How often do you retorq bolts and which ones

What bolts seem to get loose and how often do you have to retorq em down. The instructions say every 50 miles that seems a bit extreme to me.

I have to keep an eye on my brake shoes to make sure they dont move up to wear on the sidewall of the tire, but every thing else I give a quick look every time I ride. About every 2 weeks I lube various parts and havent found any thing specific that needs tightened. BUT every so often things need adjusting especially when I change rollers on my bike say from 1 3/4 to a 1 1/4 roller or 1in to 1 1/2.

Using a stubby wrench to install will reduce studs shearing. Double nuts and threadlocker will prevent nuts coming loose. The only things I check are chain and head bolts every few weeks because regular threadlocker don't work on them.

On the bike make sure bearings are properly adjusted and greased. Or you'll be sooooooooooorrrry.

Do not re-tighten fasteners every 50 miles. That is bad, bad, bad information that has caused people a lot of trouble. You don't do it on your car, motorcycle or any other machine, don't do it to your bike. Engine fasteners such as intake and exhaust manifolds, head bolts, mounts, torque them properly once, then after the engine has reached operating temperature a couple of times check them but only to see if they need a slight tightening to be where they need to be as far as torque is concerned. Any machine needs maintenance and its sound advice to check things periodically but when you torque, then re-torque and continue to do that you will surely twist off studs and nuts. Like the man said, use a short (stubby) wrench and use discretion in how tight you make things. If you opt for a thread locking compound stay away from the red lable Loctite. It will hold anything but requires a lot of heat to remove the threaded fastener without doing damage. The blue lable is a far better option. Double nutting is okay and nylon lock nuts (nyloc) are good too.
Tom

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Age and Treachery Will Always Triumph
Over Youth and Skill

LOL! If only that were true.

And what do you find not true about it? Red lable Loctite is a good product but has no place on a motorized bicycle. If you have evidence to the contrary, let's hear it.
Tom

__________________
Age and Treachery Will Always Triumph
Over Youth and Skill

uh oh, another loctite controversy...

for the topic at hand, listen to what 2door says about torque.

i "check" mine every now and then. by that, i mean, i take a wrench, and see if anything's loose, without actually tightening anything. i mean, unless something's loose. which there isn't, or hasn't been.

what i pay more attention to, is my headset, my bottom bracket, and my cones on my rear wheel. i'd rather have my exhaust fall off then my back wheel lock up because the bearings fell out.

my opinion on red loctite? it has a weird, sweet smell, and it's sticky, but it doesn't taste like cherries...

Spoken by someone who apparently has little experience with the stuff..

Think about it. If you put a microgram of Red on a 3/8" bolt do you seriously think that bolt will be stuck forever? Even with "permanent" locktite slobbered all over, these can be undone with little effort. Assume we are using tools made of steel here, not plastic or wood.

These bike motors need all the help they can get and it would be great if "permanent" threadlock was really permanent. I have done literally thousands of nuts in the last 10 years and few required heat to remove. Don't hurt to go easy on it though because it is expensive.

Rock breaks scissors.
Scissors cut paper
Paper covers rock

But anerobic ester (plastic) threadlock does not hold steel. Not permanently anyway.

You made me laugh...

In Tom's defense, it's not that red doesn't work or even that it works too well - it's simply not necessary.

Properly torqued and lockwashered (or nylock, or doublenut) fasteners won't go anywhere. In fact I worry more about the long term corrosion problems associated with dissimilar metals and "freezing" in place.

Nothin's gonna help a partially stripped fastener that's been abused by constant over-torquing or fasteners neglected because of too much faith in goober products lol - this is where knowing yer bike comes into play

All red debate aside Tom's post is dead on and is the gospel truth;