did you weight your gear
 

Did any of you weight all the gears you carry during your RTW or long trip , I started to weight my tools and camping gear , clothe ... this is getting scarry. I didn't weight my spare tires yet and already I feel like going on diet .
I started to do this to know how I will be doing the repartion of the weight , I guess the spare tire will have to be on each side of my tank to balance the way load the 1150 , just for info we will be travelling 2 up.
Funny thing is for my first RTW I didn't about any of that:innocent:

How much were your gear if do have a number???

I did. I packed and weighed my individual panniers, topbox, rollbags and tak bag (yes, we had all that, but whittled lots down over the first 3 weeks...still carried sheds, mind!:blushing:)

However, I also rode the bike, fully packed, to a local MoT station (UK roadworthiness test) and got the smallest bloke there to sit on the back then weighed the front and rear axle weights.

Ridiculous, it was!! I did that because I was seriously worried that I'd exceed the recommended limits for the front and rear. I was only about 10kg inśide the limits.....so I went on a diet and lost 10kg!

Bike was 450kg total. Count about 250 for the bike, about 140kg for the bodies, so about 60kg for two people... Still ridiculous.....

Not so easy to lose weight! We all have different things we feel we must carry along. As you go, you may find you don't need so much? ... or not?

Professional Adventurer / Writer San Manicom lists a tent, sleeping bag and cooking utensils among his top five most important things to carry. I don't agree with this.

I lived and traveled through Mexico, Cent. and S. America for years and never took camping gear, just a hammock and a sheet. Different strokes.

I'm now building a DR650 (KLR sold) up and so far it looks like this:
Bike with full fuel: 214 kgs.

Luggage/pannier rack & hardware: 3.1 kgs.
Soft bags - full: 16 kgs. (20 liters per bag)
Top bag - full: 5.4 kgs. (25 liters)

Tools/spare nut/bolt kit, spare parts: 4 kgs.

Misc. camera, GPS, chargers, phone, odds and ends : 3 kgs.

One spare tire with tube: 5 kgs.

Total : 247.5 kgs. (547 lbs.)

This is 60 lbs. lighter weight than my last dual sport bike.
Depending on where you are beginning your trip, are you sure you need TWO spare tires? Most fronts should last about 10,000 miles (16K km.)
Fronts are easier to find and chances are you will get to somewhere where you can buy a new front .... even if your tire is not totally worn out, best to buy the new tire when you have a chance.

I would say that my biggest mistake was packing too many tools.

I could have stripped the bike with what I had. Ideally, one should check and grease as many bolts as possible before the "off" and only really take as much as you'd need to do a basic service. I had the tools to do a top end rebuild, but I lacked the expertise (still do, although on a Ural it's a bit easier), so what was the point. Way to much camera equipment too. As nice as the pics were from my D-SLR, it was overkill...

Now that I'm travelling by sidecar, the temptation returns (I'm certainly more likely to need the tools...). However, the lesson should still be learnt: space in a side car is not as abundant as you might think, especially once the tub is full of dogs! There is really only nthe boot as standard which is about 60 litres.

I decided I did not want more weight than a small passenger - 50kg. That did not include the weight of the panniers.

Then set the suspension sag for that weight so your bike still handles right.

John

During a two week camping trip in southern england a number of years ago I had he rear wheel bearings collapse on my 80k Miles AT. When I got home I weighed everything(including the wife). The whole lot came to 495kg which surprised me because the bike did not feel unwieldly. We had no spares, tyres or tools of any consequence.
Didn't attempt to presuade the wife to lose weight.....

Cut 50kg out straight away and save loads of money....
Ditch the passenger....:clap:

In honesty the passenger are usually worth their weight in gold. I know mine is.

Steve

luggage
 

I agree that we have tendency to carry too much and I normally travel very light but for a RTW 2 up some confort is important and the camping are a big part of the luggage , as far as tools I only carry what I use to maintain the bike and only know how to use, I will carry some spair but but same things not too much gear either. I will have some oil and water and those are heavy but needed, as far as spare tire I will be testing the HK60 and the Shinko and if I can avoid it I will not carry any spare ( Africa maybe the problem for tires)I have the jesse bag and will also use some tank saddle bag and a large duffle for ligh stuff.I plan to load my bike completly few month before departure and start to do small 3 to 7 days trip to see how much crap I will get rid off for the big day.

Test run is good idea, you don't want to end up overloaded!

http://patricksphotos.smugmug.com/ph...37_oKyg5-L.jpg

How much recommended weight
 

Where would you find the recommended weight load for your bike. Ive checked my bike manual but no hint there. DL 650 V Strom.:scooter:

gear
 

I found it on the tech book , but you can't really use it as you will certainly go over it if you are two up with all gear. I just want to minimise the load , rember also that the stock shock are not build to do a RTW two up with gear.

Save pounds/kilograms by counting and shaving ounces/grams, it all adds up.

Make a list of everything you're taking (or took the last time I guess?) and weigh everything. Think back to what you actually used and what just took up space... toss the space holders. Then pick the heaviest stuff and replace them with lighter stuff. Clothes, cookware, and sleeping gear (tent or equivalent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad) tend to be the big culprits, so do unnecessary tools. The actual luggage itself can be significant also, I'm on a tiny bike by myself so I went with soft luggage to save weight (and cost).

Not a RTW'er, but I think was carrying close to 50 pounds (including extra 2gal gas) on my bike on this past summer's trip and I'm hoping to cut that in half by the next time I'm able to leave:

ADVrider - View Single Post - How I spent my summer vacation, or 6000 miles on a WR250R

That is quite a picture. Where is it from?

I think someone posted that pic on ADV? Is it yours? From your Ride Report?
Sorry if that's the case. :helpsmilie:

Terrified
 

Guys you're terrifying me!! BIG TIME!!

The poor DL650 of mine will be struggling under my fat ar*e! :) We're leaving in 3.5 months and I don't even have the gear list sorted yet :):)

Ah well... this just makes it more exciting doesn't it :)

Cheers,
Andy