Pre-trip check before a two-up Alpine tour

Do not leave on this bike as it stands.

1. Rear tyre, 1.5 mm at the centre. The Swiss minimum is 1.6 mm in the main tread grooves. At 1.5 mm the tyre is not roadworthy and the bike is not compliant for the trip. It is also a 2016 tyre, so it is old, and a flattened centre under two-up load and Alpine heat is the classic blow-out profile. Replace it.
2. ABS light staying on. A light that stays on after pull-away means the ABS has switched itself off after its self-test. With a pillion, 30 kg of luggage, wet passes and hairpin descents you would be riding without the system that stops a locked front wheel. Diagnose it (wheel-speed sensor, low voltage after winter) before you go.
3. Chain 42 mm with a stiff link. Outside the 30-35 mm spec and already rusting. A stiff link does not articulate, so it loads the sprocket and can snap; with two people aboard a snapped chain can lock the rear wheel. Clean, lubricate, adjust to mid-spec, and replace chain and sprockets if the link stays stiff.
4. Brake fluid at minimum after 3.5 years. DOT 4 absorbs moisture, which lowers the boiling point, and two-up Alpine descents are exactly where fluid boils. Find out why it is low (usually worn pads), then change the fluid.
5. Front pads, 1.5 mm. Legal but will be worn out during the trip with that load. Replace them now.
6. Set preload and tyre pressures for two-up and correct the headlight.

Set 2.5 bar front and 2.9 bar rear - cold, and leave them there.

• The manual's two-up-with-luggage figures are cold pressures, meaning before the ride at ambient temperature. Check and set them in the garage at 8 °C tomorrow morning.
• The 22 °C you meet in the valley later will raise the pressure by roughly 0.2-0.3 bar on its own. That rise is designed in, not a fault. Never bleed a hot tyre down to the cold figure: you would then be riding on underinflated tyres once they cool, and underinflation is what overheats the carcass and makes a heavily loaded bike wander in fast bends.
• Do not compromise between solo and two-up figures. A pillion plus 30 kg is a large part of the payload; at solo pressures the rear tyre flexes too much, and the handling and heat problems appear first on a long descent, not in the first kilometre.
• Check again on the second morning; a slow leak or a leaking valve shows up within a day.

Chain, preload and headlight are one problem: the loaded geometry.

• The 42 mm was measured unloaded, as the manual prescribes; the specification assumes that state, so the measurement is valid and the chain is simply too slack. The important part is what happens when you load the bike: as the rear suspension compresses, the swingarm rotates and the chain tightens. A chain set at the loose end unloaded can become tight with a pillion and luggage, stressing the output-shaft bearing, restricting suspension travel and making the bike feel harsh. Set it to the middle of the range, not the loose limit, and check again with the bike loaded.
• Set the rear preload to the two-up/luggage setting so the bike keeps its ride height and steering geometry; otherwise the front goes light and the bike runs wide in bends.
• Loading the rear also raises the headlight beam. Adjust it down so you neither dazzle oncoming traffic, whose drivers will return the favour with main beam, nor light the treetops instead of the road.