Five minutes. That's roughly all it takes to run through a proper pre-ride check on your motorcycle, and it's five minutes that can be the difference between a smooth ride and a roadside breakdown. Or worse, a genuine safety risk. Yet plenty of riders skip it, especially on familiar routes or short hops.
The good news is you don't need to remember a long list from scratch. UK riders and training schemes have long used a simple acronym to make sure nothing gets missed: POWDERS – Petrol, Oil, Water, Damage, Electrics, Rubber, Steering.
Some riders learnt it with an extra S for Suspension (POWDERSS), or with Damage split out from Drive. The core idea is the same either way, so don't worry if your version looks slightly different.
Here's how to run through the full check, what to look for at each stage and why it matters.
P – Petrol
Start with the obvious one: do you have enough fuel for the journey, with a margin in case your plans change? It's worth a second thought if the bike has been sitting unused for a while, as fuel can degrade over time. E10 unleaded in particular can absorb moisture during storage, which affects how the engine runs. If you're laying the bike up for an extended period, filling the tank fully helps reduce condensation build-up inside it.