Strapping to Passenger Seat Handles?

[MBrockman5]

If everything pans out, I'm going to be taking a trip with my dad up along hwy 101 up to the Washington/Canada border on our RT's and my first long trip on my bike. 

 

Will I be able to use the passenger seat handles to strap things to? I have a luggage rack on my extra top case, so I'll be able to use that. I'm just wondering if I'll be able to strap a bag/tent/etc on top of my side cases and/or across my pillion. 

 

 

[Dave Glen]

Do it, just strap it down with Andystrapz, best tie downs in the world. Aussie made .

Dave the bastard

Australia

2005 R1200RT

[9Mary7]

Yes you can. They are designed to support extras that we carry across our pillion. Ride safe!!

[Rougarou]

All the time, from bicycles in boxes to 20lb propane tanks and everything in between.

[dirtrider]

12 hours ago, MBrockman5 said:

If everything pans out, I'm going to be taking a trip with my dad up along hwy 101 up to the Washington/Canada border on our RT's and my first long trip on my bike. 

 

Will I be able to use the passenger seat handles to strap things to? I have a luggage rack on my extra top case, so I'll be able to use that. I'm just wondering if I'll be able to strap a bag/tent/etc on top of my side cases and/or across my pillion. 

 

 

Morning  MBrockman5

 

Yes, they are plenty strong to take the strap load. 

 

If you are using a top box then I usually strap from the seat handles up the front of the tent, dry bag, etc, then over the top, then back to under the top box. That keeps the tent, dry bag, etc from sliding forward as you ride so it gives you more seat space in front of the load.  

[TEDZ]

I use flat double looped straps around the frame tubes below the rear seat.  No chance of scuffing the paint.

[Skywagon]

I use a large dry bag that probably goes 40lbs or more when loaded. I use rok straps; one on each side and one in the back. The bag makes a great backrest

[MBrockman5]

Ok, awesome.

 

I have a pair of Rok Straps already and absolutely love them. I'm looking at the Dry-Bags at AeroStich. They have a couple different brands in various sizes and all for pretty cheap.

 

We won't be leaving until march, so I'll be doing some shopping for some things I don't have already (1-person backpacking tent, sleeping pad, Dry-bag, etc.). From what I've read, I know to stick with backpacking equipment for the size and weight factors. 

[Rogerl]

I made my own straps using the 3/4" wide cam buckles. They pull up tight and they hold very good. I sew a loop on the end of the buckle strap and a loop on the end of the other strap. I loop the straps around the handles. I lay my tent, and chair on the back seat and strap them down.  Works great. Below is a link to the cam buckles. You can buy the strapping from them as well.

 

https://www.strapworks.com/Cam_Buckle_p/mcb34.htm

 

Good Luck

Roger L  

[dirtrider]

16 minutes ago, MBrockman5 said:

Ok, awesome.

 

I have a pair of Rok Straps already and absolutely love them. I'm looking at the Dry-Bags at AeroStich. They have a couple different brands in various sizes and all for pretty cheap.

 

We won't be leaving until march, so I'll be doing some shopping for some things I don't have already (1-person backpacking tent, sleeping pad, Dry-bag, etc.). From what I've read, I know to stick with backpacking equipment for the size and weight factors. 

Afternoon  MBrockman5

 

Personally I use Kayak  roll-top dry bags, those are light, have side loops for strap guidance (so they don't slip off the end of the bags), are totally waterproof, & the roll-top allows the end to be rolled down so the bag can remain somewhat ridged even if partially full. 

 

I also use short loop straps (soft ties)  on the passenger rails as those pretty well lock in place so they don't slide around (then I hook my longer straps to those  soft ties. 

[dduelin]

Yes, I use the grab handles with Rok Straps criss-crossed across a cylindrical dry bag on the pillion seat. With the top box the dry bag fits perfect and doubles as a back rest.

