John McGhie's Touring Tips

From: jmcghie@world.net (John McGhie)
Newsgroups: aus.motorcycles
Subject: Re: My first (longish) trip!
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 1995 11:04:29 GMT
Organization: AUSNet Services pty. ltd.
Message-ID: <48770h$37u@sydney1.world.net>
References: <47p605$agc@janus.cqu.edu.au>

kempterl@jasper.ucq.edu.au (Lyn Kempter) wrote:

Anybody have any tips for someone about to take the "big plunge" for the first time? Anything special you'd take along?

1. Take your newly-serviced bike for a "shakedown" cruise a few days before you set off. Servicing upsets all sorts of things (electrical nasties often strike immediately after a service because the wires have been moved), and mechanics do make mistakes. Now's the time to find out. On one shakedown cruise, I got as far as Paramatta, (26 km) and was sitting at the lights, wondering why the right side of me felt "warmer" than the left. So I looked down. The whole side of me, the bike, and the back tyre was BATHED in oil. The mechanic had forgotten to tighten the oil-filler cap, and it had dumped all the engine oil over everything. If I had tried to turn the right-hand corner just ahead, I would have had a very nasty experience. On another shakedown cruise, I discovered that the mechanic had forgotten to re-attach the torque-arm that secured the back brake. Nasty. Needless to say, I do not patronise those establishments any more!
2. Make sure you have a secure way of attaching your luggage TO THE BIKE. You may be able to last an hour with a knapsack on your back: you will not get to Darwin that way, your trip will be sheer agony.
   • Use flexible bindings (Ocky straps) not ropes. EVERYTHING works loose on a long trip: flexible bindings automatically compensate.
   • Use gear designed for motorcycling. Hiking gear will not stand the pace (it's built to be light, not cop the abuse it will get on the bike). I have always used Gearsack soft luggage. I know people who swear by Hallmark. I am not crazy about the lasting powers of hard panniers (they crack, they leak, they break) and they are very expensive. I have sent many a Gearsack article spinning down the road (by not following Rule 2) and it has always survived (scuffed, but intact).
   • Cover your nice paintwork with "Duct Tape" (wide plastic tape used for sealing airconditioning ducts) before mounting your luggage. You do not have to use genuine duct tape, and wide strong sticky-tape will do. If you let your luggage chafge against the paintwork day after day, the dust and grit you pick up on the road will wear a hole right through the paint. It only takes a moment to tape it up.
   • Obtain a supply of plastic garbage bags, and place anything you do not want to get wet in them. Use them as inner liners for your Gearsack. The modern Gearsack is very waterproof, but it is not perfect: if you get caught in a tropical downpour, only placky bags will keep things dry.
   • If you are taking a camera and going outback, seal the camera in one of those zip-lock plastic bags, or a Tupperware lunch box. Bulldust gets into EVERYTHING and can do expensive damage to camera gear. Carry the film in your pocket, and drop the exposed rolls of at the next Chemist you pass. The lab will be quite happy to post the deveoped prints to your home. The idea is to keep the film out of the heat and humidity, which is difficult to do on a bike.
3. Mount your gear LOW and FORWARD. Do not EVER tie anything to the handlebars or front guard. Turn your gearsack backwards, so the body sits on the pillion seat, and avoid packing *much* on top of the gearsack - that's as high as you can safely go. Pack only light items on the gearsack rack (weight behind the rear axle makes the bike handle like a pig, and the constant weaving becomes VERY tiresome after a few hours. I use Gearsack throwover panniers to carry the heavy stuff, which sits where a pillion's legs would.

