to ’84 on FL models). 30 weight is rather stiffish by today’s standards. It was replaced by 20 W later. If you appreciate a soft ride, go down to 15 W, or concoct your own "viscocktail" by mixing different viscosities. Make sure that you remember the mix ratio for next time.
Model specific quantities, the maintenance intervals and where to find the drain plugs are best looked up in the Let’s get started:

For some really healthy potatering and throaty gargleblasting a Harley engine needs a steady supply of clean air. To keep foreign matter such as dust, beetles and low flying hamsters from clogging up the delicate mechanical innards of your engine, some bright spark back in the good ole days invented the air cleaner. Depending of the vintage or customizing level of your ride, these gizmos are filled with a variety of filter media. Reaching from metal mesh for the really old Linkert filters to foam elements or cotton gauze media elements (washable) to disposable paper elements on the later models.
Even when you’re not the heavy mileage eater, filters get clogged up with dirt after a time, foam and K&N type filters also lose their cleaning power due to the loss of air filter oil. The air resistance grows and the engine’s power decreases, the idle suffers and both you and your engine start feeling less than happy.
Service intervals can be found in the It's not hard to do, so let’s get started:

One oil change per riding season is a good rhythm, so the perfect moment to change your bike's oil (and the filter) is the last ride of the season. Throw out the old gunk and settle the bike well lubricated into hibernation. Waking up your bike in spring is also a good moment to do a lube job.

If you’re ignoring the seasons and ride year round, you’ll have to keep an eye on the oil change intervals given in We happen to know that changing the oil on a hog can be a messy and dirty job, that’s why we have a few items on offer to make it as convenient and hassle-free as possible, even when using other brands of lubricants ;-) So best take your time to read this through once before opening that drain plug.

For Harley-Davidson riders, tires are more than a consumable part - they are a critical component of how the motorcycle behaves on the road. Regardless of the model you ride, the way your bike handles, grips, and rides depends on those two patches that connect you to the ground. Since motorcycle tires age, harden, crack, and wear over time, every rider will eventually need to replace a tire.

This often raises a common question: can you change motorcycle tires yourself, or should the job be left to a workshop? The short answer is yes, a tire change can be done at home, but only with the right tools, the right knowledge, and a clear understanding of the tire you’re working with. That’s exactly what this guide is intended to provide.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the fundamentals of Harley-Davidson motorcycle tires, answer frequently asked questions about tire fitment and legal requirements, and provide a clear, step-by-step overview of how a tire change is performed.

We’ll cover the basics you need to know about tires for Harley-Davidson motorcycles, including:

What different types of tire designs exist, How to find tires compatible with your motorcycle, How to read and understand tire specification markings, Key aspects of installing, mounting, and correctly seating a tire,

By the end of this guide, you should understand important considerations when choosing the right tire and have a solid overview of how tires are handled during installation.

If you already feel confident selecting the correct tire for your motorcycle and are mainly looking for the technical steps involved, you can skip ahead to Part 2: Changing a Tire on a Motorcycle.

Roll up your sleeves and dive in - your Harley’s next set of tires is waiting.

Changing grips on a Harley isn’t complicated, but it helps to know what you’re dealing with. Harleys have a few grip types depending on year and throttle system, so it’s worth taking a moment to figure out what you’ve got before pulling anything off.
This guide walks through removing old grips, choosing the right replacements, and installing them correctly. It covers simple grips, and twist grips - for cable operation and drive-by-wire set-ups.
This guide walks you through the process step by step - from choosing the right grips for your Harley to removing old ones and installing new grips correctly, taking into account the specific construction and throttle systems used on Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

Why do I need a battery in my Harley? A battery stores electrical energy that is not needed for ignition, lighting, or other electrical consumers and delivers it again when required, e.g., for the electric start. Rechargeable batteries are also called accumulators. They are available in different types and designs.
What types of batteries exist for Harley-Davidson? There are two different voltages: 6 V and 12 V. However, it should be noted that these are only approximate voltages, known as “nominal voltage.” On a fully charged 6 V battery, you measure 6.3–6.4 V, and on a fully charged 12 V battery, 12.7–12.8 V. If you measure only 6 V or 12 V, the battery urgently needs recharging. How to do this is explained further below.
All Harley-Davidson motorcycles up to the mid-1960s have 6 V batteries.
All Harleys from the mid-1960s onward have 12 V batteries. Here are the transition years:
Servi-Car from 1964, F(LH) models from 1965, Sportster models from 1967,
All model lines introduced after that have 12 V batteries.
As In the aftermarket, there are lithium-ion batteries, e.g., from Antigravity. They are characterized by low weight and compact dimensions while simultaneously delivering very high currents.

What’s the Job of a Spark Plug in a Harley-Davidson Motorcycle? Harley-Davidson V2 and single cylinder engines burn a fuel-air-mixture. In order for the combustion to start each time at the right point, a spark is generated between the spark plug electrodes — @ 3,000 rpm of the crankshaft 25 times per second, e.g.
Due to this hard job, Harley-Davidson spark plugs will inevitably wear, and will have to be exchanged every now and then. Worn or defective spark plugs can be the cause of bad starting, rough and uneven engine run, and missed emission standards on emission controlled vehicles.