Motorcycle Touring - What Do You Use?

[Imagedude]

I'm about to go down the rabbit hole of motorbike touring. I'm after hints and tips regarding what kit I should be carrying e.g. what maintenance kit and what camping kit do you carry? Hard panniers or soft? Do you use bushcraft skills on your trips?

My bikes are a Suzuki SV650, Yamaha XT225, Honda Grom and Yamaha YBR125.

 

[mikehill]

Hi from a fellow biker

I recently started doing around 250 mile trips a day and plan on staying overnights on my next rides. I was doing it on my XT225 too !

But … first suggestion I would make is to sell a couple of bikes and buy one more suited to the job. It’s hard work on a small capacity bike .. and on a bike with sporty ergo’s.

As you have a SV650 now, if you like that engine, why not get a Vstrom 650 ? Great touring bike. With very good fuel consumption.

I was torn between a VStrom and a CB500X and went for the Honda based purely on the fact that it regularly does 95mpg ! Either would be great anyway.

For luggage I use a Givi Monokey top box to put valuable items in and soft luggage elsewhere. I don’t fancy getting my legs trapped with hard panniers in the result of an off.

For tools I carry :
Wera Tool Check Plus
Knipex small pump pliers
Set of Allen keys
Short adjustable spanner capable of largest nut on bike (probably me lol)
Cable ties
Piece of paracord

Whatever … I hope you have a great time !

 

[Watch-keeper]

One thing I always carried was a piece of wood to put under the center stand or side stand, after digging them into soft ground a few times and/or the bike keeling over you soon learn! I'm sure there are specially made attachments for this but the bit of wood I carried always did the job fine.

 

[saxonaxe]

" One thing I always carried was a piece of wood to put under the center stand or side stand, after digging them into soft ground "

100% agree.
I use a 6x4 inch piece of light steel plate. Attach it to a length of paracord and loop the end over the handlebars so that when you leave it's easy to haul it up, rather that forget it. A bit like the disc lock reminder cable idea.

I've been doing a lot of Scooter camping this year. Swopped the M/C for a Scooter for ease of getting on off following leg injuries.






For me, part of the fun is using the B and back roads to get to places ( Wales and West Midlands mostly) I don't believe you need a big engine bike unless you use the Motorways all the time, even then my 350cc Scoot will cruise at 70+ easily, but for me life moves slower at 80 years and I'm done with whizzing about.

Unless your personal admin and planning is all to pot you don't need 20 litres of fuel in big heavy expensive cans dangling off your bike either, unless you're bound across the Attacama Desert.

 

[Falstaff]

Agree with the other posters, I do a lot of rallies, yes, you use bushcraft skills. A decent waterproof tube bag with side entry that you can tie on across the bike, takes the tent etc that won't fit in the side panniers hard or soft. A Leatherman is essential! Gaffer tape and a mix of cable ties large and small, spare bulbs if you can, and the right torch & tool to change a bulb in the dark. Personally I don't like top boxes, tried themn and prefer a decent tube bag securely tied to the rack that would have taken the topbox. Breakdown insurance!

 

[August Landmesser]

My local motorcycle tyre shop doesn't sell any roadside puncture repair kits but he does recommend these https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_prod/388316
He says most motorcycle tyre specialists won't patch 6mm holes for liability reasons because of the Z speed ratings and some roadside repair kits require the hole to be reamed out to 6mm so a piece of rubber can be pushed in from the outside, they'll get you off the road side but tyre shops won't want to do a patch repair afterwards, they'll try to sell you a new tyre instead. The above kit is a screw in type repair with a key that snaps off when it's in tight enough to leave just enough sticking out for a tyre fitter to unscrew the plug with a pair of pliers leaving a 3 mm hole that can be patched so you won't have to buy a new tyre. Also, tyre weld and slime puncture prevention that coat the inside of the tyre mean that patches won't stick afterwards so again, a puncture will mean you'll need a new tyre, they're also corrosive and aren't kind to the wheels.