Your first Motorcycle camping kit

someone interested in getting into motorcycle camping may think you need to buy a LOT of gear, or a huge tent, etc...  Here is a simple list of what to get.

1 person camping kit

A Small 2-3 man tent that has a rain fly that goes all the way to the ground.  Such as an Eureka Amari Pass 2 person tent or Sturgis Gearbox 2 person tent.

An inflatable Camping Bed such as the REI XL 3.5 camp Bed or the Cabelas Deluxe Camp bed.

A good  Sleeping bag,  pick something with  vents and at least a 20 degree rating.

A Camping pillow

Good bug spray (NOT DEET)

A small folding chair or stool.  A place to comfortably sit is ALWAYS important.

A Kelly Kettle with cookset. and a small mess set with metal cup.

A good folding knife

A good LED lantern and good LED flashlight, a pack of matches and a butane lighter.

And 1 small hatchet.

With the above you can successfully camp.  you will be limited in what you can do but you will have everything needed to sleep comfortably as well as heat water and cook a meal.

Everything else is just adding to convenience as well as comfort.

Here is what is most important about everything in the list.   The tent, you MUST have a good tent that will survive a violent thunderstorm and keep you dry as well as remain intact.  The worst night of your life will be in a leaky collapsed tent in the middle of a raging thunderstorm.  Sure you can buy a cheap $39.00 tent from a grocery store, but they are cold and miserable.  you need a real tent and yes, you will spend about $125-$165 for a tent that you will stay warm and dry inside.   Do NOT think you need more space and buy a 4-6 person tent for yourself.  tents keep you warm by trapping body heat, if you have a giant cavern tent you will be very cold when it drops below 60 at night.  The small 2 man tent will be cosy at those temperatures.

The sleeping pad will separate you from a good nights sleep and a 6 hour torture session.  Sleeping directly on the ground will chill you to the bone in short order, the thin foam pads are completely worthless for giving you any comfort unless you are very small and very light.  The inflatable pads with foam inside work great and the thicker the better.  I also get them wider simply because you get more room for comfort.  The cheap versions of these pads may work if you are small and light,  if you are a typical stout american you need the XL sizes that are thicker to handle your mass and allow you to have a warm and comfortable night.

Sleeping bags can be a sticker.  They tend to be the bulkiest item or they end up being tiny and cold.  I really can not make any suggestion as you really need to look at sleeping bags and even try them out.   Better stores like Cabelas let you try them out in the store.  Find one roomy enough and have vents you can open.  being able to regulate your temperature is key to having a good night sleep.

A camping pillow is a great asset, but you can get away with a stuff sack and your clothing.  I have used my pair of jeans in a stuffsack as a pillow at night.

Find a chair that will fit in your bike or on it easily, there are a lot of backpacking chairs to choose from and they are not cheap.  It is a godsend to have a comfy place to sit down and drink your morning coffee while you watch the sun rise.

I used to recommend all kinds of camping stoves, but recently found the perfect stove that makes all others look like junk.  the Kelly Kettle lets you use sticks and twigs to boil a liter  of water rapidly, it also will let you cook above it while you heat or boil that water.  No fuel to carry as the world is full of sticks and twigs (unless you are motorcycling through the desert)   boiling water gives you a way to eat easily.   You can make dried foods into meals easily and make coffee or tea when you need it.   Morning oatmeal is effortless with this kettle.  If you want to cook your beans,  the cooking kit will give you a pot to cook in above the kettle wile you heat the water.  This is absolutely the best stove/kettle to carry.

You need something to make the fire and light your way.  You can buy waterproof matches or make them,  but I prefer a BIC lighter or two in my kit with regular stick matches.  it allows you to have a backup and you can light wet matches with the lighter.  A good small and bright flashlight as well as a lantern are ideal.  the lantern makes tasks easier with an area light, and you always need a good flashlight to find your way to the bathroom.

