Get Packed for Motorcycle Camping: Securing the Load

Reader Chris asks:

How do you lash all your camping gear to the rear seat? Looks like you have some sort of system going there.

Yep, I do have a system. I’ve found that it’s not quite as easy as tossing all my stuff into my saddlebags and throwing them on the back of the bike. After some trial and error, I’ve figured out my own system that results in a secure load every time, regardless of what I’m packing.

Step One: Know Your Motorcycle

The SV650 is not exactly the first motorcycle that comes to mind when someone says “sport tourer” or “motorcycle camping.” But despite the lack of racks, mounting points, and other pack-mule friendly features found on those other machines, you can secure four days’ and three nights’ worth of gear on an SV650 — and as any backpacker will tell you, three nights’ worth of gear is as good as a week’s, which is as good as two weeks’, which is as good as… You get the idea.

The secret to a secure load is a solid foundation. The SV650 may not have a dedicated luggage rack, but it has one heck of a flat pillion seat. That, combined with some saddlebags, is enough to form a solid base upon which to secure a pile of gear.

Step Two: Know Your Gear

Choosing which gear to pack is a topic deserving of its own separate post (like this one: Get Packed For Motorcycle Camping: Picking the Right Gear). But once you know what you plan to take, you’ll need to keep an eye on three characteristics of each piece of gear:

• Form Factor and Volume: Different sizes and shapes make puzzle pieces out of gear.
• Weight: Balance is the key.
• Ease of Access: Some items need to be more immediately accessible than others.

Form Factor and Volume

Your gear is a puzzle of different shapes that need to fit together within the confines of your luggage. For example, your sleeping bag is a lot different in shape than your cooking gear. I use a compression sack to squeeze my sleeping bag down to the approximate size and shape of a volleyball. My cooking gear fits into a pot the size of a large can of stew. I’ll never be able to cram my sleeping bag into a saddlebag, but cooking gear and a host of other items will fit just fine.

Clothes are my secret weapon. They’ll take on almost any shape, and can be used to fill crevices and gaps between your other pieces of gear.

Weight

Your load must be balanced, most importantly along the axis perpendicular to the line of the wheels (i.e. the left and right sides when you’re sitting on the bike). For practical purposes, this means that when fully loaded, your left saddlebag (or hard case) should be as close to the same weight as the right saddlebag (or case).

When piling things like a tent, sleeping pad, or camp chair up on top, it’s often enough to make sure that the item is centered. However, bags like my dry bag, which can contain a variable distribution of weight depending on what I’ve put in it, sometimes need to be placed off-center a few inches to keep it in balance on the bike.

Ease of Access

You wouldn’t pack your PJs in your tank bag, would you? If you need it on the road, it needs to be on your person or in a tank bag. Next are the items that you may not need every time, but could be called into service by the side of the road, like a flashlight, first aid kit, or tool kit. Camp-specific items like your tent, extra clothes, and cooking gear should be buried down in the bottom of your bags.

Pop quiz: where are you going to pack your rain gear?

Putting It All Together (and Strapping It Down)

So now your gear is safely packed into your luggage and ready for loading on the bike. Saddlebags (or hard cases) obviously have a certain place where they’re going to go, but what about those extras like a dry bag, tent, or sleeping pad? They’ve got to go on top, and careful loading here will pay dividends later on.

I posted this picture awhile back, but it gives you an idea of the load on top of the saddlebags:

I like to place my dry bag closest to my seat. Because it contains my sleeping bag and my extra pants and jacket liners, the dry bag is a nice surface I can lean back against when I need some extra support.

My sleeping pad is next. The SV650 has a grab bar on the tail that forms a barrier and the pad is the item that fits the best. This also makes a nice spot for the last item, my camp chair, which fits right in the notch between the drybag and sleeping pad. (Note that as of this writing, I’ve switched from using a Therm-a-rest to a Big Agness air pad, which packs down to half the size of my old pad!)

I use 2 adjustable Rok Straps to strap my gear down. Both attach to the bike the same way: one end of the strap loops securely around the passenger footpeg mount and the other end hooks to a mounting peg under the grab bar on the tail. Yes, the SV actually has mounting pegs, a small miracle!

Here’s how things looked during my trip to Gold Beach:

Despite hauling saddlebags stuffed with heavy canned food (thus the saggy-looking left saddlebag in the picture), the load was balanced and rock-solid from left to right. Unfortunately, there was one major flaw: during the long descent from the top of Bear Camp Road down to Agness, the load kept shifting forward whenever I hit the brakes. Eventually, I had to stop and re-secure it. Not an ideal outcome.

The solution is to use 3 straps: two straps to secure the load to the bike and an additional strap down the middle to hold the load tight against the grab bar at the very rear of the bike. The strap is nothing fancy, just a nylon strap with plastic buckle ends that I bought for a few bucks at REI, but it’s enough to stop things from sliding forward. I like to lay this strap down on the seat first before piling on the gear. Then, I loop the strap around the grab bar, bring the ends together around the load, and secure the buckle. The Rok Straps are the last step.

And there you have it. I’m sure this is way more information than you wanted to know, but I hope it answers your question!

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