Post-Tour Motorcycle Servicing Checklist

Our pre-trip mechanical checklist covers getting a bike ready before a tour. This is its natural bookend, what to check once you're back, because a few thousand kilometres of mixed terrain, altitude, water crossings and long days puts wear on a bike that a normal commuting schedule simply doesn't.

Skipping this check doesn't usually cause an immediate problem. It causes a slow one, a chain that wears out early, brake components that fail sooner than they should, or a small issue from the trip that turns into an expensive one by the time it's finally noticed.

When to Do This Check

Within a few days of returning, while the trip's conditions are still fresh in your memory and before the bike goes back into daily use. Riding a touring-worn bike straight back into a regular commute

Pre-Trip Motorcycle Mechanical Checklist

A pre-delivery inspection tells you a new bike left the showroom in good order. It says nothing about whether that same bike, six months and a few thousand kilometres later, is ready for a five day tour through changing terrain and weather. That's a different check, done at a different time, for a different reason.

Most mechanical issues that end up stranding a rider mid-tour aren't sudden failures. They're things that were already showing signs before the trip started, a chain running loose, a tyre worn past the point it should have been replaced, a battery that was struggling to turn over even in the driveway.

This checklist covers what to actually check before you load the bike and leave, not a full service, but a focused inspection aimed at catching the things most likely to cause trouble on the road.

When to Do This Check

At least one week before departure, not the night before. This

How to Choose Auxiliary Lights for Your Motorcycle

Stock headlights on most Indian motorcycles are built for city traffic, not a monsoon downpour on the Mumbai-Pune expressway or a foggy climb toward Rohtang. That gap is exactly what auxiliary lights are meant to close.

The problem is that most buying advice online is written for BMW and Harley riders in the US and Europe, where the roads, the weather, and the traffic rules are completely different from what you'll actually deal with on a Royal Enfield or an adventure bike in India. This guide skips the DOT and E-Mark talk and focuses on what actually matters here: which type of light suits your riding, how to wire it without draining your battery, and the legal grey area that most guides don't mention at all.

Fog Light, Driving Light or Passing Light? Know What You're Buying

"Auxiliary light" is an umbrella term, and the three most common types under it solve different problems.

The bike’s chain is probably one the most important parts on a bike for it's brand new out of showroom feel. The kind of acceleration and deceleration forces that the chain handles are immense. In the course of normal riding, the chain probably goes through the most wear and tear as compared to any engine component; remember, almost all engine components are almost always lubed by the engine oil and are encased away from the harsh surroundings (mud, dust etc) whereas the chain is mostly exposed to the elements of nature.

The chain’s exposure to natural elements make it age rapidly unless cared for. The difference in performance between a non-lubed chain and a properly maintained one is huge and can be felt almost immediately.

Why is cleaning bike chain necessary?

In most modern motorcycles, chain is not covered in full chain cover and is exposed. It gets subjected to dirt, dust, water every time you ride. Cleaning a chain and lubricating it properly will (a) mak

I recently received a call from a very good friend informing me that he has bought a new bike. Not being an enthusiast, his demands from the machine were limited to regular commute to his office, market place and an occasional trip to outskirts within 100 kilometers. When I reached his place, his bike looked as new as it could. Having taken the delivery a few hours back, the bike was gleaming and sparkling with all its glory.

He started the bike and then in a display of utter neglect, revved the bike hard enough for its nuts to fall off. Not just that but he also ensured that he redlined in the lower gears while demonstrating the potential to me. Thankfully, I was only a spectator standing a few meters away. While the display of his riding prowess and that of his machine were ignorable, what is not worth ignoring is the fact that his bike might have endured some of the toughest moments of its life.

So then we decided

With the upcoming monsoon, we, as riders are worried about protecting our pride and joy from rains. People have questions right from “Is it OK for a bike to get rained on?” to “how to protect my motorcycle from rusting”. So decided to put together a guide with tips. Here it is -

How to protect your motorcycle from rains:

1. Keep the chain lubricated
2. Prevent rust before it hits.
3. Get covered parking / waterproof bike cover
4. Clean your bike regularly

Every rider wants to be faster. Even being 5-10%  faster would be sufficient for most. And not everyone can keep upgrading the bike. And in most of the cases, you don’t need to be upgrading. It is time to see if you are actually utilising the full power of your existing bike. Read on.

We will be discussing following points in this article:

1. What is Power and Torque?
2. What is power band?
3. Optimal Gear shift points
4. Should you up-shift if your target destination is only 50-100 feet away?</

Every rider wants to go faster and if you can find some more power or top speed in your existing bike; that too without spending much money, who wouldn’t want it? The solution to more power or more top speed is chain/sprocket kit. You can get exact percentage gain that you can calculate before modification.

• Does a smaller rear sprocket make you go faster?
• Bigger sprocket faster or slower
• What does a smaller front sprocket do?
• Bigger front sprocket does what?
• Does a bigger sprocket increase speed?

We have been asked these queries so many times that we decided to write a detailed guide about it. 

So let’s see how this magic upgrade works.

If you are looking for

While everyone enjoys riding their motorcycle, do we ever give a thought to the drive type we are using and why? We guess not. That is why this article to explain benefits and disadvantages of each drive type.

There are 3 drive types for motorcycles:

1. Chain Drive
2. Belt Drive
3. Shaft Drive

Now let’s look at each drive type in details.

1. Chain Drive:

Chain drives are the most commonly found drive type for motorcycles. Chain drive comprises of a simple chain of linkages c