With all the wet weather about on the Australian East Coast during 2022 its hard to avoid the mud. Looking at my filthy Multistrada V4 from the last day of Great Divide Ride Stage 2 prompted me to offer some helpful tech hints to help your ride survive the ride:
- Mud build up can cause your engine to overheat by clogging and restricting airflow to radiators and oil coolers. Keep the revs low, keep an eye on your engine temp, try to keep moving and if things get really hot maybe try giving your radiator a clean with a squirt of water from your hydration pack or a splash from a puddle.
- Mud left to dry on your fork leg sliders can cause leaking fork seals. Clean your chrome sliders before it dries or you may need to pop the dust seals off and use a plastic card, feeler gauges or fork seal cleaning tool to clear the dirt out of your seals if they start to leak oil.
- Brake pads can wear out super fast in mud so start with fresh pads if you know you will have a long muddy ride coming up.
- Police don’t like it when they can’t read your number plate so do your best to clean your rego plate before you roll back through town.
- Lower your tyre pressures by 5-10 psi to help find drive in the slippy stuff but don’t forget to pump them back up for the black top.
If you’re looking for some riding tips to help get through muddy sections then check out this other post from May 2021 with 12 Mud Riding Tips for Adventurers.