The season is getting closer....

The bike is almost completely ready for the season. I replaced front wheel bearings, repainted it, re-assembled it. I went through the toolkit and replaced all the stamped steel junk tools with nice ratcheting box end wrenches, If you wont love using them in your garage, you will hate the tools when sitting in the gravel on the side of the road. My trailer hitch is finished and out for powder-coat and chrome. I also discovered a wonderful cheap cargo camper for Motorcycles. Harbor Freight now has a tiny motorcycle trailer available that is under $500.00US a better price than the overpriced $3500-$6500 trailers that are available. I will not be using it this year for camping. All camping will be 2 up bike only. If I cant carry it on the bike, it does not come camping! That will be the entire premise of the book, what you need and what you can do camping on just your bike.

I am getting the itch to ride. I have been on some shorter around town runs. Weather here has been rain or heavy winds, so not much in riding yet. I at least went through a tank of gas, 35mpg... I need to tune up the bike, sync the carbs, and clean them out. Getting maintenance done now will mean your summer riding is far more trouble free. Take the time and waste some of the spring riding weather. If you need tires, get them on, get that bike running so you feel confident to ride 400-500 miles and back.

Motorcycle Luggage: a primer.

yes it's available for every bike. Panniers; from the hard fiberglass and metal ones from the manufacturer that is specially designed for your bike, to soft sided stuff that will fit on anything from a cruiser to the smallest sportbike. There is luggage for your bike that will do what you want and carry what you need.

One of the most useful bags for your bike is the ever popular tank bag. Tank Bags come in a ton of different sizes, from thin little things designed to hold your sunglasses and a granola bar to giant 2 tier ones that almost block the road ahead and can carry enough for 1 person to stay overnight someplace. All along with everything for the day long ride stuffed in there as well, these bags are incredibly useful on your trip. Most tank bags mount with strong magnets to your tank, some of the better ones will also have straps to further secure them. They come in leather, cordoua, cloth, etc... and can make a very long ride more comfortable, although they can be a bother when they sit over your fuel cap, then you have to remove it to fuel up. This minor inconvenience is worth it. A tank bag is the first piece of luggage you should buy it will make even day rides fare more comfortable by keeping smaller items or even a bottle of water handy.

The bigger stuff like sissy-bar bags and tail-bags simply give you more room. Many sissy-bar bags do require a sissy-bar on your bike or a raised backrest. But they typically have enough straps to happily sit strapped down in the passenger spot. These are like very large backpacks, you certainly can live a weekend out of one of these at a friends house or hotel room if this is the only bag you brought along. Tail-bags are smaller. They are designed to strap onto the tail of your bike, mostly sport-bikes but other can have them as well. They range in size from tiny tank-bag size to enough room for 2 helmets. Keep in mind how your bike will allow such a bag to be mounted, you will have a weight limit that your bike's tailpiece can withstand. A bike outfitted with a large sissy-bar bag on his passenger seat and a nice big tank bag can take a week long trip on the open road from motel to motel easily. A lot of guys do this with only those two bags. If your bike can handle it, you can probably ride 2 up with all that gear and still get a week-long trip out of it.

Panniers are another animal. These are either hard panniers like I have on my Venture or soft panniers like you see mounted to many a Soft tail harleys out there on the road. These bags offer even more luggage room to the sides of the bike. 2 typical panniers can hold about what 1 large sissy-bar bag can hold. Some are smaller, the ones that I have seen for the small sportbikes cant hold much, but some of the monsters out there can hold incredible amounts of items in them. hard panniers typically require modifying your bike with mounts. Some bikes come with them or are available for that bike specifically. Those are your best bet to get. They mount perfectly because they were designed for your bike and stay off your pipes. The soft bags can shift or hang too low and melt or get burnt on your pipes. Be sure to test any soft panniers on your bike before any trips to make sure you dont have any issues.

Finally, when you load up your bike, you change how it rides. More weight up top in sissy-bar bags will make the bike more top heavy. More weight makes it slide farther in stopping. Load up your bike and take a test ride. adding another 200 pounds to it can make it handle like a untamed beast with some bikes. Be Aware how your bike rides loaded up.