Packing for a round-the-world adventure or an overland jaunt? Here’s our tried and tested, used and abused, hard-earned kit list.
Packing for a never-ending round-the-world motorcycle ride wasn’t going to be easy. We started well overloaded and over-packed… and we’re still overloaded and over-packed today. It’s natural, everyone overpacks at home and either chucks it on the road or posts half of their stuff back. We’re still finding ways of doubling items up and sending stuff home. But here’s what we’re down to today.
Riding gear
- We each have a lightweight, vented outer jacket and trousers. We removed the thermal and waterproof lining from each and left them at home.
- Cheap throw-over waterproof jackets and trousers (around £15 per set)
- Altberg military boots. They’re lightweight and act as both our riding and walking boots for hiking and trekking
- One cold weather and one hot weather pair of gloves each
- Neck scarf each
- Helmet each
Click here for the Choosing your Adventure Riding Gear guide
Personal clothing
- Sub Zero thermal down jacket. We use this under our motorbike jacket if it gets cold and can also use it when walking around towns or hiking. It has a double usage (hence why we chucked the thermal liner), compresses and stuffs into a small bag when not in use. [click here for our review]
- Three pairs of riding socks
- One pair of lightweight hiking trousers and one pair of shorts
- Four t-shirts
- Underwear
- One pair of flip flops (we use our riding boots for long walks, or if it’s cold, and our flip flops for everything else
Miscellaneous
- First aid kit
- Ukulele (because why not)
- Small compass
Electronics
- Laptop
- Mobile phone
- Camera and GoPro
Camping
- MSR tent
- MSR Dragon Fly stove
- MSR cooking system, pots, pans, bowls [click here for our review]
- Foldable wash bowl
- Thermarest lightweight ground mats
- Plastic cutlery
- Mora knife
- Head torch
- Picnic blanket (comes in very handy)
Bike
- We have a pretty comprehensive tool kit, which allows us to fix most things on the bike. We already have a guide to building your own tool kit, where we list all the tools we took with us including our puncture repair kit. click here to check it out
- Spare fuel and water carried in a Rotopax
- Abus Granite lock
- Pac Safe mesh net
- Mr Funnel petrol filter (incredibly important in countries like Uzbekistan)
Click here for the Choosing your Adventure Bike guide
Food bag
- We keep a separate bag for all our food. As we like riding off into the wilderness, we need to carry food for a few days.
- Easy to reach cutlery also lives in this bag
For a detailed guide on what you do and don’t need for travelling, check out our comprehensive How to Pack for a Motorcycle Adventure guide.
Resources
START HERE: Planning a motorcycle trip but don’t know where to start? Start Here!
BIKE: Get your bike ready for adventure by checking out our Motorcycle Preparation guides.
KIT: Take a look at our Motorcycle Clothing and Equipment Reviews and How to choose your Adventure Riding Gear Guide.
DESTINATIONS: Check out our comprehensive Destination Guides for Overlanders and motorcycle travellers.
INSPIRATION: Grab a coffee and have a read of the new Stories section and our monthly Blog.
OVERLANDERS’ DATABASE: Find everything you need to motorcycle the world in our new easy access resource Here.
