bike maintenance while on the road.

[pete1100xx]

hi,i shipped my bike from australia to the uk and after riding through france ,spain ,and portugal i am now in italy near perugia.i would like to give my bike an oil and filter change and just wondering how others when touring different coutries go about this.i prefer to do my own servicing as i know its been done properly and it gives me a chance to give the bike a check over.apart from buying the oil and doing it on the side of the road how do others go about it.do you just hope a bike shop will do it right?..

[Papa Lazarou]

hi,i shipped my bike from australia to the uk and after riding through france ,spain ,and portugal i am now in italy near perugia.i would like to give my bike an oil and filter change and just wondering how others when touring different coutries go about this.i prefer to do my own servicing as i know its been done properly and it gives me a chance to give the bike a check over.apart from buying the oil and doing it on the side of the road how do others go about it.do you just hope a bike shop will do it right?..

In the past, I've bought oil and done it on the side of the road. When a head gasket went, I torqued it all up as far as I could and limped to the nearest garage. They helped out. And I went on my way (until it blew again outside,,,,)

[pete1100xx]

thanks papa lazarou.its reassuring to know im not the only one who would prefer to do an oil change by the side of the road than chance picking the wrong bike shop to do it.

[Orson]

Although I've never stopped for an oil change, I've stopped several times for new tires  

[pete1100xx]

hi orson.i had a new front tyre fitted in seville spain.very nice people and they did a good job,i stopped and inspected the work back at my campsite and checked everything was tightened up correctly.only thing i found was the mechanic only put 28psi in the tyre (it is a honda blackbird) but i carry a mini compressor so it was not a problem to add more air.hopefully the rain here has finished and i can start heaqding back into the alps and across to slovenia

[notarian]

There are a number of Honda dealers in and near Perugia. Sounds like you have our own tools to so the job. My thoughts are that since you need to buy oil and the filter, do so from the dealer and change your oil & filter in his lot rather than roadside = They can dispose of the oil.


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[FJR-UK]

I service my bike before and after a trip. Having said that, I've had more than my share of trouble on the road.

While most Europeans in the tourist industry speak English, I have yet to meet a motorcycle mechanic in Spain, France, Italy, Germany or Switzerland that speaks anything other than their native language. And why should they. And yet, with a basic phase book and a lot of pointing and gesticulation, I have successfully had a clutch seal, wheel bearing and complete electrical system replaced in each of the above countries.

And, on each occasion, the shop dropped everything they were doing to get me back on the road. The Yamaha dealer in Pesaro even drove me, my wife and all our luggage to a hotel he recommended where we waited for two days for the parts to arrive from Bologna.

All part of life's rich pageant.  

[Orson]

I had a similar situation in Croatia.

A rock cracked the oil pan and there was a small leak. I remembered an Aprilia sign a few miles back so went back there. They couldn't help me but knew someone who could.

The guy showed up with a trailer, loaded the bike, took me to a hotel, and had the crack welded by 10:00 A.M. the next morning.

None of them spoke English but somehow we got it sorted  

[pete1100xx]

thats a good idea about seeing if i can do the oil change in the parking lot.i bought an oil filter in san marino when i spotted a honda dealer thinking getting an original honda filter would be the hard part.the bike was fully serviced before i shipped it from australia,new clutch and brake fluid,coolant,plugs,chain and sprockets,brake pads so hopefully its just the normal servicing i need to do as the klms clock up.