Top 10 Essential and Unexpected Items for a Motorcycle Adventure
At Ride Expeditions, we are all about adventure motorcycling. Since way back in 2012 when we ran our first tours in Cambodia, that’s been our mission and we love it. And now over a decade later, we run tours across three continents, from Patagonia to Mongolia, Vietnam to India, Africa to Colombia. Our riders come from all over the world too, united in a desire to have the most epic adventures on motorcycles. It’s that simple.
But wherever we tour, wherever we ride, there’s always something we leave behind. There’s always something that one of our riders brings along that makes us think – Damn, I wish I had those with me. From clothing to drinks, hardware to bin bags here’s a whole host of things that make an adventure that much easier, more comfortable, or just better. So, here’s our top ten of Essential and Unexpected items for a motorcycle adventure …
1. DOWN UNDER
So you’ve packed all your motorcycling kit into your gear bag. Adventure riding kit from helmet to boots and everything in-between. And when you are off the bike, you’ve got all your casual gear neatly folded up and ready to go – pants ironed and socks rolled. But we’ve recently discovered there’s one extra bit of kit that will work both on and off the bike, and now we won’t tour without it. And it’s a lightweight down jacket. Nothing fancy needed – you don’t need to head for the top of the range models stuffed with the feathers from heritage ducklings fed on organic grass, just something cheap and cheerful.
Small enough to roll up and stuff in your rucksack on the bike, it gives you the perfect extra layer if the temperature drops without being too bulky to fit under your riding jacket. And once you’re off the bike, the down jacket is ideal if you are heading into the town and don’t want to wear a grubby bike jacket. Perfect
2. PLUG IT UP
Here’s another essential that you shouldn’t leave home without. Ear plugs are a little lifesaver on tour, blocking out noise in a variety of situations. Now although you can spend an absolute fortune on custom made ear plugs, we are not totally convinced that a) they are significantly better than off the shelf plugs and perhaps importantly b) that the more you spend on an item, the more likely it becomes to become lost. Spend out on custom plugs and in the blink of an eye you’ll drop them down a foetid drain in New Delhi …
Ear plugs can help even before you reach the tour destination, effortlessly blocking out fellow passengers on the flight. On the bike they’ll help to combat exhaust and wind noise, a must for both dirt bikes and adventure machines when you are riding for multiple long days. And finally, the real reason for taking ear plugs on tour – snoring. If you are unlucky enough to share a room with a slightly ‘vocal’ riding buddy, having a few sets of squashy ear plugs in your bag will ensure a good sleep and no tears at bedtime. Night Night everyone …
3. PLUG IT IN
Now of course we’ve been aware of heated clothing for years. Just like heated grips, they’ve always been in the background but not something we’d ever fit – our teenage selves would be horrified! And then we tried them – mind blown! These things are bloody fantastic.
Now although there’s probably not much of an option to fit a set of heated grips on a bike you are using on one of our rather wonderful tours, heated clothing is another matter. From gloves to jackets, trousers to socks, heated clothing can improve you adventure immeasurably. Now clearly we’re not recommending heading this way for battling through the tropical jungles of Cambodia in 30 degree heat! But for tours like our ever popular Himalayas Heights tour in India or the epic World’s End tour in South America where temperatures can drop from ‘balmy’ to ‘brass monkeys’ during the adventure, the heated kit is perfect.
On a recent tour in Patagonia, Julian our writer took a Keis battery powered heated gilet and one of our riders – Wilson from Brazil – used a pair of heated gloves that the team wired into the battery on his KTM 890 Adventure R at the start of the tour. Both remained snug and warm all the way to Ushuaia. Heated kit is a game changer.
4. PERKY PINKIES
If there’s one thing we hate when riding a motorcycle – whether we are fighting through the undergrowth in Vietnam or blasting across the flat plains of Mongolia – it’s wet feet. And if there’s one thing worse – it’s cold and wet feet. It’s really hard to enjoy the scenery if there feels like there is a swamp in your boots, and near on impossible if your feet feel like they are encased in ice. Now of course waterproof boots can go some way to alleviate the problem – a fresh pair of Sidi Adventures will repel the water with an almost religious zeal, but they are not a cheap option.
For our money, waterproof socks are the way to go, and teamed with relatively waterproof riding boots will serve to keep your feet as dry as a meeting with the Accountant. Although you can get ex-army versions that many will swear by, we splash the cash and go for knee length SealSkinz. That said – if you have to wade through a river in Cambodia, ain’t nothing keeping you dry! At least the water is warm though …
EPIC MOTORCYCLE TOURS!
5. THONGS A MILLION
Now although there might be situations when our riders can get pretty chilly, most of our tours are blessed with fantastic sunshine and warm weather – perfect for dawn to dusk motorcycling. But after a day in the saddle, and more importantly a day in hot and sweaty riding boots, then getting a bit of respite in the evenings is important.
