How do you get your Harley ready for a road trip? It’s an important question. While you might picture that upcoming motorcycle trip as the ultimate embodiment of being carefree and without responsibility, you would do well to practice at least a little bit of responsibility in getting your rig ready for the road.
Whether you ride a Sportster, a Dyna, a Softail, a Touring bike or any other alternative – you can get away with a road trip on almost any Harley. Sure, you may not be as comfortable on a Forty-Eight compared to a Road King, but there are personal preferences in play, there’s cost in play and plenty more factors as well. Our focus here is some general prep and thoughts for getting your Harley ready for a road trip, no matter what bike you set out on.
Now, depending on the trip you are taking, there are any number of things that you might want to take into consideration. That is to say, you are going to need to prepare more for a cross country marathon than for a 500 mile jaunt up into the mountains for the weekend. For the sake of being thorough, I’ll cover all the bases and you can make it fit your specific needs.
The first things to check are your tires. If your tires are worn, or will be worn, before your trip is complete, you should replace them. Some guys like to push their tires further towards the end of their life, but that is a slippery slope. A good set of motorcycle tires is relatively cheap life insurance, and a fresh set of rubber can go a long way towards making your trip more enjoyable. If nothing else, fresh tires feel better and let you ride harder and isn’t that why your taking the trip in the first place? You’ll also want to make sure that the tire pressure is properly set for your application. You can find the specifics for your bike/configuration at your tire manufacturer’s website.
Next, you’ll want to make sure that any upcoming maintenance is taken care of. For most
people, this is probably just oil and a filter. Maybe you’ll need a set of those tires we were talking about. Maybe you ride a Harley that was manufactured between 1999-2005, and your cam chain tensioners are coming due. The point is, no matter what type of bike you ride, it is going to be a lot easier to work on in your garage than on the side of Route 5. If you break down during the ride, you’re going to have to worry about potentially getting your bike towed, scrambling to find a local mechanic in unknown territory, riding two-up with your buddy on an already packed bike or any number of other variables. It’s best to be proactive before you find yourself in a bad spot.
The other things you should see to have almost nothing to do with your motorcycle. Things like how you pack and what you wear have a lot to do with your experience. Obviously, everyone is different but when my friends and I strike out for lands unknown, the list looks something like this, assuming a 3-7 day trip: 1 pair of jeans, 1 t-shirt, 2 pairs each of underwear and socks, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant. Add in a decent toolkit as well and a few cigars if you’re so inclined. These are all items that I consider to be essential to a good motorcycle trip, and it will still all fit in a single saddlebag or backpack. Packing light makes for a much more pleasant ride. After all, everything you pack has to be unpacked and packed again several times over throughout the trip.
Some riders like to head out into the great unknown with little thought about a route, while others prefer to meticulously plan their stops along the way. They want to snap shots of their Harley at different monuments, ride their motorcycle over a particularly scenic bridge and so on. One thing I never neglect is a paper map. You never know if/when you’ll lose cell service, your battery will die (bring a charger by the way) or your smartphone will stop working when you need it most.
In my experience, a little planning goes a long way and makes for a better road trip. With that being said, I’ve had great rides with a bald tire and dying clutch. The important thing here is that you get your bike on the road and enjoy your life.
