Peace of Mind and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Over the years, motorcycle maintenance has become the backbone of our business. It’s our key to success, and our famous “vacation guarantee” depends on it.

When we first founded Ecuador Freedom back in 2009, we made a crucial miscalculation: For whatever reason, we thought we were starting an adventure motorcycle touring company.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that makes perfect sense. We certainly did at the time. We wanted to share our love for adventure, meeting new people, and the beauty of this country we’d come to call home with as many of our fellow riders as possible.

A storefront was secured, routes were mapped and scouted, and before long we were guiding our first customers through the Ecuadorian countryside. Mission accomplished, right?

It worked until it didn’t, and over the next few years we learned an important lesson: a successful motorcycle adventure outfit is actually in the business of motorcycle maintenance first and foremost.

Don’t get us wrong, we’ve spent more time and money scouting routes and building relationships with local businesses and artisans than anyone else on the planet. Still, as we learned from our mistakes in our early years, it takes more than passion and know-how to deliver customers the motorcycle adventure of their dreams, a concept we’ve come to call our “vacation guarantee.”

First Things First... What’s a Vacation Guarantee?

The vacation guarantee is a promise we make to each and every one of our customers: we’re committed to having the right equipment to ensure your two-wheeled vacation goes off without a hitch. We do this in two distinct ways.

The first, as we alluded to above, is keeping every single motorcycle in our fleet in pristine operating condition. We’ll dig into the details of how we make that happen down below, but for now, just know that every bike we send out on tour has just gone through an extensive checklist of maintenance and inspection. If there are any mechanical issues or concerns, no matter how big or small, the bike doesn’t leave the shop, period.

From the outset, we distinguish ourselves by exclusively purchasing brand-new motorcycles, unlike other operators who rely on borrowed bikes or used bikes with unknown pasts and dubious upkeep. By maintaining our fleet personally, we guarantee that every motorcycle meets our rigorous benchmarks for reliability and performance. This commitment ensures you can journey through Ecuador's stunning scenery with absolute confidence and tranquility.

Ecuador Freedom's large fleet and extensive local knowledge allow for rapid response to any incidents that might occur while you're exploring. Thanks to our 15 years of experience on these routes, we have numerous contacts who are often nearby and willing to lend a hand. So, whether it's by sending a 4x4 truck with an alternate motorcycle, a mechanic in a rescue vehicle, or activating our network of local mechanics, we are fully prepared to manage any issues that arise on your trip. Our priority is to ensure your journey continues smoothly, regardless of any obstacles.

Now let’s get into the details of how we’re able to provide this guarantee to our riders.

Full-Service Maintenance Center

If motorcycle service is the cornerstone of our business, our state-of-the-art maintenance center is the beating heart of Ecuador Freedom. This massive shop is part of our brick-and-mortar rental center, and it’s completely revolutionized how we serve our customers.

At its core, our maintenance center is a two-part operation. There’s the repair shop where we handle mechanical repairs and routine maintenance, and then there’s the welding center.

Our repair shop is larger than some standalone motorcycle shops and is home to four separate working bays and three hydraulic bike lifts. It’s also stocked with all the latest diagnostic equipment including a Texa computer scanner system, which is the exact same hardware major manufacturers use to diagnose and service their latest models.

This facility represents a massive investment in our customer experience. Since building the shop, we’ve been able to wash and maintain our entire fleet of over 60 motorcycles in-house. We used to have to contract that work out to third parties, and the difference is clear to see.

The welding shop, on the other hand, is where we build all our protective equipment. We’ve written extensively about the importance of these accessories, and we’re proud to say we build everything ourselves here from full-coverage crash bars and skid plates to the burliest luggage racks in the business.

Absolutely Dialed Suspension

Of course some things are best left up to the pros, which is why all of our fleet’s suspension is handled by our friend Diego Salvador of Racetech Ecuador. If you’re not familiar with the Racetech name, you should be: They literally wrote the bible on suspension tuning, and are one of the most respected names in the business.

Diego has been building and maintaining high-performance suspension systems for motocross, enduro, and adventure bikes for years, and he comes by the shop once a month to test and adjust the suspension on all of our bikes. This ensures our customer’s rentals ride even better than a brand-new bike, and are already optimized for the local terrain.

Better-Than-Factory Maintenance Schedules

When we made the decision to bring all of our maintenance duties in-house, we knew we wanted to make it as foolproof as possible. Hiring the best mechanics in the city was our first step, but we took things a bit further and enlisted our friend Martin Janiot to create a bespoke maintenance regiment to keep up with the bikes.

Martin played a crucial role in our success here at Ecuador Freedom. As the lone man responsible for maintaining the Ecuador National Police Force’s fleet of BMW motorcycles, Martin knows better than anyone what it takes to keep a bike running strong despite the rough and tumble conditions of adventuring through Ecuador.

With Martin’s input, we were able to design a comprehensive maintenance program that’s much more proactive than anything recommended by the manufacturer. We also went a step further by fully computerizing the maintenance schedules for all of our rental motorcycles so we never miss any of our important mileage milestones.

Gear That Works

We know you can’t run a successful adventure touring operation without reliable bikes, and we believe the same applies to the gear and accessories you add to any motorcycle. When it comes to crash protection we build everything we can in-house, but some upgrades are best left to the folks who know them best.

Take our luggage, for example. Mosko Moto is widely considered to be the best soft luggage on the market, which is why we equip our rental bikes with their flagship Backcountry35 Panniers and Reckless80 saddlebags. We know these bags are utterly bombproof and 100% waterproof, so we depend on them to keep our customers’ belongings safe and dry.

Another great example of this approach would be the Motoz tires we install on our adventure bikes. We genuinely believe these are the best dual sport and adventure tires on the market, so much so that we decided to start importing them ourselves. We’ve yet to find anything that outperforms Motoz in terms of performance or durability, which means more fun and fewer flats for our customers.

We also equip each of our bikes with Scottoiler chain oilers for the very same reason. Chain maintenance is crucial in our climate, and by making the lubrication part automatic, our riders are less likely to break a chain on their way up the steep Andes mountain passes.

The less our customers need to worry about the condition of their rental bike, the more they can focus on enjoying the ride. 

Closing Thoughts on the “Vacation Guarantee”

When one of our rental motorcycles returns from a tour, the first thing it gets is a full wash and detail, followed by an inspection by a certified mechanic. Every part of the bike is checked from top to bottom from the operation of the controls right down to the tightness of the spokes.

Next, the motorcycle’s scheduled maintenance is performed, after which the mechanic takes the bike for a proper test ride before signing off on the bike and returning it to our rental pool. Before the bike goes back out, a second inspection is completed by our staff, and then a third inspection takes place when you and a staff member go over the bike together before a tour.

If this sounds excessive, it should. Redundancy is a key component of all critical systems, whether we’re talking about riding motorcycles in Ecuador or flying rockets to the moon.

We put in extra work upfront to ensure our customers have zero work to do out on the road. Should something still happen to fail, our riders can rest easy knowing we’ve got rescue vehicles on hand and mechanics on call 24/7 to come to the rescue with a new bike, ready to ride. 

It’s all part of Ecuador Freedom’s mission to deliver the vacation guarantee, that peace of mind that comes with knowing your trip is supported by the best in the business. You won’t find service like this anywhere else in the country, and we cordially invite you to come out and experience it for yourself.