4. Obtain a punture repair kit, and get the retailer to show you how to use it. You need to know whether your bike has tube-type or tubeless tyres. Ask your mechanic: what is written on the side is not necessarily how they have been fitted (some people fit tubes inside tubless tyres, which I think is dangerous, but it works for some people). The kit I use is "Rep+Air". This is a plastic satchell about the size of a packet of tobacco. It is a tubeless-tyre repair kit containing plugs, cement, applicator, knife, chalk, and enough compressed gas to re-inflate the tyre. The kit will cost about $35.00. If you think that is expensive, ask your local Towing company what a 200km tow costs. No, you cannot repair a motorcycle tyre using the equipment at the local service station: it doesn't fit and it will damage the rims. You have to get the wheel to a motorcycle shop. Buy the kit!
5. Obtain a "comfort seat". Some people do fine with a sheepskin, I use several thicknesses of carpet underlay. The real problem with long-distance motorcycling is that you are forced to sit in one position hour after hour. Padding helps. Whatever you use, it MUST NOT MOVE while you are sitting on it! If your petrol tank design allows it, use a tank-bag. Put clothes and light "squashables" in it. You can then simply lie on it and take the weight off your arms. I have done a thousand kilometres in a day doing that. It really does help.
6. Keep a good set of sunglasses, a bottle of visor-cleaning fluid (I use dilute Barrs Bugs) and a half-a-roll of toilet paper handy where you can reach them without unpacking anything. You can always find a tree: but do you have any "ammo"!? Also, keep at least a litre of drink handy, you will be amazed at how the constant wind-blast dries you out. I use Coca Cola (all that sugar and caffein helps!) but sports drinks are also good. Make sure you do not consume ANY alcohol until you have stopped for the day, and be careful of headache pills: there's nothing quite as frightening as realising that you have just woken up --- at 100 km/h! I also carry sunblock, INSECT SPRAY, toothbrush and paste, and soap and towel.
7. KNOW your fuel range, and think about your tummy stops. If you stick to the tar, the furthest you will have to travel between fuel stops in Australia is 253 km. Most small bikes will make that easily on a tank. If you think you are in trouble for fuel, slow down to 80 km/h. At that speed, you fuel consumption is at its most efficient. Slower or faster wastes fuel. Remember: you need fuel too. I generally pack in a Mars bar and a carton of milk at each fuel stop: this keeps the blood-sugar up and helps me stay alert. Avoid a heavy meal until you stop or you will be nodding off for an hour or two after it.
8. Check your oil level and tyre pressures. Check the oil level at each fuel stop until you find out whether or not you are burning any. Bikes that do not burn oil around town can do so when their engines are constantly working hard: I had one that would get through a litre of oil every 300 km when working hard on tour! Check your tyre pressures every morning. Buy one of those pencil-type guages to do it with (servo gauges are better than nothing, but they're notoriously inaccurate) and know what the reading should be. Two or three psi (10 to 30 KpA) makes a BIG difference to motorcycle tyre life and handling ability. Of course, you won't be silly enough to leave on worn tyres and get stuck somewhere unable to buy a replacement, will you? You don't need to: I've done that one for you!
9. Buy a good road atlas and carry it with you. I use the BP Touring Atlas of Australia: I have never found it caught-out, where ever I have been. Be careful with "local directions" and their estimates of travelling times. There are morons out there who think it is funny to send you off 200 km in the wrong direction. They do not have enough intelligence to realise that a motorcycle may not have enough fuel to get back. And if they give you a travelling time, you will usually find it is shorter than you achieve. You would be surprised how quickly they make ground in those four-wheel-drives outback. They do not look fast, but they never have to slow down! Similarly, their interpretation of a road that is "good" in a four-wheel-drive that ploughs through the ruts and bumps can be nearly impassable on a road-bike that slams and bounces off the top of each one individually.
10. Always carry wet-weather gear, and wear it if you get cold. I froze my something off in tropical Queensland after I decided not to pack the cold-weather gear because I was going to sunny Queensland!
11. Wear loose-clothing that is comfortable, but do not let anything flap: the flapping will remove chunks of skin after a few hours!

John McGhie (GSX1100-G)
Nothing exceeds like GRUNT...
jmcghie@world.net