By 
Looking for a thrilling adventure on your bike? Planning for a long bike trip can be an exciting but risky endeavor. But with the right preparation, you can enjoy the beauty of India’s picturesque landscapes while ensuring your safety. To ensure a safe and memorable experience, there are some essential measures to take and key things to check before hitting the road. Here are some important tips on how to prepare your bike before a long trip, including what to check and how to do it.
By following these steps, you can have a safe and enjoyable journey on your bike.
1. Check Your Brakes
People often ride fast while on highways, but there is no point in going fast if you cannot stop in time. Long-ride by bikes in India are full of uncertainties, therefore it is important to ensure that the brakes are working properly. Therefore, Brakes and brake fluid are the most vital components of your bike which are needed to be double-checked to have a safe road trip. Make sure there is an optimum amount of brake fluid in the brake fluid container. Seek professional help. Also, check the brake pads, front and rear to see if there’s any tear or wear. Change them if you find any faults.
2. Check Your Tires and wheel alignment
Always see if the tires are in a good condition. Old tires have a risk of tearing up or blowing out while riding the motorbike. Hence, always check the air levels and the quality and conditions of the tires. Look at the tread. All tires have wear bars placed throughout the tread area. If the wear bars are almost leveled with the tire tread, or if there are any unusual patterns such as flat spots or cuts, it’s highly recommended to change and get new tires. Maintain optimum tire pressure to ensure decent fuel consumption. Wheel alignment also needs to be checked, especially when going for a long ride. Proper alignment of wheels helps to reduce the tire’s wear and tear. It also ensures that the wheel travel is straight and correct.
3. Check the Throttle and the Clutches
Check the throttle, brake pedal, and clutch lever for a bit of free play. All of them should have a little, but not too much free play. If the throttle doesn’t move a bit, then it is adjusted too tight and when you turn the handlebars from side to side it will rev the engine, which is not good when you are turning your bike on a corner. Make sure the brake pedal activates the brake light before they start to engage the cable. This means the brake light will be turned on before you activate the brakes, therefore giving people behind you plenty of warning. These things are very crucial to maintain when you are going on a long trip, especially on the roads in the mountains or where there are many tricky turns and sloppy edges.
4. Check the battery and the electrical
The next important tip is to check your battery and all the electrical components and wiring of your bike. Switch on the ignition and check the headlight on low and high beam, indicators front and back, taillight, and also check the brake light off both the lever and pedal. Try the horn as well. Then start the bike to see if the battery is fully charged or whether it struggles to spark the engine into life. Old batteries may require a distilled water top-up, but most batteries are sealed these days. If it’s faulty, it is not going to get any better, so replace it now before it leaves you stuck in the middle of nowhere on your long trip.
5. Overall Visual Inspect and Bike ride essentials
Finally, do an overall visual inspection of the bike from its head to tail. Check the entire bike for any broken or worn parts. Check the frames, petrol tank, bike meter, both front and rear housing of your bike. Check the number plate if it’s visible properly, proper adjustments to the mirrors. Also manually grab and shake various parts of your bike to see that they haven’t vibrated loose, such as shock absorbers, chain guard, rear racks, etc. Just give the bike a basic once over with your eyes and hands.
To ensure complete safety while riding your bike, always carry the bike essentials with you be it a long bike trip or a short ride. A good quality helmet, raincoat, luggage facility, luggage cover, and bike cover. Having a GPS installed is also one of the essential things to keep in mind for bike trips.
Conclusion
Before you head for your desired long bike road trip, it is better to keep a spare set of important tools so that you can tackle a breakdown on the road if required. We hope that the above-mentioned bike maintenance tips will help you with preparing your bike before setting off on your long bike trip.