[MBrockman5]

Awesome. Thanks for all the advice/pointers. I'm definitely getting excited, so I'm sure I'll have more questions/posts as it gets closer to Go-Time.

 

Like I said before, I'm going to be doing some shopping between now and then, and I know backpacking supply stores are a good resource for something like this. If there any recommendations regarding gear, please let me know. I'm totally open to suggestions....

[Rogerl]

You do not need to buy ultralight backpacking gear. You are not carrying it on your back. But you want to buy good quality gear so you do not get wet if it rains. 

For your tent I would suggest buying at least a 2 person tent. With a 2 person tent you have enough room to bring your bags and jacket in the tent with you. i like the Eureka tents with the full fly. Buy the liners for your saddle bags. Now you can easily bring ALL your cloths and stuff into the tent with you at night. In the morning pack your liner bags in the tent and then put them in the saddle bags. Also set up your tent in the living room or back yard BEFORE you leave. On one trip one of the guys came on the trip with a small one man tent that he had never set up before. He spent a long time figuring out how to set up the tent only to find out he was too big for the tent. We had to stop at Walmart the next day to have him buy a 2 man tent.

 

Buy a small collapsing chair from the dollar store and strap it on the back seat with your tent. These chairs take up little extra room but are much more comfortable than the little 3 legged chairs that pack up small. 

 

Buy a sleeping bag that will pack small enough to put in your saddle bags. This way you do not need to worry about it getting wet if it rains. I use an inflatable air mattress and fold it up and put it in the bottom of the bag that my sleeping bag is in.

Look at the cloths that you are going to take. I ALWAYS take more cloths than I need. Cloths take up lots of room in the saddle bags. You do not need to change your pants every day. A friend of mine goes thru his tee shirts and underware and brings his  old stuff with him. When he takes a shower he throws away the old tee shirt and underware. He comes home with LESS cloths than he started with.

 

Look at the web site below. These people have motorcycle camping down to a science. Read over the threads. You will get lots of good information. Motorcycle camping is very fun. After every trip you will learn what you forgot to bring and what you can leave behind.

 

https://www.motocampers.com/

 

One of the guys on the motocampers forum has a line that says " it is never too early to start planning and never too late to leave". Words to live by.

 

Good luck and have fun

Roger L

[dirtrider]

12 hours ago, MBrockman5 said:

Awesome. Thanks for all the advice/pointers. I'm definitely getting excited, so I'm sure I'll have more questions/posts as it gets closer to Go-Time.

 

Like I said before, I'm going to be doing some shopping between now and then, and I know backpacking supply stores are a good resource for something like this. If there any recommendations regarding gear, please let me know. I'm totally open to suggestions....

Morning   MBrockman5

 

Roger has some good points in his posting above.

 

I will just add some of my  observations.

 

On the tent, personally I like a 4 man tent (kind of a misnomer)  as it has room for all my gear but to me the BIG gain in a 4 man is HEIGHT. Probably depends on your age & bladder. When I was younger I used a smaller 3 man tent with vestibule, that worked OK for my younger body & bladder. As I get older I need more tent height to be able to kneel comfortably in the tent to get dressed, move around,  &  pee accurately into my pee bottle. 

 

You will probably need either a proper tent ground cloth (or just a standard blue tarp) to go under the tent to keep the ground moisture out & prevent damage to the bottom of your tent from small rocks & ground junk.  

 

Keep in mind that tent "person rating"  is a joke unless you like to sleep head to toe with the person next to you,  a good rule of thumb is a 4 person tent is just barely a 2 person tent & a   3 person tent is just a 1 person tent with enough extra room for a flashlight & your boots. 

 

Now on the tent selection-- you can pay a LOT or not so much depending on brand, weather rating, options, material, or  function. Unless you have motorcycle camped before then I would suggest that you go somewhat inexpensive on your first tent as you probably need a couple of motorcycle trips before you can choose the BEST tent for you own PERSONAL camping needs.

