400 Tips & Tricks | Part 9

The June 2016 issue marked Dirt Rider’s 400th issue, and to mark the milestone we put together 400 tips that might save the day, or just make the day go easier. We thought we’d show them to you again online, ten at a time, to help instill the wisdom into your brain so when the time comes you hear an expert bit of advice in your head.

_{Note: Tips that came from a specific source will have an attribute listed. Tips with no attribute have been pulled from Dirt Rider’s extensive library of content, including back issues of the magazine, dirtrider.com, and The Total Dirt Rider Manual. Enjoy!}

81: If you get stuck in a huge mud rut, you can turn off your gas, lay the bike over, and drag it into a better rut.
82: After a wet ride, stuff crumpled newspaper into your boots to help them dry uniformly inside and out.
83: Don't straighten a bent handlebar. Replace it.
84: If you use duct tape for your rim/spoke protector inside your wheel, that duct tape is holding dirt (it gets in when you ride and when you power-wash) and making life tough for your spoke nipples. If you do use duct tape, replace it with every tire change.
85: To wheelie through a matrix, keep the front wheel high. You don't need to use the rear brake; only chop the throttle to bring the front lower. —Cody Webb
86: Handlebar "elephant ears" can be made by cutting open 1-gallon plastic jugs.
87: Don't spray cleaner or lubricant through a throttle cable that is attached to a carburetor; it will dump grime into the last place you want it.
88: "Most people find the spoke that loosens the most is the one right by the rimlock, and that's primarily due to overtightening of the rimlock because that rimlock then has forced the rim to kind of flex and change a little bit which then takes the pressure off what the spoke is trying to do." —Doug Schopinsky, Pirelli
89: As you put a new grip on, pull the flange up to let the air out.
90: Watch your strength when using T-handle wrenches for the first time, especially long ones. It sounds odd, but the farther away you are from the bolt, the more leverage you have.