My first ever trip abroad
 

Well I got the bike (Tenere) and the enthusiasm to actually do it. I have finally decided to dip my toe into touring. The plan is to take a two week holiday in south east Spain (Summer 2010). I will ride down hopefully taking in the scenery and meet up with the family at the villa we are staying in. I want to enjoy the travel experience so I shall be taking my time there and back. Hopefully 7 days riding on the bike and 7 days holiday with the family. The wife is happy for me to do this so all I have to do is plan.

I feel better if I plan so to that end I have formulated a check list. The items on it with a question mark are "do I really need it". Thats the reason for this post really. I am looking for you experienced and not so experienced lot to state the obvious if I have missed it off or dont really need it please offer your oppinion.

Another thing is as part of my return to fitness I have become addicted to cycling again so plan a UK holiday from John O'Groats to Lands End ride solo (100 miles per day stints) in Summer 2010 as well. That means the list is dual as riding a motorcycle and bicycle are pretty similar! I am currently in training and am currently at 50 miles per day. Man do I ache!

I have read ALL posts on here relating to travel and that has massively helped generate a comprehensive list. The major thing I have not yet decided on is do I camp or B & B/motel it for both motorcycle and bicycle trips. That will have a massive impact on the kit required and to be taken.

Anyway the list.

Bike fully serviced and ready to go!
Luggage System (panniers/topbox or soft luggage) ?
Satnav or maps which one do I choose?
Bike lock
Centre stand - should I fit one thinking is how to repair punctures on the road?
Campsite guide/B&B info ?
Camera and spare batteries
Mobile phone and charger
Bike spares consisting of:
Front and rear inner tube
Puncture repair kit
Throttle cable ?
Clutch cable ?
Engine oil ?
Chain lube
Fuses - assorted ?
Bulbs (head lamp, indicators, side lights) ?
Spark plug
Cable ties
GT85/WD40 - small
Insulation tape
Rag
Latex gloves x 3 pairs
Grease - small tube
Tools for all repairs consisting of:
Tools to remove front and rear wheels
Assorted tools
Spark plug spanner
Tyre pump (manual/12 volt or Co2 system) ?
Tyre levers
Legal travel documents consisting of:
Passport
Driving licence (both parts)
Bike Insurance certificate including european cover
MOT - if applicable
Bike registration documents
Breakdown cover including european cover
Money (Uk � and local currency/Credit card)
Travel insurance
Ferry or tunnel ?
Personal items consisting of:
Included on my list but deleted in this post as not relevant and I am certain I need all the items!

Clothing consisting of:
Glasses/shades
Ear plugs x 5 sets or reuseable ?
Waterproofs
Neck roll
Spare gloves
Socks x pairs
Underwear x pairs
Light under trousers/jeans x 1
T Shirts x
Fleece
Trainers
Hi-viz vest ?
Wolley hat

Camping gear consisting of (assuming camping is the preferred accomodation):
Tent
Sleeping bag
Ground mat (Thermarest)
Head torch inc spare batteries
Tea towel
Cooking facility and fuel
Matches - wind proof/water proof type
Mess tin
Knife/Fork/Spoon
Metal mug
Cooking pan
T bags in sealed pot
Sugar - small pot or sachets
Milk - UHT shots ? How do i get my milk!
Dehydrated food packs
Chocolate bars/energy bars
Washing up liquid - small ?
Sponge - to clean pan/mug/cuttlery ?
Waterproof bags - multiple
Water container ?
Mosquito net/repellant ? If applicable

I know the list is crazy and I need to thin it down but its on the list for consideration. Please offer your oppinions and feed back. I can then refine the list and be happy knowing I have thought of enough to make both holidays enjoyable.

Cheers.

Now thats a list!

Kit and bits is down to personal preference and no matter what people suggest, you will come back with a completely new list. That said and for what its worth here are a couple of suggestions from me and from my experiences of French motorcycle touring.

Centre stand - good as helps with easy chain maintenance as much as anything else. Never had a punture en route thankfully. Also useful on ferries when strapping down but these days some ferries have special bike systems.

Hard luggage - Better than soft as more convienient to load/un load. Also its waterproof and more secure when left on the bike for lunch etc.

Accomodation - Since the increase in strength of the Euro against the Pound Franch is expensive. So weather permitting camping is an excellent option. That said we often use a chain of hotels called B&B. Bad marketing as impossible to google for but good. Cheaper and plentiful are Formula 1 hotel chain. They are a bit like sleeping in a fibreglass shoebox but they are clean and bookable online and from one hotel to another. Easy to Google.

