lifestyle
mileageslaves Time to just bag it By David Cwi #28490
I’M A CHEERFUL enough guy. But sometimes an idea comes along that gets me over-the- top gleeful. And so it was when the editor of this won-
derful magazine shot me an email wondering what I had to say about packing a motorcycle. This is for sure worse than asking the fox about how best to secure the door on the hen- house. Me. Advice on packing a bike. Oh, Ya!!! Now, let’s back up a step. There
was a time when Raiders followed me with caution for fear of what was falling off the bike. Of course, that was years ago and only at times when I was rolling in a state that pilots would call “DC 10 heavy.” That is, loaded to the freaked out max for a long stay with tent, chair, cook gear and more, headed to a rally, and planning to hang out. So I’d have my “normal” load and then some. And if you have bag on top of a bag clipped on to something else late in the packing…sometimes at speed things, shall we say, “fall off.” My insistence on being “DC 10
heavy” was complemented by my desire to still have a bike that han- dled well. So the push-pull of the desire to take along whatever I wanted yet still be able to RIDE has made me pretty savvy at “securing stuff to the bike,” which is different from “packing.” And that comment starts to get us down to serious business. Okay, let’s parse this problem into
92 BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2017
parts. There is WHAT to take and there is HOW to take it. And the good editor thinks I have some insight into WHAT to take, being as how I have been packing stuff and schlepping it around for years. And that is the start of the joke. Here in fact is the punch line: If I ever
took a trip and during that trip discovered I left something home that I wished I had along, that “something” is packed for the next trip. Ditto if it is something I had to buy while on a trip to solve some problem. You just never know. That problem may arise again. Better leave it on the bike. And of course cold weather is always a possible problem. So, if in the fall you take that elec-
You’re in luck if you’re riding with Dave. Here’s a no bounce hammer and wood block. And on and on and on. And did I mention that a man needs a ball cap when he stops and takes off his helmet? So let me repeat myself. Roll through
your entire riding history. What did you wish you had, but didn’t? In my case that list includes tweezers appropriate for removing a tick. I am not making that up, as I also have bug spray. Create a list. Could you pack all that and still have a sport bike to flick in the twisties? What if your bike also has a custom
I WAS ROLLING IN A STATE THAT PILOTS WOULD CALL “DC 10 HEAVY.”
tric gear off the bike and then in the spring you forget to put it back on, when the night time temperatures turn cold…well, you would not want that to happen. So, let’s make sure we are always packed for four seasons with at least the electric jacket liner and a couple of other layers. And then of course you have to have that
full coverage bike cover. And to be efficient you want to be able to get off the bike and go into a hotel room for the night without having to unpack the bike, so everything has to be in one saddle bag. And what if you get hungry or need
hydration? Got to be a way to pack those peanuts, sport bars and fluids so you can stop, access, chew, gulp, and then roll. Wait a minute—photo op! Where’s the camera? Buddy have a flat tire? No problem.
Where’s the air pump? His battery died and he needs a jump start? Where’s that hi-tech lithium ion battery jump starter gizmo with the extra USB ports? Bent your rim?
THAT IS, LOADED TO THE FREAKED OUT MAX!
made fuel cell that sits right behind you? NOW pack your bike. Okay, so what’s a rider to do? Well, here’s where I have ended up when it comes to packing and securing: Keep the load 24
inches wide. If you ever had an old-school K bike,
you learned that any load behind you on the seat wider than 24 or so inches blocked the view backward as seen by those ridicu- lously stylish but essentially useless low mirrors. It’s the reason many K bike and current R bike riders have GS mirrors bolted to their handlebars. The 24 inch size limit gets me away from wide, massive duf- fels and helps me avoid packing overload. And it encouraged me to think about put- ting one bag on top of another behind me whenever I did have to pack “big.” In fact, I designed my fuel cell to be wide but flat and under four inches tall just so I could use it as a bag platform. But this width limit also hints at another
factoid. I may carry lots of different things but this does not mean that the whole setup weighs that much or that any one thing is particularly big and bulky…hence the issue and challenge of adding on tents, ground cloths, that chair and other bulky stuff to an already established load.
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