What to pack?

[Skudd]

I know some are hard core travellers and will do a full month with a tooth brush and a credit card while out on the bike, but I like to be clean fresh and comfortable.

Well I'm doing the Scotland thing ( seems very popular this year) six days riding with 5 nights B&B ( B&B already booked )
Now I'm a firm believer of being clean and comfy, so with that in mind this is what I plan to take with me.

Clean t-shirt, boxers, socks for every days ride and same clean for the evening, after having a shower.
In the morning shower again and clean gear on. So that makes two t-shirts, boxers and socks every day.
clean casual pants every other day for the evening. so that will be 3 pairs of pants

I also take towels with me just in case.

So my list of things to take for six days riding and 5 nights away,

12 t-shirts
12 boxers
12 pairs socks
3 pants
2 jumpers
1 pair trainers
1 large towel
1 small towel
1 tooth brush
1 razor
1 soap
1 tooth paste
1 mouthwash
1 shampoo
1 shave gel
1 bog roll
1 deodorant
1 flannel
2 sets waterproof over trousers
2 sets of bike gloves, wet/dry
1 spare autocom head set
12 zip ties
1 gaffa tape
1 chain lube
1 flask
Obvious riding gear.

My mates take only one t shirt, socks, boxers per day, no towels, no cleaning gear ( just use the stuff at the B&B)

Am I over doing it or are they just scruffy buggers?
I have no problem carrying the gear as I have a Varadero with top box and panniers, also have a tank bag.
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Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

[Azonicben]

Pfft women

That's far too much to take, forget the towels, halve the number of everything. 2 sets of waterproof trousers????? Why? Wet and dry gloves why?
It'll take you too long to pack, unpack and sort all your gear out when you could be riding
Take the bare minimum! You can still be hygenic.
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[ram_doom]

If you have the space, then take the lot. You only need to travel light if space is at a premium, but you've got hard luggage, and a chunky bike, so why not throw the kitchen sink in and all
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TL1000s, KDX200

[Itchy]

If you can afford the weight and space then take it , if you can't like me who is taking very little then don't my trip has been trimmed down to 107 days due to having to come back to fix some things.
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Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[Charlie]

12 t-shirts!?! What you planning on doing? I'd understand 6-7 (even then slightly excessive)... but 12! I am sure if you really felt the need you could clean some t-shirts while you were there. How are you planning on getting the t-shirts that you wear between showering in the evening and going to bed dirty? Running up the Mountains every evening?

I don't think I even own 12 pairs of t-shirts. Did you never find that leaving dirty clothes together always makes the one you want to wear next smell clean? Maybe it is my student ways coming through

Personally I'd say over doing it. Even when my Dad went to Morocco for just under a month I am sure he brought less than that and he had the same setup as you with his Transalp.

Then again after riding my Dad's Varadero I am sure when you have that much power (I just been riding my 250, it felt lots!) would take all that gear like nothing.
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Current: Honda CBR929RR & Yamaha XT660Z Tenere

[Bendy]

Bugger me, I'm going for the same amount of time and I bet I'll be taking less than 1/3 of that! I've got panniers and topbox and intend to have them largely empty so I can fill them up with pies and shortbread to bring home.

Don't take 'just in case' things - Scotland has shops. Like ds55 says, can't you wear your evening clean stuff as your riding skanky stuff the next day? I also wouldn't take towels - B&B are highly likely to provide and if they don't, get your butt to an Asda and buy a cheap one. Toilet bag should all be mini stuff and what on earth is the bog roll for? One pair of jeans'll see you right for being off the bike, one jumper or fleece for the evenings and spare shoes are ok if you've got the room.

Flask??

[stinkwheel]

Take dirty socks and boxers into the shower with you. Wash them, wring them out, hang them on the radiator.

They will be dry by morning.

So three pairs. One on, one drying, one spare.

Thank you for listening.

Enjoy your OCD.

12 4 t-shirts
12 3 boxers
12 3 pairs socks
3 pants
2 1 jumpers Unless you mean one to wear and a spare
1 pair trainers
1 large towel B&Bs provide loads of towels
1 small towel
1 tooth brush
1 razor
1 soap B&Bs provide nice soap
1 tooth paste
1 mouthwash
1 shampoo They also supply nice shampoos
1 shave gel
1 bog roll Don't be daft! when did you ever see a bog without bog roll?
1 deodorant
1 flannel Provided
2 sets 1 set waterproof over trousers Why 2-sets? They are waterproof ffs. If they aren't, get some that are
2 sets of bike gloves, wet/dry
1 spare autocom head set
12 zip ties
1 gaffa tape
1 chain lube
1 flask
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I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Skudd]

I thought that was cut down from what I took last year. The others do the night t-shirt for next days riding thing, but I just can't seem to be able to wear the same clothes two days on the run especially if I have a shower and I need a shower after riding and always have a shower before going out on the bike ( a superstition thing really )

The bog roll is a little quirk of mine. I have to have spare bog roll. I have something like 36 rolls in the house, when it gets down to 10 rolls I have to get some more.
____________________
Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

[Faldo]

I'd say Stinky's spot on there, but must admit I think I took a spare bog roll last time too .

