Video Transcript: Today we'll be visiting Birds of Prey motorsports and Caldwell Idaho where my friend Ken Hunter will be doing a seminar on how he packs his dual sport for adventure rides. In the last 10 years, Ken has stacked up an impressive 200,000 miles of adventure including:
  • The Transamerica Trail
  • Tennessee to the Oregon coast.
  • The Continental Divide Trail
  • The Pony Express route
  • At least four trips to Alaska
  • And has even fit in some overseas adventure in Thailand
...so needless to say he has some experience packing a bike for adventure. [00:00: My name is Ken Hunter. I started riding probably 12 to 13 years ago. I ran into Tim, literally, and at some point, he invited me on a dual sport ride into three forks Oregon. I went out and got a bike for it.  It rained, it snowed, and we ran in mud all day. My wife when I got home asked me how I like it and I told her the next day I was going to go buy a motorcycle, and that was sort of the start of it. Prior to that, I'd only ridden on a little XR200. I never had a road bike. [00:01: That was the beginning of it, and over the next 10 years, I did over 200,000 miles. So I've done the Trans America trail, if you are familiar with that, the Tennessee to the Oregon coast, Continental Divide Trail, I did the Pony Express route, did four or five trips to Alaska  - had to sit and count them. Then I had a chance to go over and ride over in Thailand and Laos on one trip, that was a very unique trip. But what all this stuff has really taught me is how to pack going as light as you can. I brought this bike this is my smallest bike at the DRZ 400 so it's relatively a small bike. Believe it or not, each pannier is around 20 to 22 pounds. This bag is under 18 even though it looks bulky, it's filled with bulky stuff but nothing heavy in there, and you've got about 8 pounds up here on the front. And that 20 to 22lbs includes the weight of the pannier. So that includes what you see here. One of the things I like to do, this is my tent on one side my tent fly the other. Tents usually, if it's rainy or if there's condensation in them, it's just nice to have them separate from the panniers so they stay up here. I don't care if they are wet. You know it keeps everything else and in my panniers dry so that's one of the reasons I pack it this way.   Starting up front this bag is actually wired into the bike, so I can charge my cell phone in there, I can charge my intercom. I carry a tablet nowadays.  I used to used to always carry books and you got to sit there in your tent with your headlight trying to read a book, so a tablet or notebook is just a great way to go. So I actually keep that in here, that can also be an that's in here as well to be charged. Also in here, I carry about six or seven power bars. They're my emergency food if I ever break down somewhere it's a snack I use to last two or three days with, so they go here and every year I throw them away. That's what I hope. I hope I never use them. That's what the intent is. I always carry a flint fire starters so I can always start a fire any place it's just one of the little emergency things that I like to do. This is basically all my riding gear, so it's bulky item but it's not heavy. One of the things I really push, I really do, is wearing no cotton. Everything is synthetic because cotton is a bulkier are harder and harder to drive when they get wet. So everything in here is easy to wash and easy to dry. All the comforts of home, I don't know if you have you seen these. This is a little chair... That little folding chair, it is a great little comfort.  I carry a strange thing... I carry an umbrella. I've been up to Alaska, and if you get a flat tire sitting there in the rain, all you have to do ist just to pop that open, and you stay out of the rain. When you're changing a tire having to work on your bike. It's just very lightweight still easy to carry with you. [00:04: For like I say whatever the weather is this scarf goes around your neck to keep yourself warm if you need it to, but this one is nice because it will hold about a quart of water.  So in warm weather, you can just soak this in in some really cold water, put it on, and it's good for about two hours. It's amazing how much colder this will keep you, it just really works very very well that way. I like these liners that you get with most riding pants. This one is Polartec, so it's a very warm material that's also lined with a wind shear fabric, so the wind can't go through, and that's always a big issue on the motorcycle.  