This article talks about my motorcycle bike touring packing setup and I packed during my cross-Canada tour with a sport touring motorcycle, Suzuki Bandit 600.
As a quick background, this is my longest and biggest trip I’ve done on my motorcycle. I’ve done several long-weekend tours and other adventures. This worked for me with my style of touring, camping background and experience. This may not work for everyone due to style preference or motorcycle.
If you have a basic understanding of, and practice some ultra-light camping, then this style of motorcycle touring set up may be for you. Prior to this trip, I had done zero research on how to pack. I took my previous experience from bicycle touring the Atlantic maritime and back country camping experience to piece it together. I wanted to carry my kitchen, sleeping arrangements, food, clothes, water, and repair kit on the trip with me. Additionally, I had planned to go rock climbing and brought some basic gear. So, admittedly, I wasn’t going ultra-light, but there were a few more things I wanted to do along the way.
Essentially, this was my set up for self-sufficiency and didn’t need to buy food for about 4 to 5 days (all three meals) with my set up. With that said, let’s get into it.
The Packs
I had a total of 145 litres of of space for packing. I had two 25 litre panniers (50L total), 20 litre tank bag (which was my back pack), and the main 75 litre backpack. I had decided on my pack, as I knew I was going to be hiking at some point during my trip.
At the very end of the bike, I had a 5 litre Jerry can for gas, which I was grateful for as I had pushed the range on my bike in territory with few gas stations in between. I will advise, during hot days with the sun beating down, I’d open the vent to reduce the hot pressure inside.
What Did I Bring?
As you know, space is valuable on the motorcycle and especially on a bike touring, the packing setup, will have to be very strategic.. The list here is not the complete list, but instead, outside of the “normal” things, ie tent, toiletries, etc., there were a few items here I brought that helped me out immensely and was very grateful for.
- A 3/4 inch thick, 2×1 foot plywood for the centre and kickstand, along with holding my 75L pack.
- Mosquito repellent, the Thermacell. Better than the spray, as this creates a barrier, in a sphere, around you.
- Water filtration pump by MSR
- Baby wipes, not only for the bum, but general cleaning when showers weren’t available and especially after bike maintenance.
- 3 litre water bladder, 1 litre Nalgene (4L per day, folks!)
- 2 pairs of boots; 1) waterproof, heavy multi-day backpacking boots and, 2) Combat boots from the army surplus, which are my regular riding boots. I know, this set up isn’t ultralight, but there was plans for hiking around for a couple of days and the surplus boots were not waterproof.
- Multi-tool Leatherman
- Radio that also had NOAA radio frequency; this was very helpful for outside of cell signal and needed to know the weather
- Bear horn/bangers/whistles – I’ve come to liking having the security of the bear horn and whistle with me inside the tent at night, as it would be impossible to set off a banger. During outings, bangers and whistle are still my go to.
- 1 burner gas stove, set of pots and pans, kitchenware, 1 large and 1 small Iso-butane gas; this worked for both my cooking and the Thermacell
- 1/6 dozen Egg carton protector – this is actually more valuable than you’d think!
- 10L Bear vault, I’ve tried many different ones and they were relatively ok. But this one is supposedly the standard that’s used and accepted in most States, ie, you need to show you have this vault before going back country. The vault apparently was tested with actual grizzly bears and was fine. Bringing this was a good peace of mind about protecting my food, but it doesn’t have scent protection.
What Should I have Left Home?
The tarp. Because the tarp set up didn’t work out, I could’ve left my mosquito net at home as well. However, I do recommend it in other trips. They took up a lot of space and found little use for. It was hard to set up in “proper” camping spots, with minimal trees around. I thought I could throw it on the ground and use it as a quick shelter, but in the end the set up was way more cumbersome than my tent.
PAC Safe pack locking wire mesh. This mesh wire product wrapped around bags to prevent theft. I was hoping to deter any thieves if I left my bags and motorcycle unattended in the city. Turns out, every time I was in a city, I took my bags into an AirBNB or hotel. And when I was passing through, well, I was passing through. Museum drop-in going through a city? Never happened. I only visited when I had several nights.
WHAT I WISH I BROUGHT INSTEAD was my camp saw and axe. As I didn’t think I’d make a campfire, I sorely regretted that. It was one easy way to stave off loneliness at the campsite at night. There were more opportunities than I thought when I could’ve made a fire. I was on a budget and didn’t want to buy those items along the way.
How Did I Organize my Packing?
As I’m used to camping, so I used my big 75L for nearly all my equipment, sleeping bags, food, tent, etc.
The only things I left in the panniers were the extra set of boots, the rain gear for easy access, and repair and cleaning kit for the bike.
I put my 3 litre water bladder in my day pack, which I had elastic straps to use as a tank bag, along with some snacks and food.
And voila, if you made it this far in the article, I hope it was helpful for you to understand or get inspired from more information on bike touring packing setup.