Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Auto

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

How to tune up your motorcycle for your upcoming road trips

Prepare your motorcycle for unforgettable road trips with these tips

Nate Swanner
By

Man working on a motorcycle
Gstockstudio / Adobe Stock

Good news, fellow bikers! Summer has finally arrived, and it’s time to tune up your poor, neglected motorcycle for the open road. A tune-up entails doing extensive maintenance of your motorbike to see if its components are in top working condition, or if they need to be replaced or cleaned.

Sure, you could just ask your local mechanic to do everything, but it’s more rewarding to do the work yourself. You’ll save money, too. Besides, a motorcycle tune-up is not that hard once you have the basics down. Here’s everything you need to know about tuning up your motorcycle for your upcoming road trip plans.

Hand of a mechanic holding a wrench in workshop.
Rjan Kovsky/Adobe Stock

Prepare your tools

A tune-up shouldn’t require any specialized multitools. But there are a few things you’ll need to get the job done. They are: A set of wrenches and sockets (including a spark plug socket), screwdrivers, Allen keys, and pliers.

Recommended Videos

Stanley’s 210-piece tool set contains everything you need for a motorcycle tune-up, from screwdrivers to drive sockets and ratchet.  Other helpful gear includes a battery tender or trickle charger, WD-40, motor oil, rags, an old toothbrush, brake fluid, new spark plugs, chain lubricant, and carburetor cleaner. We suggest getting the Oumers Brush Kit if you want a dedicated cleaning kit for chain maintenance.

Close-up of hand with yellow gloves on motorcycle handlebar
Westend61/Adobe Stock

Check the brakes and fluid levels

One of the first steps in prepping your bike for your road trip is to check all the fluid levels. Even if you have enough oil in the system, now is a good time to change the oil and replace the oil filter.

Related

You’ll also want to bleed the brakes and refill the system with new brake fluid. As you’re doing this, check the brake lines for any cracks or other wear and check the brake pads to ensure they still have some meat on them. If not, order replacements. Anything that doesn’t look 100%, replace it — you can never be too careful with brakes. Lastly, you’ll need to replace the fuel filter to keep out any debris that may have formed in the tank over the last few months. And add fresh gas.

An installation of the motorbike battery
Philip Image/Adobe Stock

Hit with a charge

Take the battery out of the bike and check for any white powder. If you find any, you likely need to replace the battery. If not, hook it up to your tender or trickle charger, such as this safe, easy-to-use battery charger from Battery Tender. Once you’re done charging the battery, slap it back in the bike.

Mechanic man checking a spark plug of vintage motorcycle.
Kamonrat/Adobe Stock

Spark it up

Next, you’ll want to use a reliable spark tester like the user-friendly Ram-Pro Inline Spark Tester to check your spark plugs for any wear and tear. If the electrodes (the part that shoots the spark, at the tip) are dirty, you will want to replace the spark plugs with new ones. When reinstalling your spark plugs, make sure to not over-tighten, which may damage the engine.

A close-up photo of a motorcycle
Arteum/Unsplash

Mind the chain

Press on your chain to check the tension. If it’s too loose, you can likely adjust the tension with the wheel adjusters (see this video to learn how to do it). Also, check the chain for rust and dirt. If it’s dirty, spray the chain with WD-40 and let it soak in for a few minutes. Next, spray a firm bristled toothbrush with WD-40 and scrub down the chain until it’s clean.

Once you’re finished, lube up the chain with a high-quality lubricant, which you should be able to buy at most auto stores. We recommend Amazon’s Maxima Chain Max since it is infused with anti-wear additives to help ensure your chain’s longevity.

Close up image of a motorcycle tire
Hans Ripa/Unsplash

Inspect the tires

Don’t forget to check your tires for any cracks or flat spots that may have formed over the last few months. The Slime Tire Plug Kit comes with five plug strings, a T-handle plugger, and other essentials for patching up tire punctures. Once everything looks good, check the tire pressure and fill or reduce the pressure as needed. If the pressure isn’t right, you’re going to need new tires — your best bet is to take your wheels to the shop. After you’ve checked the essentials, and topped off the gas and other fluids, give your hog a start. If you have an older bike that struggles to start, you can spray carburetor cleaner or starter fluid into the carbs. And if that doesn’t work, you may need to get some professional help.

Harley Davidson motorcycle rider
Harley-Davidson/Unsplash

Listen to the engine

Before you embark on a road trip, we recommend you ride your motorcycle around your neighborhood for at least a half hour so you could identify any potential problems in your engine. If you hear any knocking, hissing, or ticking sound while riding your motorcycle, it could be a sign that something is wrong with your engine. You should also check if too much smoke is coming out of the exhaust or if the engine is struggling to accelerate.