Lastly you need a hatchet.   They work as a hammer on the flat end and will let you turn a larger stick into kindling for starting a fire.  Ask any outdoorsman and they will tell you their hatchet and knife are high on their list of "must have" for camping.

All of the above can fit in a large duffle bag or dry bag you can strap to your back seat. Is this all you need?  No, far from it.  you do need food, clothing, first aid kit is always a good idea.

but if you had no idea where to start for Motorcycle camping, here is a list you can get started on.  I recommend buying the tent and setting it up and packing it a few times at home. As well as using all the other gear so you are used to how it functions before you are at the campsite wondering how to set it all up.

Safety and riding skills

A lot of stories this summer about motorcycle accidents have reminded me about the importance of safety.  The biggest profile story out there in the news is a man who wanted a motorcycle for over 20 years and finally got one and killed himself on the way home from the dealership.  (Article Here) It's being used all over the internet as an example of how "dangerous"  motorcycles are.  What is dangerous is a person on a motorcycle that doesn't know how to ride.   And sadly I know and see people that have been "riding for 20 years" that do not know how to ride a motorcycle, in fact the motorcycle forums are full of them.  A lot of major mistakes and superstitions are given more credibility than real riding, and that makes me very sad.   Yes, we still have the problem with cagers (cars and trucks) not seeing us when on two wheels, but I see a lot of motorcyclists riding as if they are invincible.   When you are lane splitting at 70 mph through stopped traffic  YOU become the problem and the cause of the accident.  And it's not just obvious mistakes like that, I see motorcyclists every single day tailgating cars, Jack rabbit launches at red lights, Riding way too fast for the road conditions, not paying attention to road surface, not paying attention at all.   And that doesn't even start to cover the things we cant see, the mistakes that riders make that are based on either a lack of education or a listening to an "old biker" that actually doesn't know anything or has horribly outdated knowledge.

Mistake 1 - Don't use your front brake, you will flip over.   Really? are we to assume that all motorcycle makers are out to kill bikers by adding an unsafe front brake?  In fact most big bikes have linked brakes that force you to use the front when you only use the rear for this exact reason.  Many bikers just do not have a clue as to how a motorcycle stops.  70 to 80 percent of your stopping power is in that front brake; not using it is asking for an accident. Many bikers claim their accident was from a car turning in front of them, and yes that was the start of the event,   but the 200 foot long black mark from their rear tire tells me that they did not know how to ride and use only the rear brake.  This is why they were unable to stop and they hit the car.  Almost all modern motorcycles have exceptional brakes and can stop you faster than a car could ever stop, some now have ABS that have a spooky short stopping distance.   when you react you should be bleeding off speed first and looking for an exit second.   Clamping down on the brake until you hit the car is a rookie rider mistake that a lot of old timers and "20 year" riders make.   Slow down and look for and take that evasion path.  I would rather blow out the front rim and forks on my bike hitting a curb at 45mph than plowing into the car.

Mistake 2 - Highway pegs used all the time.   No, highway pegs are for...... the highway.   I see a lot of guys riding in town with their feet up on the highway pegs.  How are you supposed to react to a car pulling out in front of you when it takes you a second to get your feet back on the controls?  you will travel almost 50 feet in that 1 second.   Stop using your highway pegs in town, you need to be ready to react to the bad drivers that you know are on the road with you.

Mistake 3 - speeding.  yes I know it's fun to do 120 on your sportbike, but do that on a track.  There is no excuse for racing on the streets when there are so many race tracks that have bike days.   High speeds on public roads are pure stupidity for two major reasons.   First, the roads are in garbage shape. Sand, gravel, dirt, trash, etc are all over the roads.  Any of that can cause you to wipe out and crash.  Second you can not predict what a car will do.  If you are riding 120 and a kid walks on the street what are you going to do?  What about a deer?  you can not react fast enough to avoid the accident and die, and at those speeds if you over react you will have an accident and die.  This is not a track where you have a nice clear skid space and soft barrier to hit.   hitting a tree with your arm at 100mph removes the arm.  And lastly, do you hate riding? Why are you trying to make your ride as short as possible by speeding?  I want to ride as long as possible because my happy times is when I am in the saddle.