The French are fabulous drivers when it comes to bikes (Paris excepted!). They will pull out of your way to allow you to pass and the standard thank you is to stick your left leg out. Tricky at speed! ALL other bikers WILL wave. Make sure you carry a bright vest under your seat. Travel with your lights on (sorry just remebered, you have no choice with the Ten). Don't piss the police off. They have the power to take your bike if you exceed the speed limit x 2. They can and will take on the spot fines and even escourt you to a cash point to do this. That said I love the place.

Lucky you. Travelling through the Pyrenees is beyond belief and worth spending time doing with as many small roads included as possible. Like the Alps but quieter and less manacured. Have travelled there a couple of times before and look forward to going many more times.

Documents - The originals plus copies of all. Colour copies at that. The police can take your documents but are often happy with good copies. For that matter if they are good enough they might not even know! but I doubt it. If they do take your documents they will post them back to the French Embassey in London. Really convenient.

Clothing - KIS. Keep it simple. Biking kit plus one or at most two changes. Pants can be washed and draped on luggage to dry.

GPS - Some say good but I find distarcting. Whats wrong with a map in the tank bag? I find with a map you make mistakes, go off route and see interesting places. A GPS makes me ride for too long and too fast and for me thats not what its about. You can get A5 size french road maps on Amazon. Very good and fits the tank bag.

Ear plugs, ear plugs, ear plugs.

I love my helmet with a double visa. The internal dark visa is so convenient and makes for a relaxing ride as there is no issues with sunnies off, sunnies on.

Oh, the last thing. . . enjoy it will be fantastic!

Cheers DickyC. Re centre stand and lashing the bike on the ferry. Do the lashings come supplied on the ferry or should I take a ratchet strap/rope to ensure the bike stays upright during a crossing?

My Ten currently has no centre stand so I wondered how does a solo rider repair a puncture roadside without one? At home its easy with a bike stand but you cannot take that!

Most ferries should have lashing straps the ratchet type with the nylon strap you will need 6 to 8 5 tons SWL each straps to secure a bike in a ocean transport but a ferry does not roll or slam like ocean going vessels so I think you'll be ok with 2 straps from the top of the fork yoke to the deck left and right and two at the back from the pillion grab handles to the deck. Optional straps from the swingarm can be an idea.

When I ferried my Ten I used four small tie down straps. Two off the front loop under the bottom yoke going to each side and two at the back from the pannier frames. This triangulated the bike on the sidestand. I do have a centre stand but the bike is way too high to be stable.
If you get hard luggage you can pull the bike to the side on the sidestand and put a pannier underneath the bash plate. I have MM panniers and they are fine for this!
Handguards are a must as in even heavy rain provided you are moving you will find that the rain does not get at your hands too much.
I always carry a Poncho as it can be used a a temporary shelter and used with your bike can be used to cook under should the weather be inclement. You can also put it over your biking gear when you stop and you will find that if it is raining your bike gear will drip dry quite a bit and then getting into a tent just slip it off as you enter, stops water from following you inside.
Sorry to go on , I just love camping!

Taken the bike on a lot of ferry's from UK to Ireland and France. Each time has been the same thing of ride on into the bike area, side stand, single strap over the seat, making sure you leave the bike in gear so it doesn't roll off the stand jobs done. You will find most big ferries will do this for you but say that it's your own responsibility if anything happens.

The smaller rougher ferry's though I think I would want to tie it down a bit more just to be safe but even the above wont budge easily (I've tested it by a lot of heavy pushing from every direction)

Good luck Tony
The only advice i can give knowing you is.........................



allow plenty of time for toilet breaks :D

2 Options Available:

1. Use something to prop up the swing arm so that the rear is supported by the side stand and the improvised prop (for rear tyres), or prop up under the right hand front fork for front tyres. - There are commercial options available such as the Bike Krutch or Tour Prop Stand, or you could make or improvise your own.

2. Just lay the bike on it's side, make sure you can pick it up again though before you do :)

Good for you.

check out this site, it covers pretty much the trip you are making : http://www.smokingtailpipes.com/smok...-draft_010.com

The site is in desparate need of updating, but I just don't seam to find the time.

Your list is pretty comprehensive, what I would say is pack it on the bike see if it all fits. Then unpack it, look at it and take out a few items that you think you could live without (do you really need the wife underwear? and are you actually going to change the oil ?), pack it again. The more times you repeat this the more you'll take out. remember you are travelling in Europe, there are shops !

Centre stand, it's upto you, �100 or, stick some slime in and make sure you've got roadside cover (you should have this anyway with the warrenty), you can get stuff repaired in France & Spain....:045:

Camping, get an International Camping Card from the RAC, you get discounted rates, a great book of sites throughout Europe and you can use your card as ID rather than your passport.

