Five Basic Motorcycle Maintenance Tips

These are some easy checks that you can perform on your motorcycle periodically to keep it in the best shape possible.

Motorcycle maintenance doesn’t always mean dropping off your bike at the mechanic’s for its routine service. If you want your motorcycle to last as long as possible, or stay in the best condition possible, you will need to take care of it by conducting some basic periodic maintenance yourself.

1. Keeping the bike clean - This is important and one that most people blatantly ignore. Clean your bike regularly if you want to keep it in the best condition over a long period of time. There are multiple benefits to this. Firstly, a motorcycle left dirty for long periods of time can result in the dirt and grime leaving a mark on the paint job. Second of all, metallic parts can start to rust if they are left with grime stuck to them. But most of all, dirt and grime can clog up the moving parts of your bike such as the sprocket and chain and the wheels, thus in turn sapping power.

2. Engine oil check - Check you bike’s engine oil level and colour periodically, or after a long or hard ride. The engine oil is essential to keep your bike’s engine running smoothly and any drop in its level can result in the engine offering lesser performance and incurring increased wear and tear. The effects of running a motorcycle engine without the adequate amount of engine oil are often permanent. Many manufacturers also mention in their product manual in the fine print that engine oil should be topped up by 50-100 ml every 500-1000km.

3. Chain maintenance - A bike’s chain is quite crucial as it is what delivers the power from the engine to the rear wheel. Often bike owners will keep running a motorcycle despite the chain requiring maintenance. The chain needs to be periodically cleaned and lubed to run smoothly. It also needs to be checked that it is tightened up to the manufacturer's recommended level. If a chain is run without being properly lubed or tightened, it will damage the chain and the sprockets of the bike permanently.

4. Check the electricals - Modern motorcycles extensively feature the use of electronics and thus it is essential to check them from time to time. Check to see that all bulbs and switches on the motorcycle are operating as intended. Next, check all the exposed wiring and make sure that it is not mutilated in any place. Also make sure that your battery connections are properly secured and that the entire system has a fuse in place. Mechanics will often bypass the fuse to repair an electrical problem, which could in the long run damage all the electricals of your bike. If your parking area has rats, then checking electricals becomes quite important as rats can partly or fully chew through wires.

5. Tyre pressure - This is one of the most, if not the most important step. Tyres are the only part of a motorcycle that stay in contact with the ground and thus their importance. If your tyres are over inflated, your contact patch will be reduced and the chances of your tyre skidding out from underneath you increase. On the other hand if your tyre is underinflated, the contact patch does increase but the tyre deforms. Both these situations are quite bad. That is why it is important to keep your bike’s tyres inflated at just the right pressure.