Ok soI know that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and all of the old sayings that can go along with this, but I need some advice.

I really didn't do anything to winterize my bike. How can I get it ready for spring riding?
I'm thinking oil change (duh) but what else?

 

Depending on when you put the bike into storage, the gas may have gone bad. If it were me, I'd drain out the gas, fill up with fresh gas. Throw in some in-gas carb cleaner such as 'Seafoam'. Then just check over all your components like the brakes, chain, and suspension. Oh, and lube all your cables.

 

Great, thanks!

 

And tire pressure. That's one of the more important things you can do after a bike sits all winter.

 

I've been kicking this around... i need to get my bike inspected soon anyway. Maybe i'll just let the service shop run through a checklist of things to do, minus the no brainer stuff like oil change, tire pressure, yada yada...

Plus, they know more about what makes a bike tick, run, break apart and explode than i do, so they could catch something wrong a whole lot faster than i could.

"That's funny, I didn't know the bars were supposed to wobble like this at speed... and i know the engine is loud, but what is that pinging?"

 

Man if all of that's going on you do need to take it to the shop, or are you bull crapping us?

 

Oh no no i'm joking around. Haha, if my bike was doing any ofwhat was in quotesit would have been in a shop a long time ago.

...That orI would end up a statistic you could read about in my local paper. I was poking fun of my knowledge in that i know next to nothing compared to someone who's job it is to disect engines.

 

Inever pass on responsibilities to other people simply becuse they know more than I. If anyone ever touches my machines, I'm right there looking over their shoulder, so I can assure everything has been done properly, and if you dont know how to do it, you will next time. But all of the suggestions that have been made so far are reltively simple and would bea great learning experiance for you to do on your own, or havea buddy show you. (Warning: You are obligated to provide beer, food, or both to anyone who works on your ride)