Monday, June 02, 2014

Equipment update #4 luggage


A 2-month, mostly solo bike trip requires some gear, especially since I plan to spend many nights in a campground. It all needs to stay dry too. I say mostly solo because Natasha will be joining me for a week on the west coast and l will need the passenger seat. Here is my setup:

Side luggage (or is it pannier?) - Many bikes have aluminum or hard plastic boxes attached to the sides. I've opted for a soft bag: the Wolfman Rocky Mountain saddlebags. In these I'll be carrying camping equipment, food, tools and all sorts of odds and ends.
Getting the bags on time was a challenge. They were on back order everywhere in Canada and the US that I called, with 6 to 8 weeks delivery, which meant that I wouldn't get them in time for my planned departure date. I called the Wolfman company in Colorado to explain my predicament. They had  bags on hand and shipped them directly to me. I received them in 8 days! 

Duffelbags - I'm going to use a couple of waterproof bags to hold the big stuff: tent, sleeping bag and mat in one. In the other i'll have my clothes.
To keep these off the passenger seat, I've cut and painted a piece of plywood (34" X 14") that l bolted onto the rack behind the seat. I also installed 5 pvc conduit clamps to the underside to hook on bungee cords. Not the prettiest thing but it does the job.


Tank bag - I went with the Yamaha model that I got as a "free" accessory when I bought the bike. It fastens easily to the tank and has a big magnet to keep it from shifting, has a clear pocket for a map and a rain cover. In the tank bag I'll keep my electronics, maps and other stuff I'll want close at hand.

So in all that's about 150 litres of luggage space. Here are all the bags installed:

 
 
Had to fix a bug with my platform design ;-)
The duffelbag kept shifting today so I added some non-slip tape.

6 comments:

  1. Enjoy your road trip, Eric ! Be safe and see you soon !

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  2. Hi brother ! So you had a wet first day... Today will be beautiful, enjoy !

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  3. Oublie pas, on veut un selfie avec Ray Benson !!! - Frank

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    1. iisshh! C'était serieux!! Ok, mais rapelles-le moi dans 3 semaines. Je suis encore loin de Ray!

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  4. Hi ! Impressive all that road done and impressive the scenery... What an adventure and the people you meet ! I look forward everything you send !

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  5. Thanks sis! I'm having a great time. Just crossed over to the central time zone!

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