For France & Spain I took half a ton of Snap-on too (which wasn't used), but I was solo. Next time I go I'll be going light. 12 T-shirts is very OTT.

[EDIT] Actually I did take a spare bog roll, it came in handy mopping up the exploding shampoo bottle in my bag!
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Current: ZZR1400
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[Itchy]

While we are on the subject of this anybody care to have a run down on what I am bringing? this is for bite 2 of the big trip sorry for the hijack...

Clothes

x1 HG armoured leather jacket (worn)
x1 fleece (worn have reserved space to pack away)
x1 forcefield back protector (worn)
x3 pairs of socks (one worn)
x1 army boots (being worn)
x1 set of jeans (worn with armour retrofitted on hips and knees)
x3 T shirts (one worn)
X3 underpants , (one worn)
x1 money belt
x2 wallets (one to keep my important stuff in one full of expired cards and $20 in it).
x1 bum bag for paperwork and small coins
x1 set of sunglasses
x2 sets of gloves , one water proof one not.
x1 rain jacket
x1 rain trousers
x1 fairly wide hat
x1 set of shorts / swimming trunks
x1 high vis vest (needed for Europe will be dumped)

Tools

x1 hammer as a sort of rod to change tyres and for putting in tent pegs
x2 tyre levers
x1 tyre pressure guage pen thing
x1 hand tyre pump
8/10/12/14/19/20/22/32/32 box spanners (the 32s are needed for the suspension)
6/8/10/12/14 sockets on 3/8 drive
x1 screw driver with 14 different bits
x1 allen key set 4-10mm
x1 small pliers
x1 mole grips (if I can find some)
x2 tube repair kits (total of 34 patches).

Spares

x10 long thin cable ties
x20 long thick cable ties
x4 jubilee clips
x1 clutch lever
x1 brake lever
x1 cable repair kit
x1 rear 644 trelleborg tyre (can't get decent tyres out there)
x4 wheel bearings
x1 small tube of grease
x3 20A mini blade fuses
x2 1A blade fuse for battery charger
x2 std duty front tubes
x1 heavy duty rear tube.
front and rear brake pads.

Medical

x1 HG medikit
x1 pack of imodium
x1 pack of super painkillers
x1 set of tick hooks
x1 pack of iodine tabs

Toys
Camera + 16GB of SD cards
K800I which is good for impromtu photos
O2 XDA mini S + co pilot for GPS (cannot get rid of this as GPS is needed in Kazak and Mongolia)
A universal charger for all of the above off the 12v system
Asus EEEPC901 note this saves me the 1kilo weight of carrying my bike manual as I'm bringing a PDF manual on this.

camping
A 4 season sleepng bag (huge)
A 4 season mountain tent.
A cut down sleep mat
Steel mug

Cooking?
One SS pain
New coleman stove of some kind (mine died in Belgium)
3 litres of water held in a water bladder to be consumed while riding and for camping
x2 multitools which double as knife/fork
x1 metal scourer to clean (but food will be steamed or boiled if possible).

Misc

Note book
Map of Europe (maps of Stans will be bought enroute).
Russian phrase book
x4 novels (dumped enroute)
LED torch
AA battery charger x3 sets of AA batteries (LED torch camera and phones are charged up with these).
Wetwipes as bog roll
liquid soap for washing + tyre fitting
Lip moisturiser as airdrying of face for 14000 miles = bad
Tube of norwegian formula.
Small towel
Pack of razor blades for shaving



Luggage to be carried in:

X2 Buffalo 40 litre unexpanded paniers
x1 30 litre ruck sack
x1 5 litre tank bag.
x1 mini tool tube.

Anything I've missed on this ? , the cooking kit is tenious as it takes up lots of space and I don't have anywhere separate to store the coleman which stinks of petrol and makes everything around it stink of petrol also.

Mozzie nets will be bought enroute.
____________________
Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[Charlie]

Remember if you realise you have got anything you aren't using just post it back to the UK. Your kit sounds good to me Itchy, I'd consider a water bottle which has filtration system built into the cap.. we had one that was meant to allow you to drink sea water through it (although my Dad could have been bull sh!ting me as a kid). Worked quite well, top up with water and 20mins later it was safe to drink. Had quite a nice bit of lake water when out mountain biking many a time.

Are you not bringing any inner tube patches? When you have been through all your inner tubes it might be handy...

I personally wouldn't bring the laptop, but then again I'd have wanted experience in fixing most things on my bike so wouldn't need the laptop. I understand you haven't had much time with this bike so the manual will be useful.

I disk lock might be quite nice, just while you're going through Europe. And I guess you have hidden money/spare key on the bike too, somewhere which requires effort to get to.

