Camping equipment guide

Motorbike Camping.

What to take camping very much depends upon where your going, for how long and who with.

The rule of thumb with packing for camping is to take only what you need, don’t try and take the kitchen sink. You can actually fit a lot into your camping gear, if you think about what’s important to yourself, what can you live without? In todays luxury world, it is easy to take things that you don’t need or items which may distract you from the experience.

This guide is from personal experience, knowing what works for us. Every one is different and you may feel that you cant live without something but also you may feel you don’t need something that I carry.

Accommodation:

• Tent – we use a Bruner Blitz3 automatic tent (no longer available unfortunately, however the Betenst popup tent is quite similar), I carry a few spare pegs and different types of pegs for different ground, which all fits inside the tent bag.

Cooking:

• BBQ – we use a Odoland hiking BBQ, compact but perfect for two people.
• Cooking – a simple hiking stove suffices for most, the Odoland 1.4L cooking system is what we carry, its small and compact, all fitting self contained in its own bag.
• Crockery & Cutlery – we use plastic crockery, the Lifeventure 4-piece set includes a plate, bowl and mug with a knife, fork and spoon, we also carry mess tins these can be used to cook in as well as eat from (they make a great frying pan.
• Drink – liquid is heavy, we don’t really carry too much, a litre of water each and usually a small bottle of vodka. We do carry instant coffee and small juice pods.
• Food – we usually carry small tins (beans or spaghetti), small jars of jam and butter, however our main foods we buy enroute to save needing cool boxes.
• Utensils – the Rvoloo camping kitchen utensils set has everything we have needed, knife, peeler, tongs, spatula etc and has its own carry bag.
• Washing bowl – we use a 5L collapsible washing bowl, this works for hygiene also.

Extras:

• Entertainment – a pack of cards can go a long way on a rainy day.
• First aid kit – a basic first aid kit like the Lifesystems pocket first aid kit is always worth while, but also paracetamol for them headaches.
• Lighting – to me lighting is two parts, the tent torch and the personal torch, I like USB chargeable because they save carrying batteries.
• Power – for years I have used Anker power banks, never had an issue with them

Hygiene:

• Clothes – depending on where you are travelling to defines how much you need. You can wash clothes enroute, but maximum I would carry would be 4 sets of underwear and socks, 4 t-shirts, a pair of shorts or trousers and a hoodie.
• Deodorant – self explanatory.
• Teeth care – self explanatory.
• Towel – you cant go wring with a microfibre towel, it will also double up as a ground sheet to sit on.
• Washing – all you need is hair and body wash or wet-wipes.

Sleeping:

• Mattress – who said camping had to be uncomfortable, a self inflating roll mattress is perfect for camping.
• Sleeping bag – a 3 or 4 season sleeping bag suffices.

All of this I can easilly fit onto my VFR for two up touring or onto my BMW GS if I am riding alone or with other bikes.

The lighter items (clothing, sleeping bags etc) fit in the top box with the tent attached to a rack on top (on the VRF, however on the BMW GS the tent and sleeping bag go in a dry back on the pillion seat).

All the other items get distributed over the two side panniers with the weight evenly distributed with space to spare. In the tank bag I usually keep my wallet, snacks, small drink, electricals, if I am taking documents or paperwork (if required where I am travelling), I keep them in a leg bag.

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