Preparing a bike for france

[M1ke]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?world=0181

Looking at the weather its going to be pretty damn warm in france when we go (8 days away!)

I was thinking is it worth draining the coolant and filling it with water mixed with less antifreeze? I assume less antifreeze means it will make the bike run cooler since if you put too much antifreeze in it runs warm.

Is there anything else I should do to prepare the bike for the warm weather?

[Robby]

Keep the antifreeze as the book says. Antifreeze doesn't make your bike run warmer, so you don't need to run a weaker mix for hot climates. It also contains corrosion inhibitors, and in that tiny old engine you really don't want corrosion.

As long as the antifreeze is ok now, I wouldn't touch it unless it has a proper drain plug to drop the old coolant. You probably need to disturb a slightly knackered hose to drop the coolant - if the hose disintegrates, you don't have long to find a new one.

I would change the oil and run 10W40 semi syn. Fully syn can cause clutch slip, and in 3500 miles of riding on french roads you might put some wear on your clutch, so best not to chance it. Fill the oil up nice and high in the sight glass, go for a little ride to fill the new filter properly, then check the level again.

New air filter.

Check your brakes, if the pads look like they may need doing, do them. Make sure the caliper bolts and disc bolts are done up tight.

Chain and sprocket condition. If it needs sorting, sort it.

Tyres. Personally I would go for a harder compound than 090s for 3500 miles in france, that will totally destroy an 090 and the higher ambient temperature and road temperature means you should be able to get a harder tyre up to heat and hold it there.

Go over the whole thing and check for loose nuts or bolts.

Basically prepare your bike in such a way that it will be servicable in 3500 miles of hard riding.
Don't take loads of chain lube or oil with you, just take a small can of chain lube and no engine oil. Lube your chain every night, if you need oil you can buy it from every hypermarket in france.

[mr.z]

https://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~noriba74/images/bike/sorted.jpg

Hope i didn't forget anything...


on a slightly more relevent and helpfull note, take anything you would need to adjust your chain, i'd be supprsed if you didn't have to at least once. never had to myself (maybe because mines shaft drive ) but friends whove been touring have had to do it frequently.
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[WildGoose]

yes, oh yes
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So in other words, he stopped you for being flagrantly in posession of a motorcycle in direct contravention of the Hippies, Darkies and People Whose Face I Don't Like The Look of (Police Powers) Act. 1976

[craigT19]

What i did.

1.got the bike serviced. (this includes a new air filter, your bike will run like a shitter in the mountains..due to the altitude, a clean filter can make this less noticable)

2. new set of tyres....tyres blister very quickly down the south of france due to the high road temperatures.

3. oil check and trust me..take 2 litres of oil with you...because YOU WILL BURN IT!! your doing the equivalent of 6 month riding in a week, i did 2300 miles in 6 days and burned about 2.5 litres. 2litres was the average with our bikes)

4. i had new pads fitted...but most of the guys went with there old pads (around 5mm of wear left) and they were fine.

5.take a tyre pressure gauge. you will want your pressures high for the mostly motorway/A road route of getting down there to minimise "squaring off" of your rubber. The adjust accordingly when down south...i need to drop my front 4psi and my rear 6 psi due to the high temperature

6.take some chain lube...and lube it ever 2 days or so, unless you have a scott oiler like me...then you can be lazy

7.if you can sort a tank bag....carry your documents in this (passport, licence both plastic and paper, insurance documents, mot, E111 and travel insurance) because if you get pulled you will need to produce most of these....the faster the better . I also kept some water in there cos i was sweating buckets.

8.you coolant should be fine...mine never moved

9.adjust you clutch to have a little extra play than usual, you engine will spend most of the time running hotter than usual, and i found my clutch was starting to play up due to the heat....i adjusted it looser, and solved the problem.

thats basically everything i have learned todo after 3 years or riding to the south of france and back

hope that helps
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Bikes owned :- 2001 nsr125, 1999 zx6r, 2006 yzf-r1, 2009 xmax 250, 2012 yzf-r1, 2015 MT-07
Current bike : - 2016 MT-10
BCF member pops. sadly missed 1945-2003