Documents, as Dicky mentioned, get high quality coppies, keep the originals somewhere safe, and put a set of copies (if you laminate them all you realy can't tell the difference between the original and the copy)somewhere safe too. Remember where you've put them! keep a set of coppies handy, again if they are laminated then they are hard to tell the difference. I've used a laminated driving licence in the UK (without realising) and got away with it!

Get yourself one of these http://www.digitaldogtag.co.uk/?gcli...FVBd4wodCUK1pA

Make sure you fill it in, and you can also scan in a copy of each of your documents (V5, Passport, Licience, ICC, etc). Wear it around your neck on a lanyard - not in your pocket!!

If you are riding through France, consider the Tunnel rather than the Ferry, you save loads of time. If you aren't bothered about France, take the Ferry to Bilbao and save a few days in France, or take the Tunnel out and Bilbao ferry back.

Most French folk speak english, and will, so long as you nake an attempt to engage them in French, a half decent phrase book goes a long way. When you need or want to talk get th ebook out and make sure your first word is in French. This approach goes a long way and you will find them amoung the most hospitalble people around.
English isn't as widespread in Spain, so you will need the phrasebook. Wheras French people have a tendancy to wait until they engage you in English, the Spainish tend to (if they speak it) begin in english. It's good but it does make you lazy. Embrace the language it's a big part of the trip, and you'll be amazed at how quickly you pick things up.

SatNav. Right, these things get you out of trouble no doubt, and using them on unfamiliar roads with unfamiliar driving rules etc will keep loads of stress away, especially if you are running late to meet the wife. I would say use the SatNav rather than a map, but this doesn't mean you are a slave to it. Keep your destination loaded into it and loosely follow it, take that small road off to the right, if you want to. When the time comes to get back on track you can use the SatNav. Of course, always have a map as backup! I use the Michelin maps, you can go for one that will cover Europe or France or bits of France - have a walk into the local bookshop and have a look around, you might just find you like the look of a Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, Michelin or Bradt guide book - these are very good at finding things to see in certain areas.

On the East coast of Spain (Barcelona south), watch out for the 'ladies of the night' that frequent the layby's and Fuel stations, they can mostly speak English and will approach you (they did me anyway!), I found that a few words of German helped to confuse them and they stop hassling you. These 'ladies' look good from a distance, but get close and UUUUrrghhh!

The Tenere compresses down a long way when you Ferry it, on the side stand it will site vertically. Off course the right way to strap the bike to the ground is by the wheels, the suspension is all about protecting the bike from movement, but this just isn't possible under any conditions. As others have said, put it in gear, then use something to apply the front brake ( I have a piece of double sided velcro that I wrap around the brake leaver and the grip), if you can, get hold of some bike specific tie downs (these fit to the grips/handlebars) and tie down the left side first, but not fastening it too tight - this way the bike will lean towards the side stand rather than bolt upright! It is normal practise for the deck hands to tie down your bike and they will normally fasted it with a single strap/rope over your seat - so make sure you have something over the seat! Gloves are good enough. If you are in any doubt, leave it to the deck hands, once you depart the responsibility of the cargo rests with the capitan. If you take the Tunnel you just sit with the bike.

Lots of folk have lots of advice and experience, some will disagree with others, but it's all about what works for individuals, after your first trip you will form your own ways, this is all about the fun of solo traveling.

The best advice is JFDI. (Just Fxxking Do It)

Regarding ferries, living on an Island I use then all the time. As stated above most ferries use the side stand or centre stand and pad your seat before strapping over the top diagonally with two straps. You have to watch the loaders as they often don't know about bikes and I have seen them pull a bike forward off its stand when strapping! Never happened to me though. They are often not happy if you do it yourself which can be anoying. Invariably you end up removing the starpping yourself which works for me.

More recently the ferry company who serve the channel islands have installed propper bike parks with a craddle devise you ride into with your fron wheel. This then rocks forward into place and you can get off your bike (as long as your eighteen feet tall) but it aint dignified and I have found myself on my arse before now much to the amusment of the other drivers! After riding into this clamp they then strap your bike using a couple of joined loops form the handlebars to the floor infront of the bars thus pulling it further into the front wheel clamp. Seems very kind on the bike and crossing the english channel in some hairy weather has never been an issue.

Often if you strap your own bike you will find there are insurance issues with the carrier. If they drop it they pay for it. If it damages another vehichle they pay for it etc. Check what system your chosen ferry route uses. I have never carried my own starps and never needed to.

There are hundreds of bikes crossing the channel every month. There really are no worries. Just stick to the fat wobbling ribs on the deck when going up ramps. I have used the middle smooth section in the past but once when I did so, I had to stop near the top for a muppet car driver with no awareness of others and then started to slide backwards. My brakes were on and I was gently drifting backwards with the car beeping behind me. The inevitable happened when I eventually slid, albeit gently, into the car behind. Lesson learnt. Use the ribbed grippy bits!