Time for some TLC on the bike…
I did an oil-change while I was in Sweden, having brought an oil filter with me from the UK. All I had to do was buy some oil, which expecting it to be really expensive in Sweden, I was pleasantly surprised. Oil and petrol in Sweden was cheaper than the UK. In fact every country I’ve been to so far has far cheaper petrol than the UK. There are the average prices I’ve seen so far for E95- per Litre…
Sweden: £1.40
Germany: £1.45
Poland: £1.10
Czechia: £1.05
Belgium: £1.30
Anyway, a few thousand miles later it’s not time for an oil change yet but for some other TLC for the bike, and besides getting the right hand running light working again – water – I also cleaned my chain and re-tensioned it. I also took the opportunity to check my tyre pressures and applied a liberal coating of oil or WD40 to things that move.
On this trip the V-Strom hasn’t used much oil. I do check the oil level every few days but it rarely moves and I’ve only had to top-it up once, and that was only about 200ml. In fact the most oil I’ve used is my chain-oiler, which I tend to top-up once a week. Some guys buy dedicated chain-lube oil, and some buy chainsaw oil, but I just use normal engine oil. I am limited with what I can carry with me so I started the trip with a litre of 10/40 oil, which I can either use to top up the engine or use for the chain. I think looking after your chain is important, which is why I regularly clean the chain and why I activate the chin-oiler twice a day instead of once a day the chain when on a journey.