 

One of my own personal battles with  tent selection for motorcycle usage is the length of the folded tent rods, on 2 or 3 man tents (short height tents) the folded  tent rods are usually short enough to easily fit across the width of your dry bags & other camping gear so it is not an issue. On (most) 4 man  or higher tents the tent rods do not fold up short enough to fit across the seat (or in a side case)  so they tend to stick out the side too darn far. Some up-level (more expensive tents) do have the tent rods with more but shorter sections that do fold up pretty short (Just something to keep in mind & think about when buying a tent for motorcycle camping). (determine your desired maximum width then buy or modify your gear accordingly) 

 

Personally, I try to size my longest items to be no wider the my widest dry bag. My base dry bag is usually a 65 liter so I size my longest things to that 65 liter dry bag length. 

 

Personally I use a wide Thermo-Rest sleeping pad under my sleeping bag  (those are mostly self inflating).  I roll it up into a small roll (roll ALL the air out of it), then stick it inside the 65 liter dry bag, then allow it to unroll to the size of the dry bag interior, then  I stuff my sleeping bag, dry clothes, other non-wet things into the center of that dry bag.

 

In my other dry bag (can't remember the size) but it is the next smaller size to the 65 liter bag  I carry my tent, ground cloth, old dirty clothes, etc (tents get wet at night from the dew, ground cloths get wet from ground moisture so I keep all the wet things in their own dry bag so my good things don't get wet or dirty. (you will figure out what works for YOU, I'm just  pointing out what you  have to keep in mind when setting up your trip packing requirements') 

 

I also carry a small VERY BRIGHT multi- LED battery powered  work light, I hang this inside the top of my tent at night as it fully illuminates the tent interior. 

 

If you are traveling with a group that likes to drink beer (or you have an older bladder)  then don't forget a pee bottle so you don't have to leave your tent in the middle of the night to relieve yourself.

 

Personally, I also carry a smaller soft (noise free fabric) zip sac, I stuff this with my riding jacket, or clothes, or something soft & use it for a pillow (I just can't stand inflatable pillows for sleeping)  (just something to work out BEFORE your trip)

 

REI is a good place to shop for good unlevel camping gear (they usually have  good quality with good ideas to use) -- I usually look there for ideas but buy much cheaper on-line (like Amazon or some of the camping gear sites).

 

Motorcycle camping chairs are getting more  difficult to find, in the old days  cheap folding chairs were easy to come by,  for some reason now most cheap folders come with armrests that REALLY complicate motorcycle usage. Again, it comes down to folded length, some cheap  folding chairs are just too long when folded to fit across the motorcycle seat & not stick out the sides too far. In the past I have cut the legs down or cut the back rest tubes down to shorten them.  You can spend a lot of money on small motorcycle camping chairs & they are worth it for a lot of camping trips but probably not worth it for a trip or two. Plus with a cheap camping chair no-one will steal it when you are away from camp. I just leave my cheap chair out & it is always there when I return to camp.  (shop around & find a chair that you like at the price you want to pay, just keep folded size & length in mind).  A good rule of thumb on length is  the length of your longest dry bag.   

 

[AndyInLZ]

Not sure these are still made, but mine is terrific:

 

  https://www.bmwlt.com/threads/bmr-flatbed-review.55311/

 

I bought mine used from an IronButt guy.

 

Works perfectly with BMWs large top case.

 

Perhaps someone makes something similar.

[Skywagon]

I don't camp.  So will only offer one piece of experience.  I do take long trips on my bike requiring me to take many clothes and the occasional fishing rod.  Don't buy a cheap dry bag. Believe it or not the wind and rain in the pillion seat can rip them open.  Been there done that.  I bought a large North Face bag (picture below...bought at REI) about 10 years ago.  It gets at least 3 trips a year and will hold a weeks worth of clothes for me and some other stuff.  It's really easy to strap on.  It's been through hellacious weather and still looks new.

