Essential checks before every motorcycle ride

Why bother with a pre-ride check?

Most breakdowns and near-misses don't announce themselves. A tyre that has quietly lost eight psi overnight, a bolt that has been loosening itself for a fortnight, or a brake light that stopped working last Tuesday — none of these feel dramatic in the driveway. They feel dramatic at 70mph on a wet M6 when you need to stop and the rider behind you has no idea you're braking.

A proper pre-ride routine takes two to three minutes. That's less time than it takes to pull on your gloves and wrestle with your helmet strap. Do it every time you ride, not just before a big trip, and it becomes muscle memory — a quick lap of the bike that you'd feel uneasy skipping. Think of it as a conversation with your machine rather than a checklist.

Tyres and wheels: the single most important check

Tyres do the steering, the braking and the gripping, all with a contact patch smaller than your palm. Check them cold, before you've ridden anywhere.

• Pressure: Use a proper gauge, not a hopeful squeeze of the sidewall. Follow the figure in your handbook for your bike, and adjust for a pillion or luggage. A tyre that looks fine at 30 psi might want 36 with a loaded top box.
• Condition: Run your hand around the tread and look for cuts, embedded screws, perished rubber or a flat spot in the centre. Nails often sit quietly in a tyre for days before the pressure drops.
• Tread: The legal minimum for motorcycles over 50cc is 1mm across three-quarters of the tread width and around the whole circumference. Anything approaching that in October, with winter coming, wants replacing.
• Wheels and spokes: Check for buckled rims after a winter of potholes, and give spoked wheels a quick tap to hear for loose spokes. Spin the wheel and watch the tyre run true.

While you're down there, glance at the brake pads. If the friction material is down to a couple of millimetres, order new ones now rather than discovering it on a Sunday.

Fuel, fluids and a slow walk around the bike

Start at the front and work backwards, letting your eyes do the work. Look for weeps and stains: a few drops of coolant under the radiator, a dark patch by a fork seal, oil mist around the engine case. A fork seal that's weeping will eventually spray oil onto your front brake disc, which is a genuinely nasty failure mode.

• Engine oil: Check it on level ground with the engine off and the bike upright. Keep it between the marks — don't overfill.
• Coolant and brake fluid: Check the reservoirs for level and colour. Brake fluid that's gone the colour of weak tea is overdue a change.
• Fuel: Obvious, but a surprising number of riders set off on reserve and then plan a route through the Yorkshire Dales on a Sunday evening.

Winter riding means road salt, and road salt means corrosion. A quick rinse of the fork lowers, brake calipers and rear shock after a salty ride does more for your bike's long-term health than any amount of polishing.

Chain, controls and brakes

The chain is the one component that will tell you exactly how it's feeling if you ask. With the bike on its side stand or a paddock stand, find the slack at the tightest point, usually halfway along the bottom run.

• Chain tension: Most road bikes want somewhere between 20mm and 35mm of up-and-down movement — check your manual. Too tight wrecks gearbox bearings; too loose risks it jumping the sprocket.
• Lubrication and wear: A dry chain that's shiny on the rollers needs lube. Hooked teeth on the rear sprocket, or a chain you can pull away from the back of the sprocket, means a new set.
• Levers and cables: Squeeze the front brake and pull the clutch. They should feel firm and smooth, with no sponginess and no snagging. If the front lever creeps towards the bar, you've got air in the system or a failing master cylinder — do not ride it.
• Throttle: It should snap closed on its own from any position. A throttle that sticks is a fault that ends badly.

Lights, mirrors and your own kit

You can't see your own brake light, which is precisely why so many riders have a dead one. Work through it methodically: front brake lever, rear brake pedal, both should light the rear. Then indicators, front and rear, and the headlight on both dip and main beam. A pillion or a passer-by is useful here, but a wall or a shop window at dusk works just as well.

Adjust your mirrors before you set off, not at the first set of traffic lights. Give the visor a proper clean with a soft cloth and water — a smear of bug juice at eye level turns low sun into something genuinely dangerous. Check your gloves aren't split and your jacket zip is done up. In a British winter, add a spare layer, decent waterproof overgloves and a charged phone in a zipped pocket.

Extra checks for touring days and loaded bikes

Before a long trip or a weekend away, add a few minutes. Check the luggage is genuinely secure — a top box that shifts mid-corner will unsettle the bike more than you'd expect. Recheck tyre pressures with the load you're actually carrying, and consider raising rear preload a notch or two. Confirm your breakdown cover and paperwork are with you, and that your route doesn't leave you hunting for fuel in the wilds of Northumberland after six o'clock.

If you're riding two-up, do a brief pillion briefing: how to mount, where to hold, what to do in a bend, and the fact that tapping your left leg means stop for a break. Five minutes of chat saves a lot of wobbling.

None of this is glamorous. But a rider who spends three minutes with their bike before setting off is a rider who arrives with the same smile they left with. That's the whole point.