When you go on long weekend rides there are a lot of things that could go wrong with the bike. The reasons may be various but there are somethings you can fix and some you cannot. This article covers about the things that you can fix yourself when something unexpected happens to the motorcycle.

Puncture

The most common thing that could happen to anyone is a flat tyre and this is the worst thing that could happen to you. Lets pray that this does not happen to you but even if it did, be prepared to fix it the right way. Prevention is better than cure is a truthful saying. Best way to get out of a problem is when you are ready for it. Carry a puncture kit with you at all times. If your motorcycle rides on tubeless tyres then fixing the puncture is not a big problem at all. Read the instructions on the puncture kit and easily fix it but make sure you check your air pressure in the next station.

If you have a motorcycle which has tyres with a tube and it gets punctured in an unknown and a lonely location and you do not have the right tools and a tyre pressure pump, you cannot do anything much but push the motorbike to the next puncture shop.  Keep in mind that you need to loosen the valve nut before pushing the motorcycle to the shop. If you do not do this the tube might get damaged and you would have to change it.

Battery Dead

Suppose you try to crank up engine with the self-start button and the motorcycle wont start, there are ways to crank it up. You can jump start your motorcycle with the help of a jump cable. You can do this by connecting the positive of your battery to the positive of your friend’s battery and the negative to the negative. This way the dead battery extracts power from the live one and starts the motorcycle. Do not turn off the engine for a while until the battery gets charged.

Or maybe your luck on that day was bad and you do not have a jump cable, do not worry there is another way to get your motorcycle running. You can shift the motorcycle to second gear and hold the clutch and push the motorcycle until it attains quite speed. After you do this and while the speed is still maintained, release the clutch suddenly and you can feel the jerk and the motorcycle will start. Now when this happens hold the clutch again and twist the throttle, this will make fuel pass into the engine and keep the engine running.

Clutch cable snaps

Its not very often this happens but you never know what happens on the road. If your clutch cable snaps and you have a spare and you know how to fix it, awesome. If you do not know what to do then you can continue riding on the motorcycle with just one gear. You can also shift gears without using the clutch. Decelerate the motorcycle and slowly and gently try to shift gear using the gear lever. You will be able to feel the sweet spot where the gear shifts without any problem. If you do not do this properly then there might be serious damage to the gear box.  Its best to go to the nearest garage and fix it.

Brake fade

You may call it brake failure or improper functioning of brakes. You are driving or riding down a ghat section and you do not get good response from the brakes as you did earlier, that’s when you know its brakes fade. This is a problem which occurs due to the high usage of the brakes during riding or driving. The disc and the brake pads get heated up and it will give a very low response. Best thing you can do when this happens is just pull over and let the brakes to cool down. Let the brakes to cool down and start your journey. If you do not let the brakes cool enough then the brakes might not work to its fullest and cause serious problems.

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Also read 6 ways to maintain your motorbike