Motorcycle Equipment Reviews

You don’t really need to carry any tools if you don’t want to or aren’t comfortable doing work on your bike. We’ve met extremely well-travelled riders who carried no tools whatsoever and if anything broke they’d just happily wait for the next truck to come along, pay a few dollars and get taken to the nearest garage.

But, these bike travellers are usually on very long trips and so time isn’t a big deal and it’s not necessarily the best way to travel.

It’s always worth carrying your own equipment, but that’s not to say you need to be able to take your engine apart in the Gobi Desert.

We’d advise the bare minimum of a puncture repair kit and all the tools needed to remove your wheels to change your tyres and tubes. And then a few little extras for basic work such as tightening loose bolts etc.

The next step would be to take tools to perform basic servicing such as oil, coolant and filter changes. And then tools to repair and change chain and sprockets. You won’t need much else beyond that apart from spares and a few odd bits.

We have a comprehensive guide on how to build and condense your tool kit that you might find helpful.  

READ MORE: The Ultimate Adventure Bike Tool Kit

Crash protection is not absolutely necessary, but it’s one of those things that’s better to have and not need than to need and not have. 

Even a small crash or drop can cause serious damage to a motorcycle and that could easily mean serious money in repairs and time or even the end of your trip. 

Protecting your bike isn’t an expensive job and worth it if you can regardless of if you’re on or off-road. 

You’ll want a solid, heavy duty sump guard as the bare minimum. Those flimsy plastic ones that come as standard on some adventure bikes will rip straight off under serious use. Next up are engine bars to protect vulnerable casings and the oil and clutch casing. Foldable levers are a good idea too as well as handguards.  

There are plenty of tips and tricks for protecting your adventure bike as well as more detail on crash protection in our guide below:

READ MORE: How to Adventure Proof Your Motorcycle 

One of our most used bits of kit is a ratchet strap. They come in incredibly handy and are so versatile.

You can use it to tow another bike or be towed, to tie your pannier racks back to your bike if they snap (happened to us many times), tie your bike down on ferries, hold fairings back together after a crash and so on. 

A fuel filter is an important accessory, especially if you’re travelling in countries with poor petrol quality like Uzbekistan.

A centre stand is a must for us. Trying to change tubes and tyres in the middle of nowhere without one would have been incredibly difficult. And the same goes for our Rocky Creek tyre compressor.  

Our auxiliary water and petrol tanks have proved indispensable too. As we camp so often we need to carry extra water for cooking, cleaning, drinking and washing. And we need the spare fuel because of the remote areas we travel to.