Motorbike Camping Road Trip: Gear Review Overview

1065_CR

I keep a personal “motorcycle diaries”. When I was first learning to ride a couple of years ago, it was to track my progress – my miles, my routes, my firsts. One thing I was constantly cataloging were “lessons learned” and “bring next time”. From those I refined what works for me and my bike, in the ways I want to ride. Though the list evolves, having it already in an excel made a great start for the eventual list I put together for my 23 day solo motorbike road trip through the Canadian Rockies.

I posted the above photo of some of my gear laid out. Another female motorcyclist thanked me for the photo, said she always wonders what other female motorcyclist road trippers bring.

There were 172 items on my pack list. I am typically an over packer (or rather, I am prepared for almost anything), and though I know I could have gone slightly lighter, I patted myself on the back when I saw the clean profile lines of my motorcycle and gear all saddled up, and when I saw other motorcyclists’ loads, some even with trailers IMG_7753, or the two men trying to close one of their bags, one of them putting all of his weight on the bag while the other used all of his strength to click the strap buckles. I know I was not planning to be on the road for over a year like some of the men I saw, and being by myself for a while on my first solo trip, and as a newer rider, knew I was not going to tackle something so extreme that I needed much extra motorcycle parts or tools. I had the basics, and extra clutch and brake levers, since I have actually lost count of the number of clutch levers I have unintentionally shortened.

This, then, is my motorbike camping road trip gear review in installments, of the things I found essential, things I found worth taking up space for, and the one thing I forgot. It assumes the reader has the basic motorcycle camping gear list already together, and instead provides an experienced perspective of the functions of the gear when on the road for a while. And, for the women motorcyclists out there, hopefully this gives an idea of how a few additional aspects could work. Making friends with a woman who had a hairdryer at the campground showers, who happens to occasionally ride with her husband and knows what a luxury certain basic items can be, never hurts, either.

See the rest of the Motorcycle Diaries