The arrival of warmer temperatures in spring means a long-anticipated return to the road for a number of winter-weary riders. For those climate-challenged enthusiasts forced to store their ride over the winter months, the first ride of the season should be preceded by a thorough check-up.

Motorcycle Cruiser's mothership, Motorcyclist magazine, recently published the following advice to an overwhelmingly appreciative response. We have decided to republish the list of living-saving techniques-in its entirety-for our own readership.

If it's a choice between riding our bike or trailering it, we'll take the former any day-even if it's to a rally in another time zone or on a troll through the local hills in the rain. Sometimes, though-like when wrangling multiple bikes to the dragstrip for this issue's comparison test-we don't have a choice.