If you are into traveling then you will know the importance of habit to Maintain Your Motorcycle when you are still stand on side of the road with a sudden breakdown and it may be more painful if weather is not in your favor.
Here are important points which you should know to perform regular or on a short period of time to avoid such problems on your long or mini tours.
Common mistakes riders do
It’s very common to have a secondary bike for touring who owns 300cc or above motorcycles for regular uses. But sometimes some riders have single bike which they use for their daily needs and then touring purpose and both type of riders do this common mistake.
It’s natural that if bike is parked for very long time then first common issue with the bike is battery drainage, and some other components also have issue with a parked bike instead of a bing regular used bike.
If a tyre is not rotating it also start cracking its side walls so a parked bike faces slightly more issues than a regular running bike.
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Now riders don’t pay attention to maintain a bike for regular uses as they care before leaving for a ride. There are some regular maintenance steps which are ignored by bikers during their city use of bike but taken care during long rides only which is not a good practice.
How to Maintain Your Motorcycle
Here are some point which can keep your motorcycle well maintained for any adventure by following them.
Checklist
There are some points where it needs to pay attention regular to avoid big problem during your rides
Always check these points by yourself usually every day for a smooth ownership experience and hassle free rides.
Engine oil
People usually don’t care about quality and lifespan of their motorcycle’s engine oil and they are relayed on service center guy to change its only when they visit to service center for Servicing their bike.
I have habit of topping up engine oil whenever I visit to service center for any reason as it gives more life to engine to work on perfect level of oil in engine blocks.
This habit saves me from worries of due date of services whenever you are on a road trip and your bike has run some 500 to 1000 kms even 1500 kms you don’t have to worry about service or low oil levels to harm your engine.
Chain
People don’t track their chain maintenance habit or distance they have covered after cleaning and lubing their chain from last maintenance. They avoid regular chain lube and cleaning in city uses which impact chain and its components from lack of regular maintenance.
The incidence of chain breaking while cruising at speed occurs due to poor habits of avoiding chain maintenance which reduces chains life and performance
Chain tension is also important step after lubrication as it can reduces performance of the bike.
A over tight chain can causes harm to gearbox as it puts more tension on gearbox while increasing or reducing speed.
And a loose chain can snap or creating friction on lower part of sprocket cover and wear and tears is increased on gear teeth on back and front rotor.
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Tire
The First main point in tire is to maintain a proper tire pressure which increases tires life and wrong tire pressure decreases mileage of the motorcycle.
Running on lower tire pressure increases risks of puncture which can be problematic for you if you are riding with a pillion especially with your lady partner at night and your tire got puncture at nowhere to close to any residential area at night.
So don’t just check tire pressure before preparing for a long rides but make it a habit to check tire pressure every alternative week and if it drops then fill it to company recommended value.
You can buy a tire inflator which can be used at your tours as well as for regular tire maintenance at home without visiting any fuel station or tire shop.
Brakes
Mostly bikes even in commuter segment are coming with Disc brakes by replacing it from conventional drum breaks so braking has improved as it is very crucial part of a motorcycle to stop it precisely at any emergency braking.
Factory fitted brake pads are good but its always better to upgrade your brake pads for better stopping power.
Mostly bikes are using organic brake pads which are affected by heat on constant braking and it looses its performance so its better to upgrade them with ceramic brake pads for improving braking quality.
If you really wanna improve more then you can go for sintered brake pads which are costly and they are used in performance bikes .
But i use those brake pads by spending more on them as indian roads are unpredictable with sudden road crossing stray animals and potholes on the road so it needs a better stopping power for panic braking.
After upgrading better brak pads you need to check fluid level regular and keep inspecting condition of brake pads if they are worn out then better to change them.
Whenever you visit service center never forgot to topup fluids it gives you peace of mind.
Lights
Stock lights are fine but they’re not sufficient once you step out the city roads where there are no streetlight and you are gonna expect the unexpected things to cross your path.
Indian infrastructure is not that much good for night rides so always spend on auxiliary lights they are gonna provide better visibility at night. It will be best investment you are gonna have on your motorcycle.
Even if don’t ride in nights then still there are possibilities that you end up riding at night so prepare for it.
Despite having good auxiliary lights you need to check all the lights functionality if they are working well because even turn signals can stop working on your ride or brakelight can stop working it can be harmful.
Small efforts save big problems
Even if your bike is running fine and everything is working properly but it can change on long distance trips where man and machine is tested for its endurance.
So many riders skip their regular maintenance steps and they relay only on service center.
Conclusion
If you learn from my experience then it would be always better to give some time to your bike at home and do some regular inspection and do required DIY stuff to keep your bike well maintained by spending few minutes every week.
You can make a habit of topping up your bike fluids and regular nut and bolt inspection and tight them. If yiu have good relations with service center employee they do general checkups for free and fix if anything is loosen or they can take small money to perform general inspection on your bike and by this you don’t have to visit service center for general inspection before starting your long rides.
After following this habit i never visited to service center before my ride and my motorcycle is always good to go anytime I only visit to service center after i return from my ride to get a general inspection if my bike didn’t get damaged on poor Indian roads.
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