Hi,

I'm currently preparing for my biggest venture yet: traveling from Belgium to Australia (if I reach there ), camping a lot on the way.

I have compiled a fairly exhaustive packing list (I think), but maybe I am forgetting some things since I'm a newbie, or am I taking way too many unnecessary things. So I'd like some spare eyes to have a look if someone is up for it! Thanks in advance!

Bike related stuff (mods, maintenance, tools, spares and consumables) I have posted here in the bike thread in case you're interested.

Luggage:
Large drybag/rollbag (Giant Loop Columbia)
Hardcases OTR/H&B (not changing these as they came with the bike and not going to spend extra on soft luggage although otherwise I would have opted for soft luggage)
Tankbag (Mosko Moto Nomad)
Molle panels on the front of the panniers, with a small bag on one side and a small first aid bag on the others.
Rokstraps
Wolfman tank panniers
2x Large molle pouches from MoskoMoto with 2x 2l dromlite water bags in them (to be mounted on either the back of the alu panniers, or on the side of my Wolfman tank panniers using Molle panels I got off Ali)
1 gallon Rotopax mounted on top of largest pannier
Klim hydrapack in Quench backpack

Bike accessories:
Tow strap (Giant Loop)
Tow lift handle (Giant Loop)
Sidestand pad
Disc lock (& maybe security chain? Pretty big and heavy)
Gear lock
Moto cover

Camping:
Tent (Exped Orion II Extreme)
Footprint
Sleeping mat (Exped Synmat)
Sleeping bag (Nemo Disco 15)
Cooking stove (omnifuel) & fuel bottle
Cutlery set
Chair (Trekology YIZI go)
Light My Fire firesteel (+ whistle)
Head torch (Petzl Actik core)
Cooking pots, plate & mug (MSR Quick 2 set)
Kitchen utensils (MSR Alpine Deluxe set)
Cooking pan (MSR)
Water purifier/filter (MSR guardian)
Washing line (Sea to Summit)
Tarp + rope
Knife
Knife sharpener
Zippo Handwarmers
Lighter
Extra Rope (Paracord)
Organising bags (Eagle Creek or Exped or…)
Normal torch
compass
Sea to Summit field repair buckles
Little Deuce shovel

Tech accessories:
Camera, charger & batteries, lenses
Small gorillapod
SD-cards
GPS moto mount stuff
GPS: Garmin Montana 610
Power bank that can also charge laptop & jumpstart battery (Minibatt Pro VR)
Cable to charge laptop with powerbank
Phone Ram Mount
GoPro
GoPro accessories: ram mount / batteries & charger / gorillapod
Laptop (air)
Garmin Inreach Explorer+ & mount

Clothing:
Organising bags for clothes
NORMAL CLOTHING:
Socks
Undies
Bra
Sports bra
Light/cool trousers
extra pairs of trousers - Fjallraven
Normal pants/pair of jeans
Shorts
T-shirts
Long-sleeve
Tank top
Swimsuit
Body warmer - down vest
Water- & windproof jack
Sweater (1 thin & 1 thick)
Warm hat
Sun cap
Walking shoes
Sandals
Buff
Head scarf
BASELAYERS:
Klim Solstice 1.0 pants & long sleeve shirt
Klim Solstice 2.0 pants
Under armour longsleeve
Klim Aggressor -1.0 long sleeve
Klim Teton Merino long sleeve
Klim Teton Merino short sleeve
Klim Whistler jacket
RIDING GEAR:
Helmet - Klim Krios
Neck sock Klim Cool aggressor
Neck warmer Klim
Winter gloves - KLIM Powerxross
Summer gloves - Dainese
Bike socks - 2x Klim vented sock + 2x Klim sock (standard)
Boots - TCX Drifter
Jacket - Klim Artemis
Trousers - Klim Artemis
Reflective vest

Sounds like a great trip. Here are some suggestions.

-either tank bag or tank panniers, not both. You have plenty of carrying capacity especially with the pockets on the outside of your panniers, though you will have to cut down on a few comforts.

-rotopax- not needed often enough to carry and hassle with it. Use , and toss, a couple of 2 L soda bottles for the short time you may need extra fuel.

-no chain needed. Secure parking is usually available if you ask. Insist on bringing your bike into a hotel courtyard,etc. I bring a thinner 6 foot cable and padlock to lock my helmet and jacket up occasionally, and I can wind that around my wheels and around a post if I have no other parking choices. I've only done that once or twice.

-Covers are sometimes nice for security, but I find they take up too much valuable space and I don't usually take one.

-Clothing: looks like way too much. You can double up on a lot of things here. Make sure that all of your clothes are washable in a sink and will dry out (more-or-less) overnight. If you do a little washing up every night you will always have clean socks,underwear and Tshirts. I find 3 pairs of socks and underwear to be more than enough.

