Recommendations for packing for two
 

My wife and I are planning on touring Europe in 2025. We'll be two up on one bike with paniers. We're looking for an 750-900cc.

I started budgeting costs for everything, including hotels, and it's getting quite expensive for 8 months of travel. She suggested camping, which I have no problem with.

The issue is the space required for tents, bags and mattresses. We have two, two-person tents, which we could use either one, but they are quite large. Our sleeping bags are 0 degree which are quite large also.

Are there any blogs or youtubers you can recommend I watch for suggestions on how to pack for two people on one bike?

Any suggestions on light weight, rain proof, two person tents and bags?

Camping gear
 

a) A two person tent will not be confortable.
You will sleep very tight, and no room for anything....

You need at least a 3 - person tent.

b) The weight is seldom the roblem.. It is the volume.
But since those items are not heavy, you couldpack them rather high.

==
Use aluminium panniers.
And put a waterproof bag on top of both the panniers and the top case.
That is where you need to fit the camping equipment.

Consider also that in much of Europe you cannot really do wildcamping, so you will be paying campsite fees every night. Between this, the inconvenience of carrying the camping stuff while two-up, and the inconvenience of setting up and breaking down tents every day, it may not be worthwhile for a Europe trip.

That said, I've successfully packed all my camping stuff into a single 19-liter drybag - for one person. For two people, traveling by car, we had a duffel bag for the camping stuff. 2-3-person tent (Coleman Festival in our case), two pads, two sleeping bags, inflatable pillows, cooking stuff.

This is the one I used for solo moto camping: https://www.louis.eu/en/speedbag-wit...umber=10068913 (mine is an older model but same thing).

This will fit two people's camping supplies easily: https://www.louis.eu/en/trekking-rol...umber=10068912

But then you have no topbox, nowhere to lock up helmets while you are off the bike, no backup storage to carry the day's groceries/water/etc.

If you have to go two-up rather than taking two bikes, I'd suggest a shorter holiday and staying in hostels rather than lugging that much stuff around ... I've only done one short tour two-up on a large bike with hard panniers packed to the gunnels, and found the weight of the bike sucked my riding enjoyment right out, to the point that I'd have rather taken a small car (or a trike, or sidecar, if I had lots of money) instead.

Consider a single wheel trailer to carry extra gear for camping. Mosko has large soft panniers that are safer during a tip over, vs hard panniers. Keep your kit sparse, light, and packed low. Too much gear and weight makes for difficult handling at slow speeds.

Good point. At our age (over 60), may be worth hostels/hotels for the convenience factor. We're planning on 8 months in total playing the Shengen shuffle in 2025 and maybe a few more in 2026.

Found a bike with a sidecar in Ireland. Would love to try it, but probably over our budget...

This works for my wife and I, but maybe not for everyone.

A large tent - we use a big Agnes House 4. It fills a Kreiga US40 bag. Similar size to the redverz or various copies.

Two big Agnes sleeping pads and two big Agnes sleeping bags (system) and two pillows.

They pack in a US30 bag that sits on the US40 on the rear rack.
Bulky but not heavy.

Then we each get a side pannier, but mine also carries the trangia stove.

But you have to treat it as backpacking and pack accordingly. Mind you, our family of 5 travel abroad with only carry on, so used to it.

Finally, consider a large scooter - Nmax500 or XADV750. That under seat storage is fantastic - low down and secure.

Have fun.

Just on this, consider Airbnb month long stays.

You save a tonne and you can see one area really well.

Even weekly stays save $$. Hostels are ok, it we end up getting hotels for the sexxxx…..

AirBnB's service and cleaning fees have gotten preposterous. You can do a long-term rental on a holiday apartment via booking.com (and other competitors I am sure) for much more reasonable ultimate prices.

In fact, honestly, for long-term stays in one place, a resort hotel would not be the worst option - they are set up to provide significantly discounted long stays.

AirBnB's service and cleaning fees have gotten preposterous. You can do a long-term rental on a holiday apartment via booking.com (and other competitors I am sure) for much more reasonable ultimate prices.

