Preparation just like sailing
Set for two wheel adventuring.
The Ducati 1260 arrived in mid July and initially all we could think of was that if Katherine was the beauty, then this machine was certainly a beast. With a 31 litre tank and a dry weight of 225kg (496lb) this had the potential to be a handful when loaded for touring. The first adjustment that had to be made was to fit the lowest seat available which at 84cm (33in) still didn’t see Andrew being able to get a full grip on mother earth, but it was much better.
As with sailing there are always unexpected elements to challenge you but the more preparation and planning generally done for a passage the more enjoyable and safer that passage can be.
Preparing for a tour on a motorbike really isn’t that much different except the packing becomes somewhat more critical. On Katherine we have the luxury of our own cabin, a well stocked galley to cook in and refrigeration. None of that when travelling by motorbike but making it comfortable was going to be part of the challenge.
The essentials for camping
Everything had to be weighed and I mean everything. In the preparation for our 5 week tour across the top of Australia. Lee nearly wore out the luggage scales. Initially we invested in a Lone Rider Tent that would allow us to stand to get dressed and had a vestibule that we could cook in or store the bike, but weighing in at 6kg this was soon ditched for a more compact 2kg hiking tent. Light weight sleeping stretchers, chairs and cooking equipment, even the utensils had to be scrutinised. Sleeping bags were retrieved from the depths of storage and upset a few moths along the way.
In the end our set up included the top bag holding our camping equipment, one side pannier for “The Kitchen", the other for clothing, spare parts and first aid kit. In total with the bike filled with fuel, the gear and us weighed in at around 400kg (880 pounds).
That’s a lot of bike.
