Risk on the road does not look like the news. For a foreign rider, most real problems are mundane: the bike left unattended in a big city, a border crossed in the evening, a mountain road started too late, a small scam at a currency exchange.

There is no list of countries "to avoid" that stays true for more than a few months. There is, however, a way to check.

How to find out, before you go

Your foreign ministry's travel advice, for every country on the route. Read it a week before, and read it again on the road.
The terms of your insurance: which areas are excluded, what happens if you enter a country that is not listed.
Two or three local sources: rider groups from that country, a local forum, a workshop in the area. They know what changed this month.
The rules at the border: which papers the country wants for the bike, whether you need local insurance bought on entry, whether there are days or hours when the crossing is closed.

The risks you actually meet

The bike left in plain sight, luggage on it, in a busy city. The biggest risk of a European trip.
An unknown road, in the dark, with animals or unlit carts on it.
Unclear checks and on-the-spot fines, in places where you are obviously a foreigner.
Small scams: an exchange rate invented on the spot, "fees" to enter a car park, accommodation paid in advance that does not exist.
Weather that turns suddenly at altitude — statistically more dangerous than people.

What to do in practice

Sleep where the bike sleeps. A place with a closed yard or a garage is worth more than two extra stars.
In a city, do not leave luggage on the bike even for ten minutes. What you cannot carry, do not leave.
Keep documents, money and cards in two different places, one of which is not on you.
Make copies of your papers, on paper and on the phone, and send them to someone at home.
Tell someone the day's route and roughly when you will arrive. A short message in the evening is enough.
Keep the offline maps downloaded. A valley with no signal is not a risk area — it only becomes one if you do not know the way out.
Write on paper, in your jacket: your name, your blood group if you know it, two phone numbers, your insurance policy number. A locked phone tells nobody anything.

If something happens

The European emergency number is 112 and it works across the whole European Union, from any phone. Outside it, write down the local number before you leave, together with your insurer's roadside assistance number and your embassy's details.

One rule helps more than it sounds: with a problem in an unfamiliar place, head towards people who have a reason to stay there — a petrol station, a workshop, a guesthouse, a shop. Not towards an empty spot, however close.

Workshops, rooms and people you can trust are exactly the things a map remembers better than we do. If one of them helped you out of a bad spot, put it on the map: for the next rider it can be the difference between an evening lost and an evening sorted.