So for this particular tip we’re borrowing from the Scouting Association, and all those happy hikers taking part in their Duke of Edinburgh Awards. When you are walking over hill and dale all day, then looking after your feet is pretty damn important. As soon as the riding is done and your kit is to your hotel room – it’s time to get those boots off and those feet out. That’s why we always take a pair of flip flops or thongs with us on every tour. Small enough to slip into the side of your case but ideal for allowing your pinkies to breathe a little – a pair of Havianas are the perfect post ride footwear. And what’s more, they are great for a trip to the hot spa in Puyuhuapi or the hot tubs in Tsenkher, you can even wear them in the shower in the more basic stopovers. Genius.
Just one proviso – if you must wear Crocs and just to be clear we’d prefer you didn’t – no little badges please …
6. POWER PLAY
Although we encourage our riders to keep the electrical equipment to a minimum on tour – so that’s no crimpers, heated rollers or electric blankets – you are bound to bring some. From phones to cameras, GoPros to Insta 360s, heated clothing to nose hair clippers – We are all guaranteed to need some ‘electricity’ during our adventure . And just and guaranteed is the fact that most hotel rooms don’t have enough plug sockets, and if you are sharing, both of you will be competing for one socket in the far corner of the room, and all the C and L type adapters will not help.
But packing a small extension lead into your gear bag – now we are talking. Instant plug-in pleasure for a few quid. Now that’s our type of travel hack!
7. ISO HAPPY
This one is particularly for our South Asian tours, but really applies if you are riding anywhere that you are likely to get hot and sweaty. Proper hydration is key to maintaining your strength and concentration whether it’s hot or cold – that’s why we’d recommend that riders bring and use hydration packs / bladder packs / camel backs on any of our tours. As a general rule, by the time you feel thirsty you are already dehydrated, so only drinking from a bottle when you stop your mouth’s as dry as a pharaoh’s flip flop is a bad move. Little and often is far better, so a drinks bladder with a bite valve is the way to go.
But what should you put in it? Well in cool climes when you are not working too hard on the bike – so that’s our Road, Big Adventure Bike and Royal Enfield Tours – then just water will do. But for our Dirt Bike Adventures then you need to up your drinks game. In hot conditions, you are not only losing water through sweat, you are also losing electrolytes from your system and this is not good.
For this reason, we’d recommend isotonic sports drinks – these have the same concentration as your body fluids and hence are easily absorbed and help to replenish your electrolytes. If you are not sure you’ll be able to buy them on tour, think about taking some tablets or sachets to dissolve in your drinks reservoir.
Oh and if you are really thirsty, stay away from high concentration energy drinks – they will not help and they may make the situation worse. Sometimes crimson cattle just give you headaches …
8. GLOVE LOVE
If there’s one thing worse than bad motorcycle gloves, it’s good motorcycle gloves that you have ruined yourself. And it’s so easy to do – you go out on a hot day and you can’t find your summer gloves, so you stick on the cosy winter gloves. And ok they are a bit thick and a tad too warm, but you are on the bike and all is well in the world. And then you stop for a quick cold drink and a chat with your mates, and as you tug off your gloves, your hot and sweaty hands bring out the entire liner. You have just wrecked your gloves.
Because no matter how hard you try, the liner will stubbornly refuse to go back in correctly. And from that moment, you’ll be riding with scrunched up fingers in now badly fitting gloves. And no matter how much you try to get the liner back with a wooden spoon or asking your partner to try, those gloves will never be the same.
But the solution is simple – thin under-gloves can be bought online for a few quid, and will change your life. They slip into and out of even the thickest gloves without an issue, add another layer of warmth when it’s cold, and stop the liner getting sweaty when it’s warm. The under-gloves can be washed and dried overnight too, giving you fresh and fragrant fingers all day long. Lovely.
9. POWDER KEG
As we all know, there’s nothing as comforting as a fresh pair of clean pants to start the day. But when you go on a long tour, then it’s never really possible to have enough smalls. Now you can go with the simple solution which is to combine shower time with laundry time to recycle your shreddies at the end of each day, hoping they dry overnight. But we’ll to leave that to the windswept and wizened world traveller types – we prefer a more elegant solution. And that comes in the form of a little bag of washing powder tucked into the side of the gear bag. As soon as there is a rest day in the schedule, then it’s time to get busy with the soap suds and freshen up as much of your kit as can. Oh and if you’ve also remembered a handy washing line it’s laundry heaven right there! Oh – particularly when travelling to South America, always chose a powder with the blue bits – bags of unlabelled white powder could be an issue …
10. BAG IT UP
Last on our list of unexpectedly useful items on tour is perhaps the simplest. And it’s the humble black bin bag, a must for any motorcycle trip anywhere in the world.
From putting them over your saddle to keep off the frost in a high Himalayan village to cutting arm and head holes to supplement your waterproofs in a tropical deluge, from stashing your dirty laundry in your kit bag to keeping your muddy boots from wrecking the bedroom carpet in a fancy five-star hotel – the bin bag can do it all. Simple.