Super warm... [00:05: I've been on rides up in Utah where my bike was actually frozen into the ground in the mornings and you know so you're talking 20-25 degrees, but with these on and an electric jacket, I stay very very comfortable with that. Again this is all synthetic fabric so if it gets wet it dries real quick, which is one of the real keys to it. ...Freeze out material is in here...I may not always take liners with me depending on the trip, but, long underwear always. I've ridden all the way to Key West Florida on the way back been in freezing weather so you know you have to dress for warm weather, but you have to be prepared for the cold weather. Tim got me hooked on a heated jacket.  Not a necessity but it is nice from the point of view that you're not stopping all the time taking off a layer or adding a layer all the time, it's just a lot easier to adjust. A pair of shoes... I packed like I was really going so this is all the stuff... [00:06: This is for the really cold, it's what they use for snowmobiling. So it's head gear that's thin on top so it fits all of the helmets very easy but it's heavy down below your neck. Great addition to stay warm. [00:06: Collapsible bucket. If you do trails like Transamerica trail, or you do like a trip to Alaska where you get into a lot of mud, particularly if you're a KLR person, it gets in the radiator. This is collapsible but you could fill it up and just rinse the bike off every night keep the mud out of the radiator and keep the bike somewhat clean. So it's one of those simple little things takes no space and it's really nice to have. [00:06: Tent stakes are in here. So that's basically all of is. You can see it's mostly bulky stuff, but the weight of the bag - this whole thing is less than 18 pounds so it's a pretty light setup. [00:07:  What I've done in this bag, I like the soft bags, so what I've got is a piece of masonite on the bottom so it won't drop over the tail light on me. [00:07: The side I always try to keep this handy and carry a first aid kit. [00:07: If you notice, this my sleeping bag, I keep them in loose bags, I do not like, when using a hard case or pannier, I do not like using compression sacks because they actually take up more room. You basically use the panniers as your compression sack - you just shove things in there and you can get them compressed. [00:07: This is an air mattress. It's called an X bed, it's the longest one they have, and it's a down filled air mattress. It's got a built-in pump in it, and it is the most comfortable thing I've run across to sleep on. ...This is my sleeping bag, it's a good down bag. But like I said I keep it in a nice loose bag and you can just shove it into the bottom of your pannier, and use that to fill the void... I can shove this right down in and just fill that bottom void.   [00:08: This side will be all my personal gear. So when I go set up my tent for the night I always carry a small duffle sack. It has all my toiletries in there, and it always stays in there. It's got a towel in there are the things I need.. that way it always going to go in the tent with me.   [00:09: A nice long...another good layering shirt. I keep this handy because I wear this in the morning when it's brisk,  I usually put this on under my jacket and then after that, I'll take it off put it in here. But everything else will be in color coded different colored bags. Shirts, pants, underwear, socks, so if I'm going into my tent, I can just pull out what I need and not have to unload the motorcycle every night. ...I carry one collared shirt in case I have to go someplace special. One thing I like to do is I love to stop when I'm on the road and find a church service somewhere. So I when I put this shirt on and these pants on, I'm halfway presentable, and it's a great way to meet people too. I mean I have had some great experiences that way. All my clean clothes will eventually end in this. You've got the black bag it's obvious what it is. So I take it off that's where they go to. Everything's kind of organized.  When I get to a point where I need to do a wash everything will be in that bag. [00:10: This is sometimes what I call my washing sack. I've been known to throw clothes in here and tie a strip of rope on it throw it in a stream somewhere to just let the water run through it. It's also a great way to put it on top of my bags back here to dry my clothes. So if it's really it's a nice sunny day, you can just put it there, for just a couple of hours on one side, then flip it over. So that's the intent of that. My Alaska trip, when I did that, I was five weeks camped every single night, never was in a motel... I normally do not cook on my trip. I enjoy going to a restaurant I enjoy meeting people, so you know I'll find a little local cafe or something... it's just a great way to go and do it. I put this in here just to show you that I do still have room enough for this one pot. This is multipurpose multi-fuel