Mistake 4 - Not knowing the bike.  most motorcycle riders have zero clue as to how their bike will react in an emergency.  none of them have practiced any evasion or emergency maneuvers, so they are completely clueless as to what will happen when they need to react quickly to avoid an accident.  Do you know what happens when you try to brake in a turn?  Some bikes can not hold any grip and will slide out, others will pop up vertical, etc..  What will your bike do under hard breaking and you try to avoid an obstacle?  Big touring bikes have wet noodle suspension in a panic you can turn the handlebars hard and the front wheel will not react almost "bending" the forks from all the stresses involved.

I am not going to get into safety gear here,  It is a "personal choice" and a freedom issue for most people, but I will just say I ride with a helmet gear most of the time for my wife and daughter.   I love them more than any "freedom" of riding  with nothing on to protect me.  At a minimum they can at least have an open casket funeral, but my gear significantly increases my survival chances in the event of a crash.

I see a lot of riders that just ride, they do stupid things on their bikes that put them and others at risk.  They don't know their bike, they don't know how to ride, they don't learn and update their knowledge.  There are a HUGE number of riders that don't even know how to pick their bike up if it falls over.  Some claim, "my Harley is 900 pounds you cant pick it up"  and I can show you videos of a 80 pound 50 year old woman picking up that 900 pound bike easily.  These bikers do not know how to ride a motorcycle or how to handle a motorcycle.   Please at least buy a DVD like the "ride like a pro" series or take some classes on advanced riding so you can avoid accidents, and be a top 1% motorcycle rider.

One last thing,  unless you are a outlaw 1%er flying fast in the night without any lights on, you don't need to ride in all black leather.  Something bright to get the attention of the car driver that is eating a burger, texting, and painting their toenails (Yes I have seen this on a highway) goes a long way to increase your visibility.  There are a lot of "bad ass" looking bright colored jackets, shirts, etc that you can wear to be more visible.

I am not preaching,  I just want most of you to keep riding every day.  I want all bikers to become old bikers that can tell stories to the young kids about the trips they made and the fun they had on two wheels.  If we all ride smarter and better, we all will live longer and avoid the cagers.

Safety gear

Spent the weekend teaching my wife to ride.  We learned first hand why you wear all the gear all the time.  She made a mistake and went down hard.  If she would have Ben riding like the dummies I see wearing flip flops and shorts we would have has to make a trip to the hospital. We also discovered that jeans are worthless as they ripped through easily. 

A new Touring bike from Triumph!

http://www.webbikeworld.com/triumph-motorcycles/2013-triumph-trophy/

This one excites me as it looks like a real viable option for a touring bike that is not a BMW.   The problem is, being a triumph, I am certain that this will be a very, very expensive bike.   Probably being more expensive than a BMW.

I am personally leaning towards a ST1300 as a replacement for my antique ride,  The Yamaha FJR1300 is too much of a sportbike with comfort problems and valve guide problems reported.  And the Kawasaki Concours 14, while being a fantastic bike, is still more sportbike than touring.  It requires a few grand in aftermarket parts to make it comfortable.

I want a big comfortable fast touring bike that is comfy for two up riding 600 to 1000 mile a day rides, but is not the gigantic Goldwing.

I need to wait and see if I can rent a Triumph Trophy when they come out or find a dealer that will let me take an hour test ride.   Because you cant learn anything about a bikes comfort until you have spent at least 1 hour in the saddle.

Bike age and reliability.

