Nothing feels more annoying than watching your bike being weighed down by heavy bags. To make your bike trips easy and comfortable, it is essential to learn how to pack your bike. While you might think, overloading your bike wouldn’t cause any discomfort, it has an impact on your bike handles. Stacking backpacks on your bikes will only make your trips less enjoyable besides adding to your riding inconvenience.
Here is your guide to understanding the art of packing your bike for short trips, to ensure your ride turns out smooth and joyful.
Here’s What You Should Include When You Pack Your Bike for Short Trips
The first basic thumb rule to consider when packing your bike is to determine the duration of your journey. You would also have to consider the type of road and whether you are riding solo or with a pillion. Here are a few ways of packing the bike for short rides successfully.
Pack Only the Must-Haves and Not the Unnecessary ‘Good-to-Have’ Items
Gather all the equipment and gear you want to take along for your short trip before packing them inside your riding backpack. Begin eliminating items that you can afford to live without. If this is your first road trip, you might get carried away with the thought of adding more stuff. However, resisting this urge will help you to focus on packing the quintessential things that you have to mandatorily take.
Choose Versatile Items with Multiple Uses
When buying automotive accessories online, make sure to choose equipment and gear with multiple functions. Also, consider carrying clothes that can help you survive a plethora of situations. Choose items that you can use multiple times. Slack down on things that you can only use on particular occasions.
Master the Art of Packing Smartly and Lightly
Keep packing and repacking until you achieve the tactic of packing smartly. Compactly pack your bike, using things that you cannot do without. When practicing the art of packing for your bike tour, you will realize you can shave off several kilograms of weight. Get rid of your space and start packing like the Tetris game concept. One amazing advantage of packing like a professional is that it will prevent damage to your bags and chafing resulting from vibrations.
Focus on Minimizing the Weight and Not The Usefulness
One of the primary things to keep in mind when you pack your bike for short and long trips is to pick lighter and better designer products.
Weight Shouldn’t Come Across as a Problem
When you pack your bike, make sure to always keep weight out of your way. Carrying weighted items on the bike can affect your bike handling to an extreme level. Additionally, weight also increases the wearing of the shock absorber of the bike besides increasing the chances of bike frame cracking.
Organize Your Baggage and Categorize Them
Backpacks tend to become black holes, with all the essential items going right at the bottom. This is the last thing you would want to face, especially when you are driving during a storm and you need the rain gear immediately. Organize your bags properly to prevent this kind of hassle in the middle of the road.
Categorize Everything Inside Your Bag
Pack every food item followed by cooking tools in one backpack. Thereafter, pack your important clothes followed by the spare parts and tools. Follow it up with all the tent essentials that you might require at night. This way you can remember where you kept what without even unpacking the whole bag.
Distribute the Weight
When you pack your bike, make sure to keep the weight even right from its front to back and from both sides. Avoid keeping excessive weight near the rear wheel, given how it will cause difficulties during steering and riding. Uneven weight distribution can put unwanted pressure on the bike’s frame and racks. You wouldn’t want your bike to topple over because of excessive weight on either side when you either ride on or off track.
Keep Important Things at the Top
Make a list of all the items that you would need during the day and keep them on the top of your backpack. This way you can access them easily without having to mess up the bag. Some items that should be kept at the top are clothes, electronics, sleeping bags, rain gear, etc.
Pack Heavier Items at the Bottom
Maneuvering the bike becomes a difficult job when you keep heavy items at the top. This is why always keep the heavier stuff at the bottom of the bag.
Maintain Some Extra Space
When taking a bike trip, you might end up with various things in your bags like meat, beer cans, souvenir, etc. Thereby, it is recommended that you maintain some slight space in your bags to make room for such items during the trip. Hopefully, this general guideline will help you to pack your bike successfully and easily. Keep all of the above-mentioned points in your mind when packing for your bike trips to ensure a safe, comfortable, and happier trip.