Equipment

[crazymotorbik...]

Hey,

Hopefully going touring France next year with my brother and possibly ??Instigator??

I'm starting to get some gear together so have a few questions to ask.

1) What are the best types of maps to use? I've heard mitchelin are good? Where do i buy them? Can't seem to find them!

2) What cooking equipment do you need? I've been looking at petrol stove? Also thort about some cheap mess tins etc

3)Will a cheapo £40 argos tent be good enough?

I'm sure more questions will come to me!

Cheers,
Shaun.

[Itchy]

my michelin red book did fine it has a problem in that the Europeans change the names of the road all the time so often are out of date when new,

its poor for cities though, I'll find the ISBN later

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Europe-Michelin-Tourist-Motoring-Atlases/dp/2067125214/ref=sr_1_1/202-4704795-2741444?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194780525&sr=8-1

this book , the green routes on it are usually great biking roads too, though check out google maps before hand as one or two of them were not that great (but then it was raining and my bike was heavily laden)



https://www.amazon.co.uk/Europe-2007-Michelin-National-Maps/dp/2067123688/ref=sr_1_16/202-4704795-2741444?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194780525&sr=8-16

I used this as my spare ,
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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.

[stinkwheel]

Coleman petrol stoves are excellent. Depends what you are cooking but I find mess tins are pretty crap for cooking in. The heat disperses away from them too quickly and concentrates too much round the burner ring.

So say you put beans in a mess tin, you land up with mostly tepid beans with a ring of molten hot crispy beans in a circle where the burner was.

The thing with mess tins is they are lightweight, easy to carry when hiking on foot. You have a motorcycle, I bet you can find a cook pot which is considerably thicker than a mess tin, comes with a lid and takes up no more space. On bike touring, weight isn't so much of an issue as space.

For this reason I take a small frying pan which tucks into a pannier with minimal effort and a two cup stainless steel teapot in which I keep my 'brew kit'.

The teapot is excellent for boiling water in. You can fit a standard sized food can in my one and I put the tin directly in the teapot full of water and boil away (saves on washing up). A lot of people pierce the can, you don't actually need to as long as you don't let it boil dry. If it is immersed in boiling water, it can never get hotter than 100 degrees. They heat the sealed cans way hotter than this during the canning process. Just watch when you open them that you don't get squirted with the contents.

If you get a coleman petrol stove, take a bit of plastic tubing with you so you can syphon fuel out of your tank.
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/coleman.jpg
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[TheDonUK]

Yes michelin maps are good, i had no problems with mine, and brought them from

https://www.stanfords.co.uk/ Theres a shop near leicester square if you fancy coming to london, but im sure you can order online...

also Blacks/Millets are good for tents, i would say spend a bit extra to make sure its properly waterproof. Nothing worse than starting your day touring with everything soaked...

I brought this one and it was on offer for something like 45 quid:
https://www.blacks.co.uk/blacks.storefront/product/BLK-SS06-Tents-and-Camping-Gear/BLK-SS06-1-to-2-Person-Tents/095054.aspx

[crazymotorbik...]

Hey,

Cheers for them links.

That tent looks exactly like what i was after! Thats going on my christmas list!

Reagrds,
Shaun.

[Peirre oBollox]

ebay seller "tentastic" has loads of good cheap tents, I`ve bought the last couple of tents from them, highly recomended
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I accept no responsibility for swearing, drinking, motorcycle riding or your pregnant teenage daughter.

[Redshift21]

Cooker wise I preffer a Trangia meths cooker as it has no moving parts to go wrong and meths can be bought in any hardware store, it's not as fast as a gas/petrol cooker but it's a lot faster to set up that some of the super cookers, also the pan lids double as plates.

Bought my Trangia 22 years ago and it's still going strong
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Crashing hurts.....don't do it!!

[Peirre oBollox]

[feef]

[Redshift21]