Useful travel items
 

Advil or ibuprofin taken before you begin riding, will take care of muscle aches and soreness that will creep up on you and your back by the end of the day.

Second set of riding gloves (waterproof, breathable).

CamelBak hydration pack. I bought the cheapest $20 unit and bungee it to the bike or my bags somewhere and route the drinking cord up front. Useful for on road and off road trips as well.

A multipurpose tool to cover you for emergency repairs. I also carried a small multi-meter to t-shoot electrical problems.

Least useful? That cheap waterproof disposable camera I bought. Bad quality pictures! With today's digital camera's (some waterprooof at that) and the ability to download to your own email acount at any internet cafe, digital is the way to go.

Happy riding !!

Bungee
 

Do not buy the cheap ones you see in tourist shops. The best bungees can be found at yacht acsessory shops, they are safer and will last forever.

Yoni

Bungees - not
 

Having lost expensive gear off the back of the bike, I would never recommend bungees. They're also dangerous for springing back and knocking your eye out. I prefer non stretch nylon straps with grabby type buckles. Pull 'em as tight as you like.

Here are a few other items. Missing and an absolute must

MSR Dromedary bags
 

In addition to my Camelbak, I use the above bag. They come in a variety of sizes, from two liters to ten liters. They have a number of accessories for them including a drinking tube and a shower kit. They also have gromments and webbing around the edges of the bag to make hanging it and strapping it down a no hassle event. There is a controlable water flow adapter for it that makes washing dishes while camping quite easy, if you don't carry a collapsable basin.

Mollydog, nice looking kit...what do you use for tire irons?

Dan

Best straps I found are ratchet type. Never come loose.
I find it amazing what some people take. I've always been a minimalist when travelling. If I have 3 days worth of clothes and toiletries, some emergency repair stuff, money, and documents, then I don't need anything else.
Other than the wife.:biggrin:

Moly,

I agree nice looking tool kit. Do you pull a trailer. Just kidding but that is a lot of stuff.

My travels are alway two up so I just dont have room for all that. Everything is a compromise and I find a multitool is a very convient thing to have. I dont expect to be able to rebuild the engine with it but when my tool kit is buried in the bottom of my pannier and all I have to do it tighten up a loose screw the multitool in the glove box does the job quite will.

yankee Dog

whatever happened to good clean thin rope, tie down anything securely and usable anywhere?. :euro:

I think the Dog uses his bare hands! ;)

good point. I carry with me a roll of 5000lb nylon webbing, availably at any climbing or rigging shop. It was a gift from a fellow who i met at a HU meeting a few years ago in Creel. I use it all the time! Roll it up and pack it inside a zip-lock, takes up minimal space and is super strong.

Apart from the CO2, i carry pretty much the same kit as MollyDog. Strange thing is my good old Leatherman is used more than anything. Packing a multitool is a good idea IMHO, just don't expect it to fix everything and limit yourself to that one tool.

Parachute cord...

I've only covered 50K so far.....on this bike.
Molly is my dog.

a bit tongue in cheek, but no-ones mentioned a bath plug yet!!

i always keep a universal plug (one of those ones with the rubber flap that works on all size plugholes by water pressure) in my dobie bag. sounds stupid but how many motel bathrooms have the plugs missing?