In fact, honestly, for long-term stays in one place, a resort hotel would not be the worst option - they are set up to provide significantly discounted long stays.

In general you make a good point: if OP is budgeting 8 months for the trip, they will definitely have the time to make a central base for a week or two of out-and-back travel in various directions before shifting.

Not my experience recently, but you do have to search and read the reviews.
Perhaps it depends where the op is going to stay.
I’m the worlds number one tight a$$ and the figures still supported long term airbnb and some booking com hotels.

If you've never owned a sidecar rig, my recommendation is to pass on that one. A well set up rig is a hoot to drive. A poorly set up one you will hate. Add a lot of weight and it's hit or miss if you'll like it or not. That said, many European sidecar rigs are well set up, more so than in the States. Because of the quality of set up, the price reflects the work involved.

I do own and travel with a sidecar, so this advice is from experience.

Given that the post above are nearly unanimously opposed to two-up camping I have to wonder about all the two-up campers I see out and about, at least in the US. While it wouldn’t work for me personally for all the obvious reasons—too much bulk, too much weight, too little riding pleasure—it’s obviously working for a lot of folks.

https://photobucket.com/share/9cea72...6-cea34f457083My wife and I camp 2 up on my Vstrom 650....
https://hosting.photobucket.com/58d0...720&fit=bounds

We use very lightweight (and expensive) gear. All the camping gear goes in the large ortlieb bag across the back. She has a 35 L case for her personal gear, and I have the other. Tools etc all fit under the seat on this bike. The bike is not overloaded and it is still fun to ride.

But..........

We really have to go very light on personal gear to make this work. 1 pair of zip off hiking pants, 1 ultralight t shirt, 1 pair of socks, one pair of sandals (no walking shoes) etc. The stove usually ends up on my side and the food on hers.

Generally, we only go this route if we have a specific destination we want to camp for a day or two. For traveling, and wandering around, this is a bit too spartan for us and we leave the camping gear at home.

...............shu

This helps a lot because I am also concerned about the size cc bike we should be looking for . So, a 650 will carry 2 with bags, if we do the hostel/hotel/Airbnb route.

Yes, the power is usually adequate for 2 up. But, the seating and comfort varies greatly.

For instance the Vstrom has plenty of room and is comfortable (we're not large people), but my Suzuki DR650 is excellent for one, but definitely not roomy enough for the two of us to ride on.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/58d0...720&fit=bounds

...........shu

How long do you want to spend in what region and what time of the year?

Room or camping for 230 days, big difference if you pay 20-30 euros for campingsite or 50-150 for a room. Based on two per site/room.

In the more expensive countries you will find a lot of campsites, in southeast europe less but then cheap rooms.

In generell, the more north you go, money will lead to camping.

My advice, spend more money on a bigger bike, 1000cc up, so you can take more load.
Two panniers, go for the 40l, bag on the panniers for stuff that's light but has volume, then a big bag on a rack in the back.
That is what I saw others do who travel two-up...

cheers sushi

Yes, I am concerned about the cost adding up, but I don't have experience on the bigger bikes, so have to consider my options: Costs vs experience.

Okay, so camping is a lot lot cheaper than hotels or air b&b - which, as someone mentioned has gone through the roof. You have to take into consideration food - camping you cook for yourselves which saves a fortune and if you like a glass of wine in the evening ……. The price of wine in a restaurant :eek3:

Long before the advent of adventure biking and survival, lightweight camping my wife and I would spend a month every summer 2 up travelling around Europe. Of course there was no internet to tell us what bike we needed or what gear to get so we went on camping holidays on a motorcycle.

We loaded the bike up to the gunnels with everything we needed and a few things we didn’t. We cruised around Europe from campsite to campsite. We would simply set up our camp then tour around the area on an unloaded bike.

When one is travelling for a decent amount of time one can take this approach so I suggest you think of doing the same.

We still pretty much do the same thing today, only on 2 bikes.

8 months is a fantastic amount of time - enough time for you to take too much kit, get rid of some, buy a bit more and have a good laugh at it all.
My wife and I have done 1, 9 month trip and the memories we have are of the trip itself - not the bikes or the gear.

Have a great trip bier