-Pants: one pair of nylon quick dry convertible-to shorts travel pants; riding pants; a pair of long underwear/tights; one pair of shorts to wear while your other stuff is drying. That's all. No more spare pants, no jeans.

-Your buff will handle the job: no need for the 2 Klim neck gear items.

-Sweaters- not needed. Your riding layers can be used when off the bike, especially if you have a very light waterproof jacket to put on over them.

Be ruthless when packing; all the extra stuff will make the bike heavy and unwieldy and make it a pain to pack/unpack and haul it inside. You want the bike to be as quick and maneuverable as possible, you will make a lot of navigation errors and need to do U turns and split traffic at times.

The less you have, the happier you'll be after a few weeks on the road. Be ready to ship stuff home and lighten up as you go.

Buena suerte..............shu

"Moto cover"

Hello

Hardly ever needed, maybe you can use your "Footprint".

sushi

__________________
My RTW:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrXt660ztenere

Far too much luggage - try to reduce your complete luggage-weight to under 40 kg. Tank bag, panniers, luggage roll plus what you want to pack inside! That means the total weight of bike plus luggage plus cases should be not more than about 260 - 270 kg. Fuelled up and ready to go.


Every kg less may mean less luxury, but more riding fun.


Enjoy!

__________________
Only when we pause to wonder
do we go beyond the limits of our little lives.
(Rod McKuen)

Make the motorcycle cover out of silnylon or DWR nylon - light and packs small.
eg https://ukfabricsonline.com/4oz-waterproof-cover
or less weight but less water proof https://ukfabricsonline.com/2oz-pu-nylon
Note that having the number plate visible is probably only a requirement in Europe, anywhere else and you can cover the entire thing.

No need for a torch .. use the head lamp.

...................
Weight this stuff up... the mole bags weight a ton.

Ditch the sandals - weight + bulk... aqua shoes will do - light and bunch up into nothing.

NO JEANS! - they are a pain to wash and take forever to dry. Get some pants that the lowers zip off - they will be light weight and are both pants and shorts -hiking shops have them .. they are not cheap but willlast longer than jeans will. Some thermal pants/long johns under these make for cold weather pants too.

Cutlery set - no. You already have a knife .. you only then need a spoon. No fork.

No knife sharpener .. the blade should keep for a year before requiring sharpening. You will be meeting HU communities along the way - they will have knife sharpeners and other things. Take what you need, not what you might possibly need to keep yourself comfortable.
---------------------
As shu says .. try to eliminate things that you already have something else that will do that job.

Take all the stuff and weight it individually and put it on a spread sheet. Then you can go through it and target the heavy stuff .. and then the stuff that can be substituted by something you already have.

You will get there. And it is a compromise... if you really really need something ... buy it along the way - it becomes a souvenir.

Be thoughtfull of leaving the bike with its luggage .. you want something to take off the bike that contains the important stuff - photos! id, money, camera, garmin inreach etc. I usually do this with a small tank bag. Call it a hand bag if you like.

Lots of nice tips, thanks!

I do have an issue with taking too much sometimes, so it's definitely something to work on. I am planning for sure once I have everything on the list laid out and ready to slowly go through it all and weigh it and try to cut down as much as possible, but some of this stuff already helps!

Cutting it down to 40kg for all the luggage weight AND the contents seems nearly impossible though. (I'm counting my camping gear and spare parts here as well).
I have test packed my panniers already, and I managed to fit everything apart from clothes (i.e. spare parts, consumables, camping gear, toiletry, cooking gear, etc.) in and I'm already at 16kg (including empty Rotopax, so full it'll be 20kg) + 22kg for the other pannier.
And that's not including any kind of clothing. My spares and camping gear weigh a lot, also the panniers themselves.

I'm guessing it'll be about 60kg altogether.

Luckily, I do have a light bike. Dry weight is 153kg, so wet, +4l oil +20l fuel I would say 177kg, make it 190kg (probably overestimated) with all kinds of mods like crashbars and luggage rack. With 60kg luggage, I'm at 250kg total, which doesn't seem too crazy?

Btw, I was considering the tank panniers mostly for light stuff that comes and goes, like some food shopping on the way that I can easily store away, but not really fill them up carefully. I'd like to have a bit of space easily accessible dedicated to random stuff rather than always having to figure out how to get a shopping bag tied up again.

It's a good idea actually to leave the stuff that I might not really need and if I end up needing it, buying it and consider it a souvenir! I hate buying souvenirs for the sake of it, so this is perfect .

I have a superlight and thin cheap chinese bike cover that doesn't take much space when rolled up, and I like it for the security illusion, not for protection against the weather elements (so the footprint doesn't work for me). I am planning now and then to spend some time in a city as well, and if I can't figure out a safe place for parking, like when I might be just passing through and going on a walk, a cover hiding all the flashy things seems like a good idea.