 

https://www.thenorthface.com/shop/base-camp-duffel-m-nf0a3etp?from=subCat&variationId=JK3&utm_content=ecomm&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=Google&utm_campaign=US+|+all+|+Hybrid+|+SHOP+-+AUT+~+All+-+Low+-+Catch-all&utm_term=PRODUCT_GROUP&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3dKh7qbu7AIVgobACh2qJAvxEAQYBCABEgLgCvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[waynerd]

DR touched on something that has been gold for all my backpacking trips - a pee bottle.  I'm not sure I have "old man bladder" yet, but I have been carrying one on all my tent camping adventures for the past 15 years.  Just make sure it's highly distinguishable from any of your other bottles, so you can tell what it is in your half-awake stupor in the dark.  My kids make fun of me, but I have the last laugh when they have to crawl out of their warm bag in the morning to take care of business.

 

Another handy thing for me is wet wipes.  Depending on your access to facilities, these are handy for keeping semi-fresh and less offensive to your camp mates.

[Rogerl]

I like the self standing dome tents. They do not require to be staked down. Some parks have gravel pads to set up the tent on and these pads are very hard to drive tent stakes into. Hungry Mother State park in Virginia even has wooden deck like platforms to set your tent up on. VERY difficult to put tent stakes in that surface. I use one of the Harbor Freight strip LED flashlights in my tent. I put it facing down in the gear loft and it lights up the tent very nice.

Make sure you have a cover for your motorcycle. It is no fun wiping off heavy dew from your bike in the morning before you leave. I made (2) separate plastic bags for my tent. one bag is for the ground cloth and the fly and one bag is for the tent. These two bags go into one nylon bag that is strapped across the back seat.

I like to camp at state parks. They usually have nice shower facilities. If the forecast is for rain  overnight be sure to take your rain gear into the tent with you the night before. This way you can put on the rain gear inside the tent and then come out to take down your tent. Nothing worse than tearing down camp in the rain.

 

Roger L 

[RecentConvert]

When I get to travel one-up, which isn't often enough, I must take a lot less stuff that most.  2-3 weeks on the RT with topcase with my tent, pad, and sleeping bag in a Wolfman Roll top bag across the pillion.  Food and misc in the top case.

 

Every 3-4 days I find a "better" campground and do a load of laundry. I have clean clothes every day, important to me when riding in the heat.

 

What I really want is 12V refrigerator about the size to hold 12 cans.  I am a carnivore and keeping meat cold is a challenge.  Ice isn't very convenient.

 

As far as grab bar strength, if they can hold my wife when we are in full antilock braking because that mulie appeared out of nowhere, they will hold your stuff.

[Ponch]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFQemOrBzGN/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

[MBrockman5]

Ponch.... You are one brave man! hahaha

[Ponch]

3 minutes ago, MBrockman5 said:

Ponch.... You are one brave man! hahaha

It was less than a mile, maybe half a mile I had to go and I took it slow. 

[Rougarou]

I did that with a couple of bicycles in boxes for Toys for Tots.

[TEWKS]

Somebody say Toys for Tots?  Fought a wee-bit of temptation last week when a woman dropped off a very cool looking RC helicopter.  

[Rougarou]

6 minutes ago, TEWKS said:

Fought a wee-bit of temptation last week when a woman dropped off a very cool looking RC helicopter.  

 

 

Well, you are a big tot!!!  

 

Ya, it's a hard thing to do when you work the Toys for Tots gig.  A warehouse full of stuff, some very, very good donations for these kids.  Since I retired, I generally throw girls bicycles at them to give away.

[eddd]

On 11/7/2020 at 4:15 PM, Ponch said:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFQemOrBzGN/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

 

I looked at your picture... I can hardly contain myself.

This is how real men roll around here: 

 

 

[Ponch]

35 minutes ago, eddd said:

 

I looked at your picture... I can hardly contain myself.

This is how real men roll around here: 

 

 

I'd bet what I was carrying is worth more.