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Motorcycle Camping Gear: 5 Things You Probably DON’T Need

Thinking on how to optimize your motorcycle camping setup? And how to Take less, and do more? Let me offer you some suggestions.

The idea of packing nice and light is based on the functionality of your gear. Ideally, if you can use the same item for different purposes. Which would mean you carry 1 item instead of 2. Keeping this concept in mind, let’s go:

1. Fork – do you need to carry a fork and a spoon, or it can be just a fork? I bet you don’t need it.

2. Pillow – this one has contradictory opinions. But if you have a good sleeping pad and sleeping bag, you can use your riding pants or some other piece of gear as a pillow. I tried a ton of pillows, and none of them was comfortable enough to carry it with me along the road. Also, here we often can get into the trap when brands call something “lightweight” or “ultralight”, but in reality it is not even close to ultralight standards. Especially when you realize you don’t really need this piece of gear.

3. Table – camping tables can be relatively lightweight and pack relatively small. But realistically – do you need it? I would say the only use case for it would be when you go camping in the field for a couple of nights in the same place, and you do not have to really carry it around on your motorcycle.

4. Bowl – this is my latest addition to my list of things I don’t need. I use freeze dried meals which I eat directly from the package, so a separate bowl is not needed. And even if I need it in a rare case scenario – I can always use my jetboil as a bowl.

5. Towel – do you have extra T shirts? Here you go 🙂 Why carry an extra piece of gear, when you can repurpose something that you already have.

This is my top 5 list of things I choose not to carry when traveling on a motorcycle. I would love to hear what you stopped bringing with you on your trips! Please share, and maybe I can optimize my setup even more.

TECH For Motorcycle Travel: Electronics,Filming Gear,And Chargers

Video version is coming.

Have you ever thought of making beautiful videos about your motorcycle travels? Or maybe you are lost in all the modern electronic devices that the world has to offer?

I’ll try to bring some clarity, to systemize things, and to share some practical tips with you.

So, electronics. If I ask you – what is essential, what would you say? I think we will all agree on the phone, powerbank, and a cord to connect these two.

Also – headlamp. I would encourage you to get a headlamp that you can charge from USB. Otherwise, you’ll have to worry about batteries, which is just not worth it.

Then, safety comes first, especially if you ride solo, and most of us would want to carry a Garmin inReach device that works outside of cell service coverage. I personally ride with Garmin inReach mini 2 which aligns with my preferences for gear to be smaller and lighter. Then, of course you need a charger for this device.

Another piece of tech that I like to use on the road is an intercom device – which works for rider-to-rider communication if I ride with friends, or for the music if I ride solo. Personally, I use Cardo. Again, we need a charger here.

Now, if you don’t want to film your adventures, that is all you need, and you can scroll to the part about keeping the cords handy and organized.

But, if you want to film, here is what you might need. First, no adventure filming happens without the action camera like GoPro. So we have GoPro + spare batteries + chargers. Realistically, you can stop here – filming with just an action camera and your phone might be enough.

But if you want to bring your filming to the next level – you’ll get a drone. And guess what – you need spare batteries and chargers here too! More than that, drones come with a remote controller, which has a separate charging cable!

You want your videos to be even more fun? Then, you are buying a 360 camera. Yes, you guessed it right – with spare batteries and a charger.

Now, if you are living on the road, or you are on a long-distance trip, chances are that you’ll need a laptop. Thanks Universe it does not come with a spare battery, but the charger is big enough to keep you fit!

I’ll stop here, taking a moment to look at what we have at this point – this looks a bit overwhelming, doesn’t it? Let’s see how we can simplify, systemize, and organize.

Charging cords

First – let’s deal with the chargers. You’ll see that some of them have the same interface, so to charge all your devices, you’ll most probably need:

USB-C cord
miniUSB cord
iPhone cord (if you use iPhone)
Drone batteries cord
Laptop cord

2. Where to charge

Now, what are the use cases for charging, like where are we going to plug this all in?

When riding, we’ll most probably need to charge our phone and intercom device. I doubt you’ll be charging your laptop or drone. So let’s put these 3 cords into a tank bag, so that they are handy:

USB-C cord
miniUSB cord
iPhone cord (if you use iPhone)

I use a Mosko Moto Gnome tank bag, and what I really love about this bag is how many pockets are there for me. So I have a separate pocket to keep these 3 cords when riding. I also like to carry a powerbank in my tank bag.

This was regarding charging when riding. Now, on a rare (or not) occasion, you’ll be sleeping in hotels with access to the wall plugs. And here I have a trick for you. I carry a power strip with multiple outlets of different kinds. Since we have a lot of devices and a lot of cords – I often find that there are just not enough wall plugs in my room!

So how it all works – I carry a set of cords, 1 of each type, + a power strip, in a single zip lock inside my panniers. Surely, I cannot charge all-all-all of my devices at the same time, but if I can use my setup during the evening, overnight, and during the morning – no issues with charging everything. This is what it looks like.

3. Carrying filming gear

So we have our chargers organized and handy now – and that was the hardest part. For the filming gear itself, here is how I mount it. Most of the time, I like it to stay where it is supposed to be – GoPro mounted to the helmet, 360 mounted behind the handlebar, inReach on the chest, phone on the handlebar, drone, laptop and all the spare batteries in the top case. When I need to leave my motorcycle alone for a couple of minutes or hours:

Laptop and drone stay locked in the top case
GoPro lens being covered with the small cap, and I take it with me
360 camera goes into the soft case that I carry in my pocket, and I take it with me
Phone goes from handlebar into my pocket as well

Hope this helps a little bit. Let me know if you find this helpful, or if you have some more tips and tricks for keeping electronics and cords nice and organized.

You can find the full packing list here – https://kseniiaadv.com/packing-list, I am happy to share this!