I'm assuming I'll have to work real hard on cutting my clothes list down.
Can't cut down on too much anymore for the rest I think. It'll be a challenge

But I'll be staying in Sofia with friends for a week on the way, so I might indeed ship some things back then or just leave them there...

Work on all the lists.

Wheel bearings? Really? Will you be able to change these beside the road .. or would you prefer a workshop? Put new ones in now and they should be good for 10 years at least. Much simpler to do at home now than on the road.

Do things like a new battery some months before you go - that way if the new thing is faulty you get to fix it at home.

Good luck. But most important - have fun.

Hello

Sounds not to bad, I like to say, "Take what you want and learn to deal with it".

Just remember, the lighter the bike itself, the more the centre of gravity shifts to the back and top than on a heavy bike.
60kg of luggage on a 150kg KTM is worse than on a 260kg Supertenere.

A lot of things are redundant:
If you have a "Inreach Explorer+" (good idea), do you still need a Montana 610?
2x "gorillapod" for camera and Gopro?
"Washing line (Sea to Summit)" vs. "Extra Rope (Paracord)"

What do you need those for?
"Little Deuce shovel"
"Zippo Handwarmers"
"Light My Fire firesteel (+ whistle)"
"Knife sharpener"
"Reflective vest " -> useless, in many countries you have no "right" to share the road with the trucks, once you have understand this an ride accordingly you have no problems, visibility is not the issue (they see you, just don't respect you).

Ask yourself, what did you take for your last campingtrip with the bike, what did you miss, what didn't you use.
There are not many things you will need more, but they are different from one person to an other.

Have a look at websites from cyclists, they know what is important to take.


have fun
sushi

__________________
My RTW:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrXt660ztenere

Yes - similar with hikers.

The problem is they don't usually travel as long nor change climates so quickly. But their stuff is worth reading... bicycle riders do eat a lot - rather than buy petrol for the motor they stuff food in their body to power along.

Yes, not exactly the same, but might open eyes and thoughts.


sushi

__________________
My RTW:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrXt660ztenere

Hi Moondusted - My suggestion would be to look at your current list, and work out how many things can easily double up - just a glance at your current inventory would suggest a lot...

Certainly if your plan is to be riding pretty much every day, then you'll find you need very little extra clothing - you've already specified a high quality outer riding suit (that ought to work well in all climates), so a few other items underneath to layer as required is all you need - and ideally are smart/plain enough to wear as casual clothes off the bike as required.

There are two principles I've adopted from a good friend Dave Lomax from Adventure Spec in the UK and his presentation 'Overweight is underprepared' - which I always feel are worth passing on:

1. Thoroughly prepare your bike before you go [new chain, sprockets, wheel-bearings, brake pads etc.] - it's a great way to get to know it, and spot (and hopefully remedy) any potential weak-spots before you leave... That way you can minimise the number of spares and tools you need to carry to only those 'bodge-it' items that will keep you going in an emergency - then you can affect a more permanent repair if required once you get to a town with a workshop for example.

Don't forget that any spare parts can be DHL'd around the world in a matter of days these days, and if you are forced to stop-over somewhere, it will almost certainly lead to a memorable chapter to your trip diary.

Therefore you don't have to be self-sufficient for the whole trip, only as long as it takes to get to the next 'place of safety'. To use a rather trite analogy: treat the trip as a relay race, not a marathon.


And following on from that...

2. If you're travelling by bike, you're likely to need to stop at least once a day for fuel - and anyone who is prepared to sell you fuel, will also sell you something to eat (and drink). Once you get outside of mainland Europe, even restaurant food is not expensive, and the cultural exchange of eating in local restaurants or even with friendly families is going to be far more rewarding that chopping your own onions every night...

Now I admit I'd probably draw a line at eating boiled testicles in a Mongolian yurt for example, which is why a few emergency rations are worth squirrelling away - as Dave used to say, if you're not prepared to dine on a cup of coffee and a crunch bar as needs must, then perhaps adventure travel is not for you? ;o)

Therefore there really is no need to take a whole camp kitchen with you - just take a simple burner (to heat food and water) and some emergency rations - energy bars, a couple of packets of dried/vac-packed food/soup for example. Even if you do enjoy camp-cooking with separate ingredients, there are still plenty of one-pot recipes you only need something like a jet-boil and a knife to prepare.

So my suggestion would be to look at everything on your list that can effectively double up, and discard the duplicates - then look at everything left and try to reduces the bulk [and ideally weight] even further...

for info. this is the current slide-show I present at the various Horizons Unlimited meetings I attend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtyxj52YrYM&t

note. it's a slide show, so you will need to pause the video to study the lists in more detail.

Hope that helps!

Jenny x

Hey mate,

Sounds good, I'm French and live in OZ and plan to do the trip from OZ to France, would be great to share our experience to each other.
Let's keep in touch,

Cheers

Romain