Traversing the globe on a motorcycle is not simply a matter of hopping on your bike and riding into the sunset—it’s a symphony of meticulously kept charts, logs, and lists of every dollar spent on fuel and every service station visited. Find Elspeth Beard’s complete fuel, maintenance, and equipment records in this excerpt from Lone Rider, “Excerpts from my Journal.”
 

          My journal started as a diary but soon became one of my most valuable possessions. As well as using it to write down my thoughts, I noted useful addresses, phone numbers, travellers’ check numbers, and recorded petrol purchases and fuel consumption. I also used the pages at the back of my journal to keep meticulous records of the all maintenance and servicing
 
I carried out on my bike during my trip. When I left Singapore I decided to also keep a record of my petrol costs and the amount of fuel I purchased. This was mainly to help me budget for my journey home and to keep an eye on fuel consumption as petrol was an unavoidable fixed cost.
 
EQUIPMENT TO TAKE:

• Washing up liquid [for tire changing]
• Gasket sealant/mastic
• Haynes manual
• Insulating tape
• Chain and lock
• Petrol tubing
• WD40
• Funnel
• Bulbs and fuses [headlight, indicators and brake light]
• Inner tubes x 2
• Cables: throttle, front brake, clutch, speedometer
• Contact breakers [points] x 4
• Spark plugs x 4
• Spare oil – engine and gearbox
• Spark plug caps x 2
• HT/plug leads x 2
• Condenser
• H2O containers
• Rocker arm/spindle x 2
• Oil filters x 4
• ‘C’ clips / bolts / washers / wire
• Ignition coil
• Fork seals
• Push rod seals
• Graphite grease
• Gaskets: cylinder head and base
• Spare wheel spokes/spoke spanner
• Tire valves
• Tools – spanners, socket set, screwdrivers, pliers, Allen keys, adjustable spanner, torque wrench, tire levers, tire gauge, plug spanner, mole grips, mallet, hammer, feeler gauge, solder wire, wire cutters, electrical tester, small file.
• Special BMW tools:
•Exhaust flange tool
•Steering head bearings adjustment/removal spanner,
•Swing arm adjustment spanner
•Peg spanner to remove fork filler caps
 
[After leaving Sydney I added to this list a pop rivet gun, spare rivets (3 sizes) and spare pieces of aluminum for repairs.]







EXCERPTS FROM ELSPETH'S JOURNAL: 









Lone Rider is available on our website HERE.