In Episode 003 of the "Best Motorcycle Roads" podcast, hosts Tom and Todd share their extensive motorcycling experience to help you prepare for your next adventure. This episode dives deep into the crucial topic of pre-trip motorcycle maintenance.

What's Inside:

- Detailed discussion on building an effective motorcycle toolkit, including must-have and nice-to-have items.

- Insights into specific tools like multi-tools, zip ties, and various types of tape.

- Recommendations for quality tool brands like Cruise Tools, WEA, Klein, and Weha.

- Practical tips for tire inspection, fluid checks, and battery maintenance to ensure a safe trip.

- Importance of checking lights, steering, and suspension, especially under load.

- Advice on pre-ride testing after adding new accessories to your bike.

- Real-life stories underscoring the importance of thorough maintenance checks.

Bonus tips on tool sharing in group rides to save space and weight.

Whether you're a seasoned rider or just starting out, this episode is packed with essential information to make your motorcycle trips safe and unforgettable.

Episode 003 - Pre Trip Motorcycle Maintenance

Transcript:

(00:42) we've got you covered before we Kickstart today's Journey we ask you to sign up for our BMR Rider alerts it's our way of keeping you in the loop with the latest rides tips and stories we promise no spam only Essentials to enhance your motorcycle Adventures join the BMR crew today we'll put a link in the show notes this segment is what we use to start off each episode and talk about motorcycle gear reviews and tips and we call it the toolkit this might be a literal segment name today actually we're talking about

(01:51) bike specific I think you're talking about wrenches screwdrivers pliers some sort of a tire repair kit um yeah and then I don't know when I think about building the toolkit I think about when I'm working on the bike here really paying attention to the tools that I'm using or the the literal wrench sizes that I'm using you know a lot of the modern day bikes have both wrenches and a lot of Allen you know Allen um bolts that it uses so you really got to pay attention I think um because that's

(02:51) always amazing to me when you see the old old bikes you know it's always come with that tool kit right and it like ends up having like eight Tools in it you know and you're like and but but like I know the old Honda Gold Wings every you could rebuild the entire bike with everything in that in that toolkit and I think things have changed changed a little bit but uh you just probably I would think though eight tools will get you almost everything that I'm comfortable doing while we're on the road so yeah there's a lot of uh compact

(03:53) the normals right you like everybody wants to work on their bike that's good make sure you're in a safe location um make sure it's stay before using it a lot of people you know you can pick up lifts at Harbor Freight once they're stable it's really great to get those up up in the air a little bit um but yeah you just got to use those safety things am I forgetting anything there one other thing I would just mention is if you're riding in a group of you know four five six people yeah um make sure you're not like

(04:46) focus on planning and safety tips uh so today we'll discuss uh pre-trip maintenance uh kind of a list of things that uh we do and we've got a we've got some lists that we've made over the years and just kind of keep working on those but really we want to start with uh Tire inspection because um unfortunately that's gotten us several times on our trip where uh you don't think about it you look at your tire and think well it's got it still has tread left but you're not thinking well wait a

(05:48) oil your coolant um check your hydraulic fluids check your brake fluids you know all the reservoirs should have lines that you can um you know view or they've got a dip stick that you can check on that uh make sure your your fluids are clean you know make sure they're not too dirty um you know just being real consistent about your your fluid levels you know it's real vital to uh for for your bike's performance and Longevity um your your battery we've had batteries you know uh go bad on trips as well uh

(06:47) turn the bike off leave the GPS running you're trying to figure out you know it's three years ago you're trying to syn the C A 20s for an hour you know this is on that's on the GPS is on you're running more things and you and then pretty soon it won't start you know like we've seen it happen before and it it's it's okay it's just a bummer and you know older bikes it wasn't that big of a deal I remember push starting Mike once on his yeah but like now it's it's

(07:38) lights uh your headlights your tail lights your brake lights your indicators um on actually twice while I've been traveling I've had a headlight go out um luck the first time I was uh you know I was still in the daylight uh and we looked for a dealership it was a Saturday morning um got to the dealership just before they closed so I got a headlight then but you know just carry an extra headlight with you you know they're small they're lightweight they don't take up any room just pack one of those M um check your steering

(08:39) luggage so really check that um and if you're if you're like Tom and you buy a whole bunch of accessories the night before we go on a trip right and start bolting all this this stuff on and strapping it on uh get out and ride a little bit because what happens is soon as you get out in that you know that highway speed you know the wind starts hitting everything it starts rattling and and all those new mirrors you just put on start falling off and getting loose so uh you know make sure you you have a chance to ride your bike if

(09:28) com we'll put a link in the show notes just something to check off and just make sure you think about all those things so yeah the next segment is what we call mile marker it's where we get to talk about the stories that kind of reiterate some of these things um yeah you said we've had several trips three trips where we had Tire issues yeah it seems silly but the first time I took it was actually a solo run on the west side of Iowa between um on the on the east side of Missouri river is something that's really cool I don't I don't think