Basically, you need to fix anything that seems off on your motorcycle before the road trip, or else it would become a bigger problem down the road. If you can’t identify the cause of the problem, you can use a diagnostic tool if it’s available for your motorcycle. Alternatively, you can take your motorcycle to a mechanic for an inspection.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Nate Swanner
Nate Swanner
General Manager
Nate is General Manager for all not-Digital-Trends properties at DTMG, including The Manual, Digital Trends en Espanol…
New BMW motorcycle, the 2024 R 1300 GS, brings new suspension geometry and improved hardware
It's sub-$30k, too
Two 2024 BMW R 1300 GS adventure touring motorcycles traveling on a highway with desert and distant mountains in the background.

Piling on upgrades and new performance features, BMW Motorrad's 2024 R 1300 GS touring adventure motorcycles set the bar high for competitive brands. BMW introduces a new 1,300 cc boxer engine with the R 1300 GS, the most potent boxer yet.
The new GS, available in several style and color variants in early 2024, doesn't leap ahead of earlier versions with its engine alone. For 2024, BMW redesigned the GS frame, dialed in greater steering preciseness, and improved the bike's stability.
The GS's new boxer mill pumps out 145 horsepower and 110 pound-feet of torque at 6,500 rpm, nine hp, and five ft-lb more in a bike that weighs 26 pounds lighter than the previous model, the 2023 BMW R 1250 GS. You don't have to be concerned about engine peakiness, requiring that you wring it out thoroughly to hit the sweet spot because the new engine pulls hard in the wide 3,600 to 7,800 rpm range, BMW claims. The R 1300 GS redlines at 9,000 rpm.
One factor in the 2024's weight savings is the new placement of the six-speed transmission inside the engine housing, directly under the motor. BMW also reduced the versatile bike's overall size -- breaking from the common automotive tendency to make room for new features by increasing vehicle size.

BMW improved the R 1300 GS suspension with a redesigned steel and aluminum frame, increasing stiffness and improving stability. A new Evo Telelever design decouples the front fork suspension from the handlebars to reduce handlebar dive and tilt under hard braking and severe fork tube compression. The Telever system pairs with BMW's updated Evo Paralever to transfer weight from front impacts via the swing arm to the bike's rear for greater traction and stability.

Read more
Get the electric motorcycle of your dreams: Our top picks
From sleek, naked racers to big ol' hog cruisers, we've listed the best electric motorcycles
Johammer J1.

According to Michael Partridge’s "Motorcycle Pioneers," electric motorcycle development harkens back to the 19th century. During the days when moving mechanical vehicles were first being engineered, bicycle manufacturer Humber showed off an electric tandem bicycle at the 1896 Stanley Cycle Show in London. Like most internal combustion engine designs decades later, the motor sat between the bike’s wheels and ran via storage batteries. Over a century later, these battery-powered motorcycles are rechargeable, capable of achieving high speeds, and eat up sharp curves.

Today, the EV motorcycle market is large enough to label it ubiquitous. Makers from tiny Swedish startups like Cake Kalk to the massive Harley-Davidson have embraced electric motorcycles for adults. These producers are putting out styles that appeal to any and all bike enthusiasts, from naked street racers to big ol' hog cruisers. The electro-curious can be assured accessibility at any two-wheeled EV level with prices from $5,000 to above $100,000. With estimated ranges from 50 to 200 miles, these zero-emission motorcycles will get you where you need to go on whatever bike style gets your motor revvin’.

Read more
Travel tips: These are the 7 worst road trip mistakes you can make
These road trip tips and tricks will make your trip even better
Life on the road.

For several months I was road-tripping my way through the Pacific Northwest, through Western Canada — Vancouver to the Badlands (Drumheller, in particular) to Banff to Jasper then back down via Glacier and Whistler — and while that long list of destinations implies the more exciting aspect of life on the road, the reality that the van life Instagrammers don’t show is that it tends to be something of a slog. Tedious at times, stressful in others, with plenty of distance between the things you actually hit the road to see in the first place, you learn as you go how to alleviate the most aggravating aspects of what more or less amounts to living in your car for weeks or months on end.

It takes experience to learn how to deal with the long miles cruising the asphalt, the nightly search for places to rest your head, and the endless array of practical tasks you’ll have to manage as you go along. Here we’ll discuss a few such strategies for success on the road. In the past several years, I’ve road-tripped nearly 40,000 miles across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, and here are a few road trip mistakes I will never make again.

Read more