You can get full sized towels that take up less room than a normal standard hand towel. They are made of that quick drying stuff... which could be handy (pun not intended). I'd have also chosen a 3 season sleeping bag and bought a sleeping bag liner cheap, they are surprisingly warm.

Might also be worth getting dry bags for everything and then a couple spare for when you want to separate dry and wet stuff within a bag. Can't the stove be wrapped in a small plastic bag to prevent seepage? Like you would do with a Trangia burner.

I'd probably ditch the battery charger to, buy some high quality AA batteries now and just buy cheap ones while on route. I can't imagine batteries not being available all over the world. Even then when I am camping I often forget a touch and can manage for 3 days then (thinking about if your battery run out on torch), talking about torches I guess yours is a head torch? Would be a lot more practical than a hand held.

A tooth brush with some tooth paste too. I am sure you will be able to get some of that all over the place. Hate waking up in the morning after a heavy night with shitty tasting mouth... and my teeth go 'furry' after 3 days or so without brushing.
____________________
Past: Honda x8rs, Honda City fly, Honda Hornet 250, Honda VFR750, Yamaha xt600e.
Current: Honda CBR929RR & Yamaha XT660Z Tenere

[Itchy]

Nah water is going to be boiled in remote plates , and the only seas I'm going to be passing are the med, black sea, caspian sea / Aral sea which are all horrendously polluted anyways.

But yeah nearly forgot my toothbrush and tyre patches.
____________________
Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[Charlie]

Good luck with it Itchy, have read your blog and it did sound like it start off well. Quite jealous but I might follow in your tyre tracks one day

(after speaking to my family, my parents plan to tour the world after they finish paying the mortgage off and brother likes the idea of touring too... so we might all end all over the world in 10 years time )
____________________
Past: Honda x8rs, Honda City fly, Honda Hornet 250, Honda VFR750, Yamaha xt600e.
Current: Honda CBR929RR & Yamaha XT660Z Tenere

[Toukakoukan]

Itchy

Do you really need all those spanners? Have you checked what's required for the most common work on the bike?

Also I would highly recommend finding that molegrips, bloody useful tool they are.

Also, why are you taking a two spare front tubes and only one rear?
You're far more likely to get a rear puncture than a front (for me it was about a 3-1 ratio back to front.

As for your patch repair kits, unless you're doing Mongolia (which you may be, I dunno!) 34 patches sounds totally excessive and like it'll take up a lot of space.
I took about 14 and regretted taking that many as throughout 8 months of travel never once did I use even one, tyre-wallahs everywhere!

Oh and personally I would recommend getting you maps before you leave as good maps in English can be hard to find.
Have you learnt Cyrillic by the way? As while it is possible to guess Cyrillic place names on signs (based on the length of the word, vowel distribution and distance) it can be very hit or miss.
If you haven't make sure your map details both English and Cyrllic names OR
https://www.gadling.com/2009/03/30/gadling-teaches-you-to-read-the-cyrillic-alphabet-in-5-minutes/
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RTW Motorcycle Blog

[Itchy]

[Toukakoukan]

For the maps I recommend Nelles Maps, bloody fantastic for Pakistan, though admittedly that was the only one of theirs I had.

As for the spanners I suggest replacing a couple of them with the spanner-tyre-irons from here.
https://www.dirtbikebook.com/acatalog/TyreWheelAccs.html
Maybe not the best tyre levers in the world, but they do the job and save a fair amount of weight.
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RTW Motorcycle Blog

[dodger]

[c-m]

Even my girlfriend laughed at this and she almost cried when I showed her the pannier all her stuff must fit into for 16 days. lol

[Skudd]

Well I'm going to have to grin and bare it, but putting the same t-shirt on that you have just worn after you have had a shower still seems wrong. But the bog roll stays.

Mind you when I did the DofE as a kid I always had the biggest heaviest rucksack. Always took too much food too.
____________________
Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

[Handsome]

You don't need bog roll when you can have wet wipes...
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Previous Bikes...Honda NSR 125 RR...Kawasaki Zephyr 550...Suzuki SV 1000 S...Yamaha FZ8...Current Bike...Suzuki GSX-R 750...

[Pernig]

[Peirre oBollox]

[Pernig]

[Skudd]

Wet wipe are a big no. Shit, dry wipe, then shower. Those are the rules.
____________________
Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

[Scotsman37]

With that amount dirty clothing returning home they will be able to smell your bike coming from a mile away, either that it's great way for the cops to leave you alone!

It's like others have said take a third of what you've stated and wash your stuff while in the shower and leave them over the radiator in the bedroom for overnight drying, but ask if the B&B having a drying room as frequent backpackers need some where for their soddened gear after coming out from the rain. Call the B&Bs to see what services, if any, they do have for their customers or possibly just a drying room would suffice?

Do carry a sealable bag for any dirty clothing...