Some good thoughts. I had that happen discharged battery sitting in traffic jam. Apparently my heated grips and jacket were drawing more than electric system were able to provide at idle. It was in the middle of tall single lane bridge. Luckily I was able to turn bike and bumpstart when angry cop came and threatened me with tow truck. Now I just turn jacket off when come into town. My bikemaster grips have voltmeter so I can watch and drop load if voltage drops below 13.1V.

List of breakdowns from last 8 day trip:
- busted kickstand switch; fixed by cutting wire
- lost master link clip; fixed with a piece of safety wire and quick epoxy
- blown shock
- engine casing crack; fixed with epoxy.

If you are set to carry a jumper pack find small ~1-2lbs and preferably with usb ports so you can change your equipment if need and wire SAE connector both to battery and pack. I have seen someone making a battery with built in pack; you have to reconnect manually to use. That was for car but not the bike. Perhaps a combination of lithium battery and the pack would be an option because there would be no net weight gain.

IMHO any additions to your carry kit need to be looked through weight prism especially if you ride in conditions where bike drop is likely. Being able to walk bike out of difficult situation and pick it up without unloading shouldn't be lost if you are riding solo good luck.

I am going to give one more point to cables that has not yet been brought to light - before shooting down cables in favor of tow rope and/or battery jump pack.

Cables best with a faulty alternator... if you have more than one vehicle
A battery pack might in some cases be able to provide any electric pumps, fans and electronics, with enough juice to get you back to safe ground - i.e. in the event that your alternator should die. Still, in such event, and that you are also travelling with more than one vehicle - swapping batteries is likely better than a battery pack.

Why battery swap with a friend is best when you have a faulty charging system:
The vehicle's original battery has far more juice stored than the jumper pack, and can keep you going for quite a long time before you need to recharge. You can do this procedure over and over until you get back to civilization - however far that might be. I once had to do this twice over on an old classic car I was transporting quite a distance - it worked like a charm.

The procedure:
Connect the dead battery from the vehicle with the faulty alternator to the vehicle with a working alternator. Then one would use starter cables from the fully charged battery to start the vehicle with the working alternator. Afterwards one would put the fully charged battery onto the other vehicle with the broken alternator.

If the batteries don't fit on the other vehicle, then you would need to charge the dead battery in the vehicle with the working alternator, before swapping back - and hope you have enough fuel afterwards to get you all back to civilization.

The Achilles heel of the cables:
On the beaten track, support from the outside world is ample. Not having cables might get a little inconvenient, but sooner or later you will get the help you need.

The usefulness of cables "off the beaten track", where outside help is scarce - it presupposes that you travel with more than one vehicle. At the same time it presupposes that any vehicle in the group can always rely on being being rescued by others in the group (always in close proximity, means to get in touch, and a reliable pre agreed upon search and rescue plan, people not getting lost, knowing where the other is, etc).

If you can rely on your group you can benefit from sharing tools of all sorts - and thereby cut back on clutter, weight, etc. In this case cables might be great.

When I ride with my girlfriend for instance, we are always in sight of each other at every junction, and otherwise never out of sight of each other for more than a few minutes before stopping or turning around. On these rides we share everything.

With some other people I ride with, it can sometimes turn into a race to the finish line - where we might not see each other for hours. On my trip last month one person did get lost from the group - in a location with no cell coverage. More than an hour was spent searching for him before we finally were able to get in touch by phone and agreed to rejoin at the end of the day. On this trip I was 100% self reliant. Still, neither I nor anyone else in the group carried any form of starting aid - this as we were not too far into the boonies that we felt it necessary.

Why the battery jump pack is the best alternative:
It offers the best versatility and self reliance - even when travelling amongst a group of vehicles. Sure, cables are undoubtedly best in the event you need juice and also have access to another vehicle. It is however its only use case (where a battery jump pack has many more).

It is however quite unlikely that you will need to provide juice to a well maintained bike at all. The probability of such an event also happening in a location where you can't get help from the outside makes it lower still. Add to that, the unlikeliness that this also happens in a way that a battery jump pack can't help you out with, but in a way that cables can (including you having access to another vehicle) - now we are getting into the realms of extreme improbabilities.

A jumper pack offers convenience, self reliance and support in way more different scenarios than cables do. As a bonus, it can be used to charge and power your electronics when off the bike - which you are likely to on occasion if you carry one. In fact, these other uses might be your primary reason for carrying one, with starting aid capabilities becoming the bonus.

Relying on bump starting has a high failure probability where outside help is scarce
Presupposing you have a bike that can readily be bump started: Trying to bump start a bike is not possible on all types of terrain. In some locations it would be a mammoth task to push your bike to suitable ground. These locations are usually the very same locations where you can't expect to find another vehicle to flag down - i.e. for cables, a tow or a ride into civilization (even less so if you hope to take the bike with you).

What about a tow line?
A tow line can be used for far more rescue cases than jumper cables, including aiding in bump starting. The likeliness that you will need a tow is far greater than the probability of you needing a jump start. However, a tow line still requires another vehicle, same as cables do. Because of this, I would rather take a tow line over jumper cables any day - and I don't see the need to carry both. In fact, I most often carry something I can fashion into a tow line should I need one. I usually also usually carry some spare wiring that in an extreme emergency could be used to slowly transfer juice from one battery to another. In other words, I can't see why one should ever want to take jumper cables over a battery jump pack. As if that was not enough - if I had to choose between a tow line plus some extra wiring and a battery pack, I would have chosen the prior. In all likeliness I would carry a tow line and wiring in all cases where I would carry a jump pack anyways - covering every scenario that I can think of.