(10:29) North and uh we'll throw a map on there but it's pretty crazy I mean it's neat to see but I was running all day um I was parked at night I stopped at a hotel to stay overnight I was getting the last bag off the bike and I looked at the tire and sure is shooting steel belt showing oh so um I'm was a ways away I ended up luckily I called my brother-in-law he came over and picked me up he happened to have an extra Tire in his garage we changed the next day and it was good but you know I don't

(11:30) trip and we were down in the Nashville area and and actually when before we left we we kind of noticed on one of our friends bikes Mike that uh his back tire was sketch SK it was a little sketch it was kind of at the end of its life it had you know kind of a bare spot you know and we thought well you know Mike are you sure no no it's it's it's fine you know I've I I haven't had it on there that long but you know not again back tires on motorcycles don't last that long but um you know we got riding

(12:26) wrote up next to him and sure enough his tire was nearly flat so um luckily we were close to a a hotel parking lot you know and pulled in there and um again it was on a it was on a maybe a Saturday I can't remember what day it was but you know we had to start calling around for tires and you would think Nashville right yeah big city big city we had a heck of a time trying to find a a tire I don't know if we ended up having to have one shipped in but um it it took us a whole another day of downtime you know

(13:24) happen which was good was you know accident right I mean that will end a trip real quick um so yeah I mean some of the good things about Nashville though you guys ended up didn't you hit an Airbnb was that you kind of did a stay where you did Airbnb and the Clover Leaf it was a vbo kind of the same thing but uh yeah we used that as our our Central U unit you know place to stay we Hub and we unpacked our all of our luggage so that was nice and light up the bikes and then we just made big Cloverleaf rides out

(14:26) the US and that's one of them um that one starts down in Mississippi I think it ends in Nashville that was an interesting Road um I'd like to do that again sometime too um but that one starts as like an it's kind of one of the old American roadways um I think it was traveled a lot you know over the years and it just kind of became one of those things but you know I think that alone could be a it's a 444 Mile Road which isn't super long but I think there's just a lot of stuff to do especially if you're the

(15:29) would definitely ride that again yeah I would too yeah yep um the last Tri the last trip we took actually was another freaking time we had a stupid Tire problem you know and then this one was where I ended up borrowing a motorcycle from a friend borrowed Turk's bike nice bike KTM we looked at the tire and it was it looked like sometimes tires get this way when you're ride on the highway all the time they start to square a little bit right but there there was plenty of tread on both sides of the square and

(16:30) rain part of that so yeah I don't know I know when he went to get that tire changed the guy's like somebody's been doing burnouts on your motorcycle I'm like and he's like not this guy he wouldn't do it but you know it's just one of those things where you just got to be careful right I mean like when you think it's going to be fine just fix again you're putting 1500 1600 miles on a trip and that's that's a lot of miles that's a lot of miles you know when you start talking about that kind of stuff

(17:26) it against things after that but um yeah just really keep watching your bike as you go you know every time you stop just take another quick look around yeah from that's a great point I mean um you know and then one other thing that I remember that wasn't a tire problem is we stopped for lunch one day I it was a vom I was riding a vrms and fun bike we got back on to get up and I it wouldn't I couldn't start it it the starter wouldn't engage and uh what ended up happening that time was the the clutch

(18:28) sometimes you just never know what's going to happen you know and and it's a little bit of kind of knowing your bike a little bit otherwise what are you gonna do I mean you're just stranded it's it's not going to start without that switch working properly so yeah yeah yeah you just made me think of one more thing I need to add in here um I remember you you had added some I think a mud flap or something to your front fender on on your motorcycle a fender extender a fender extender and we got to riding on the

(19:25) handlebars and we're like What are you kidding and uh pretty soon we looked back and Tom wasn't with us so we all you know as quick as we could found a turn around on the highway and went back and sure enough got up and instead of being able to take the the uh the exit ramp or go it was almost like a y you know uh you had to go straight and then you just came to a stop and sure enough your handlebars were locked dead center and it took us a little while to figure it out but that Fender extender that was

(20:26) tools I I don't know like how you'd have got that out of there but yeah well it's it's a good thing that you stopped when you did because you were like right in the intersection where splits you went straight ahead and stopped no choice yeah yeah funny uh so this podcast can be found on best motorcycleroads.

(21:14) let just kind of lets us reflect on the the podcast we call it the last mile um you know Todd what what do you got from today I I really think just um when you're talking about tools um talk to each other don't duplicate a bunch of tools uh decide who can bring which things uh you know there's no need for that extra weight and that extra room on your bike so I that's kind of a big one for me I agree you know me me having two issues with tires I just say hey you know like just don't let that happen

(22:12) maximum pressure um you know that's what they're designed for they can go up to that maximum pressure um so yeah so all right yeah next episode we're going to do the first try of a route highlight the Tail of the Dragon um so yeah if you like this episode if it up your day don't keep it to yourself like subscribe and share it with your crew we're all about the thrill of the ride and the bonds it creates keep the spirit of Adventure alive and remember bikes friends and endless roads the stories