As I sit here without a running motorcycle this spring, I am contemplating the problems of riding a "classic" bike.   I ride a fully restored 1983 Yamaha Venture, at the end of last years riding season, I noticed a lower charging voltage, so I decided to repair and upgrade the system to something more modern to increase reliability.   Well, older bikes don't have parts available.  I had to have a custom Stator wound to replace my stator, and I have to do custom wiring to use a FJR1300's regulator.  This is an upgrade to modern parts, but it turns the bike into something that no mechanic will touch.   Although just being old, most dealership mechanics will not touch the bike simply because the kids they hire don't have any real troubleshooting skills for older bikes.   One local bike shop freaked out about the quad liked carbs telling me how it's impossible to synchronize them.....  In reality it's easy and takes less than 5 minutes.

So riding an old bike means if you break down on the road, you are stuck.  Dealerships wont touch the bike, nor can you trust them to have competent mechanics that can work on older  hardware.  Newer bikes have step by step repair books that make it easy for them to repair.  Dealerships like this as they can hire less skilled kids for the shop and still charge the $198 am hour.  Being stranded 500 miles from home and knowing that I can not get my bike fixed without renting a uhaul and driving it home is becoming a problem for me.   My dream long distance trip is to ride Route 66 out west and back again.  Having a bike that at least can get repaired on the road would ease some of my concerns.

I still love my bike, and there is nothing out there that can replace it.   I really dont like the Sportbike touring bikes as they all look like they are uncomfortable for the passenger.  I dont like the Harley style, and the goldwing is honestly a utterly huge bike that looks like 1/2 of a Honda civic and a price take higher than a civic, plus it has the "I am an old fart" connection to it.  I don't need the surround sound DVD player navigation with intercom.  I have Bluetooth for that.  I guess I am stuck with looking at the BMW 1200LT as my only choice.  I just dont like the recent reviews that point to BMW having bad reliability with a very high cost of repair on the last few years.

A "not bad" small travel coffee substitute.

Recently I have decided to try some of these new "water enhancers" out there and found one that I actually like.   IT delivers 60mg of caffeine per "serving" and supposedly gives you a total of  18 servings from the bottle.  Although I have not verified that yet, Still have what feels like a 1/2 bottle to go.  I wish it was a clear bottle so I could see how much was left.

The advantage is on a long ride or camping trip this is a great way to carry something that will keep you alert and take very little space in your tank bag.  The flavor is like most "energy drinks" but flatter as it lacks the fizzy carbonation.   It is effective at delivering caffeine I don't get jittery unless I drink a lot of it. and its flavor is tolerable in the morning when you don't want to bother with making any coffee.  It also works great if you are after a small wake up in the afternoon during a long ride.  squirt a little in the water and you have a bit more alertness to make it to your next camping location.

It's cheap, $3.00 a bottle and delivers what it promises.   and I like that it can live in my tank bag or even my jacket pocket as it seals up very tight.  I cant get it to leak after opening unless I open the cap and squeeze it.

They also sell non "energy" versions, I have yet to explore those.  IT still does not replace my favorite Starbucks  instant coffee sticks for morning caffeine intake, but it make up for it in convenience and a much smaller space taken for the amount of servings.

Starting equipment reviews.

A lot of sites review riding gear,  but none of them review the affordable riding gear.   Sorry but I am not impressed with a $500.00 armored jacket that looks no better than the $79.00 Xelement jacket I bought online.   I see the same flaws and poor sewing on the expensive jackets as I see on the cheap stuff.

So I plan on reviewing some of the Cheaper riding gear.   No I'm not talking the "big bad biker" gear,  that's for looks and not function.  I'm talking about the gear that promises to save your hide when you come off the bike at 70mph and skidding along the pavement.   We all know the effectiveness of leather chaps, thin leather vest and fingerless gloves when confronted with pavement.  We don't wear those for protection.

I mostly buy off brand cheap stuff simply because I cant see any difference in the super high priced gear.  I have held a set of $800 gloves in my hands with real carbon fiber inserts and a set of $29.00 cow leather gauntlets with plastic inserts and just can not see any differences at all, not even in stitching quality or fit.

In fact, I'll start with gloves in my next review post.