stove. So I can burn gas from the bike. I don't have to carry extra fuel with me. I could just siphon gas off the motorcycle fill this when I need to. I don't have to carry a canister or gas with me or the propane canisters. Water. And basically... I go through this fast but this is all just from these three items. Your only looking at about 60 pounds of gear. Is really what you're looking at. [00:12: I won't bother pulling my tent out, but like I have said, I have a tent on one side with a tent fly on the other side... it's perfect for doing that. The other thing on the bike I wanted to talk about is the electronics I've got here. We highly recommend a SPOT. I think most of the guys have them here. Personal beacon locator and it's got a 911 button on it. So if you really get into emergency and I do a lot of solo rides, so that's really just nice to have. [00:12: This is one of the older ones but I have a button on this that is set to go to my wife's cell phone and her laptop when I was riding, and it would tell her that I was off the road for the night, so she knew it was off and safe for the day so that would just give her a little comfort. One other thing I mentioned failed to mention is that I highly recommend is a liner for your sleeping bag. This is just a light Polartec liner. The reason I like this is if you're in your sleep bag on and off, it gets dirty.  If the liner gets dirty, you can just throw this in the wash any time on your trip, and you don't have to worry about keeping your sleeping bag clean. If you get someplace where it's extra cold, it will give you about another 10 degrees of warmth. If you're in someplace that is really hot, I sleep in just this so it gets pretty versatile... but more than anything else it's just to help keep your sleeping bag clean, and makes it really easy to do it. [00:13: Other than that you know the standard things here I carry are a multi-tool in here. Suntan lotion... is one of my big issues.  You know all the little comforts of home.. a little toilet paper... stuff like this. I always carry a spoon here. I typically eat maybe two meals a day on the road but I'll snack a lot, so I'll buy the little cups of fruit or things like that and just carry those with me,  and I can stop and have those on the trail. Tools. Typically when I get a bike I'll spend probably for the first couple of months servicing it, I'll go through the service kit that comes with the bike and add to as I need to or take away so that I have good tools. So basically on this bike, all my tools are on this side and these are nothing more than welding rod tubes. But they've actually got a gasket on them and this is spare parts from bailing wire, to duct tape, to instant glue, to all the little things you think you might need. I also carry a lot of hose clamps, hose clamps, are really handy.   Keep a medium size and the small size so if you need a big one, you put two or three together. But we like what we did with Bill's... He busted his whole front end up on his bike and we used the hose clamps to kind of clamp it all back together. Eric... when going down to Nicaragua on a trip the frame broke on his bike. So we took two tire irons put one on each side of the frame and put clamps up and down it,  and he rode it through two more countries. So just you know have things that can be versatile and with a little imagination, they can go a long way.  [00:15: Tim makes these, this is really great...I have my air compressor, tire irons, patch kits. I carry rope just so I can if I need a clothes line or if we need to keep Tim's bike from flying off a cliff, it becomes really handy... So this is an additional place to store things.. the nice part about this is that I can still get to this without taking the bag off. So it's really really handy that way. And then the other kind of thing odd thing I carry, is I actually carry a saw with me. [00:15: My kids bought me this probably 40 years ago... it's just a folding saw. You don't think much about needing something like this but when I made my first trip on the Transamerica Trail, they had a tornado go through part of Tennessee and some of the roads had downed trees. So instead of having to turn around, I just took some time to cut some of them and work my way through the area. [00:16: So. That's about it... You know the obvious thing is another rear tire tube.. a tube for the rear tire and a tube for the front, so I carry two tubes. Here are some links to some of the Happy Trails Products mentioned in this video: (click on FIND MY BIKE, for parts and accessories made specifically to fit your bike) Panniers Hard Motorcycle Luggage Soft Motorcycle Luggage Tires, Tubes, & Repair Kits Riding Apparel Tools First Aid Kits & Survival Accessories