Surprising stats so far
Looking at the stats from the poll so far, I am quite surprised of how many (60% of total) say they carry either jumper cables and/or a jumper pack. I am also surprised that almost three times as many favor the battery jump pack over the cables. It is still early days, so the stats might still change.

Don't I know. This is the terrain I had to try bump starting my XR600 on - after the kickstart snapped off. And no it wasn't possible for me on my own to do it. I was stuck there for about 15hrs before another vehicle came along and tow started me. :(

https://i.postimg.cc/Njvjwn10/Africa0110.jpg

That's what a mate of mine told me when he tried to start my 2L diesel van with one of those. It wouldn't even turn over once.

2Backofbeyond: You proved more than one point with that post.

1: Being able to bump start in the boonies on your own is not something to rely on.

2: A tow line can take the place of both a battery jump pack and jumper cables - if you have access to a second vehicle.

3: Riding solo in the boonies, only a battery jump pack will save you... unless of course your bike doesn't have an electric starter, but only a kickstarter - in which case any external juice source is useless anyways.

4: If your bike has a kick starter only, bring a spare kickstarter.

5: If your bike has both electric start and a kickstarter - take off the kickstarter and keep it with your spares for the event that your electrics should fail. Also, it is an exposed part which in a crash can cause serious damage to the bike - it is better left off.

6: Don't ride further into the boonies with only one vehicle than you can readily walk out (in fact, riding alone in a place where you can't expect anyone to come along should you get injured, is a dangerous proposition in itself).

---------
I have also lost a kickstarter in the desert, but on a Vespa with an electric start. The electrics are exceptionally unreliable on classic Vespas. A flat battery or the electric starter acting up happens somewhat frequently, especially under extreme conditions - so much so that it makes more sense to keep the kick on and bring a spare (amongst a ton of other unusual spares that all will see their use, including: spare shock, complete clutch assembly, multiple clutch overhaul kits, steering bearing, wheel rim, piston, and more...).

Travelling with my Vespa, I need half a Vespa in spares. Travelling with my Tenere 700 Rally I hardly need anything beyond the minimums for any bike; tire repair kit, fuses, selection of fasteners, selection of tapes and glues, some spare wiring, etc - and some straps which can also be used for towing. Has anyone ever been in a situation with the T7 that couldn't be helped unless carrying cables or a jump pack? If so, please share.

The way I travel and go about things, Cables or jumper packs is way down on my list of necessities on any bike - at least for its intended purpose. Since I now own so many battery powered gizmos that need juice off the bike, I am still considering getting a battery jump pack for this as its primary purpose. The bike applications would only be an added bonus worth carrying the leads.

For my Yamaha or KTM - with all their electricity dependent systems, I am not sure how well they would lend themselves to bump starting on a completely dead battery, even with a tow (please share any experience you might have).

If only I'd taken your advice ... :rofl:

:rolleyes2:

Interestingly over the last 2 weeks I've been touring Scotland and managed to flatten the battery overnight once. Fortunately we were next to a hill where I was able to bump start the bike, but it did get me thinking whether jumper packs might be some use after all. Only if it'll actually do something of course....

Edit: I bought a Motobatt power pack. It's about the same size and weight as a mobile phone but they clearly believe in their own product because it came with a pair of crocodile clips bigger than the power pack. Time will tell I guess, but it's not much more to carry and one more thing I've (hopefully) insured against.

LiFePo4 batteries
 

Interestingly I've just replaced the standard battery on my little Honda CRF thingy for a LiFePo4 battery and it's half the size and a quarter of the weight, insane..!! I noticed that if I turned the battery downwards I could fit another one on top in the same space as the original thus doubling up on Ah rating. Wouldn't need a jumper pack or leads then for sure.....

I wouldn't mind carrying a battery jump pack, if it also has USB charing for my other devices and an air compressor!

I know there are some devices out there that can do all 3 things, but they tend to be bulky. If someone knows something that wont take up too much space, let me know!

I use an AntiGravity Lithium battery.

- It's six pounds lighter than my DL650 OEM battery, and it has a reserve charge for one restart in case Señor dimwit kills the battery. That also saves the weight of a battery brick or cables.

Some years ago - before jumper packs were a thing - a buddy of mine and his son were riding a pair of air cooled boxer Beemers to Nordkapp, when one of the alternators died.
Not having jump leads, they earthed the bikes together by resting the cylinder heads against each other and connected the +ve termini of the batteries together with short length of fencing wire to start the dead bike.
Continued all the way back to Derbyshire like that!

Not so long ago that they were carbed and could be roll started, I presume.

I really wouldn’t want to bump start my R80 if it was anything like cold.

Yeah. The old airheads need persuading into life. Tickling the throttle and enrichers. You'll need more than a 3 second blast of a lithium battery. Jumper cables are a must.

I'm of the mind to pack light, so the risk factor vs weight of carrying a charging pack puts it off my list. The chance of this one issue coming up at a location where absolutely no outside help is available is very remote. I do carry 10 gauge cables, a way to tow, and I carry satellite communication (however helpful that may or may not be). First aid and moto repair items are higher on my priority list (tubes, fuses, bulb, duct tape...). For credentials: I do travel solo a lot and travel in remote locations. At home I ride tracks that are several hours walk from help, so I am well aware of the risk issues. IMO, on an epic trip, I think a charging pack will be one of those items that gets mailed home.