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| Outdoor Research and the Art of Motocycle Packing |
| Face it, motorcycles weren't made for transporting lots of gear. If they were, they'd have an extra two wheels and be called cars...but, then they'd also have a roof, and that'd be no fun. So we make them carry more stuff by hanging panniers and strapping bags and all sorts of junk on to them. Everybody has their own way of making this work...any bike rally will show you that. But its one thing to jam it all on, strap it down with your favourite bungie cord and a prayer, and call it good; What about when you actually want to get to something in your little compressed jumble? Any idea where that little piece of gear has migrated to? And what happens when its starts to rain? Maybe you were safe in your tent, but now you have to get on the road, and your tent fly is soaking. Going to jam it back in the pile? A bunch of odds and sods crammed in a bag might work for some people for a weekend; hell, it can make for a good laugh for others at the campsite...but chances are you'll be spending some of your precious downtime organising and searching...on a longer tour, when you're carrying more stuff, you quickly realise that you need a packing system. Everything has to have its place, so you can spend most of your time in the scenery rather than digging around in a dark bag, while your riding buddy (if you still have one) watches the grass grow nearby. And hands up who hasn't bothered to stop and get something they actually wanted, like their electric vest in the late afternoon, because they knew it was buried under a huge pile of other stuff and would take too long to get to. I think part of the reason many bikers travel solo, is that by the time each person in a group ride has stopped, done their own little dumpster dive into their gear for whatever they forgot to pull out last time, and packed it all up again, you've only made it to the end of the block and the day's almost over... Now try living on your bike...when you are carrying so much stuff that it all only fits in one way, and you're pulling everything out nightly, and jamming it all in the next morning. Not having a system just gets old. I know - at the end of my last tour, I still spent an hour every morning just packing my gear on bike, while my more experienced German buddies watched on in pity. Never again. |
| The System... |
| Or at least, my system...I feel like I've cracked it this time. The key is to separate everything in bags...and bags inside bags...my life revolves around zip locs...especially the new double wall freezer versions and the ones with the easy slide. But zip-locs break and tear(bring spares, in different sizes), their seals aren't bulletproof, and you need something to put all these zip locks in, otherwise you end up rummaging around in a sea of clear plastic. Enter... |
| OR Cell Blocks and Dry Cells |
| These things need to be given some sort of Motorcyclists Award. They come in all different shapes and sizes, and three styles - regular Hydroseal (a light but durable waterproof material), the fully sealed Hydroseal with a water resistant zipper known as the Dry Cell (pictured above), or with two mesh sides for anything that needs to breath, or for quick inspection of the contents. They're colour coded, and in the shape of blocks so they fit together in your panniers without wasted space - yet they are still as compressible as you need them to be (no rigid material). I use and can recommend the Dry Cells...OR won't let me call them totally waterproof, but in my experience they're as good as. Using these means your pack is reduced to a bunch of easy to see big blocks, rather than many small ones. You can separate things into stuff you are getting to all the time, and stuff you aren't...or however the hell you want to do it...group your eating stuff together...its up to you...and if you need to rearrange your gear for any reason, or get it all out, you're working with big square blocks rather than many smaller odd shapes - much easier. The beauty of this system is that everything is waterproof in its own right. Your bags and panniers don't have to be totally waterproof now...even if they are at the start of the trip, there's no guarantee they'll stay that way...Murphy will take care of that. And if you have to open your bags when its bucketing down, the bit of water that gets in will pool outside the cell blocks and can get cleaned out later - rather than drenching your clean pair of jocks. You do carry more underwear, don't you?... One perfect application is when using tank panniers...tank panniers allow you to balance up some of the weight on the back (not you, your other luggage), but hardly any are waterproof...now you can choose the bags that fit, or are most durable, and the inner cell block takes care of the water resistance...also makes it easy to just grab everything out of the pannier when you want to get something, rather than detaching zips, straps etc. To top it off, the inner side of the Hydroseal material is white, making it a lot easier to see what's in the bag itself. No more black holes. |
| What size do I need? |
| Here's the other thing I learnt - you won't know in advance. Every trip is different, you are always taking slightly different stuff to last time. And every time, you will work out a better way to do pack The trick is to have a range of these bags in different sizes available - more than you need. You will end up leaving some behind sometimes, using some more than others, and some will become permanent homes for some parts of your kit. Take a few empties with you on tour...they pack down to nothing, and when you want to carry something else, or separate your gear for whatever reason (like something wet has to go back in the dry bundle it came from). Despite being light, the Hydroseal material is damn durable, the packs well built, and these will probably last you longer than your current ride. Buy a bunch of them and enjoy packing next time. |
| Other OR Products I am using |
| I'm also using various other bits of OR Gear on the trip...I like stuff that WORKS and is designed well. OR Gear is built with some serious philosophy behind it, the stuff I have used is all built up to a standard rather than down to a price - their heads are in function rather than fashion. Many of their products are innovative in their design, but maybe even more importantly, feature really solid construction and materials. Some people like the challenge of problem solving when their gear breaks on a trip...I'm not one of them...I'd rather be telling stories about the places I saw rather than the zip I sewed up, or the tear I duct taped. If you're touring in other countries, you probably have enough to worry about without your gear letting you down....trust me. I have Murphy as my co-pilot, I need all the help I can get. |
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| Hydroseal Compression Stuff Sacks - Q. What's worse than a wet down bag? A. Nothing. This bag is perfect for getting your down bag as small as you can for easier packing, and unlike every other compression sack I could find, doesn't take up much space itself. I use an other to keep my clothes bundle as small as possible, especially fleece, which is designed to pack down small, and takes up a lot of room in hot climates if its not. |
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| Hydroseal Stuff sacks Available in 3 styles, I like the Advanced Stuff sack with its sealed construction, and roll down drybag style top. I have two, one for my tent inner, and one for the fly - I can put the fly away wet (or both, if it gets that bad) without soaking anything else, to be dried out at the next available opportunity. The bag also has straps meaning it can be lashed securely outside a pack if it comes to that. |
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| Camping pad sacks - Discovering you have a punctured camp rest is no fun at the end of a long day's ride, but you need something that will protect your inflatable friend (err...) without adding a lot of bulk to your gear. Finally OR stepped up to the plate and made these. My only reservation is the one I'm using for a full length ultralite is TIGHT, maybe too tight when you're in and out of it every day. Since I've switched to a shorter 3/4 mattress (US customs 'forgot' to put my original back in my gear when they searched my bags at Seattle airport - these rocket scientists are responsible for keeping America safe...), its a much easier fit. |
| I can happily recommend all of these for a motorcyclist's packing system... |
| OR Gear in General |
| Return to Two Wheel Wandering Bike and Gear |
| Check out Cells and packs are in the Backpacking/Camping section. |
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