Compact is the word when it comes to two-up motorcycle camping.

Judy and I tried out two-up motorcycle camping once last year. It was OK for a first time and we learned a few things. Now we’re acting on what we’ve learned and planning to really do this thing this year.

Compact is key when it comes to two-up camping on a bike. I’ve been camping by myself on my motorcycles plenty of times and it’s easy. The bike has plenty of room to pack one sleeping bag, a tent, a foam pad, food, and whatever else you need. It’s totally different when you’re two-up.

When you go two-up you now need two sleeping bags, two foam pads, clothes etc. for two, food for two, and a significant part of your packing space–the seat behind you–is taken up with non-gear, i.e., your wife/spouse/friend, whatever. That’s why a lot of people who are serious about this pull a trailer, but that’s not something I have any interest in.

So compact is the word.

We had already bought two down sleeping bags because they squeeze down smaller than our fiber-fill bags. Now we bought two Thermarest self-inflating mattresses. The two of them take up less space than one of the pads I used to use. That’s a step in the right direction.

On our test run last year we learned one thing profoundly: Having no provision for breakfast or even coffee in the morning sucks. Figuring we were going close by and just overnight we had figured we could do without that kind of thing. “Cold camping” I believe it’s called. So we woke up at about 9,000 feet elevation and it was cold and we had no way to even have a hot cup of joe. Rather than enjoy our camping experience we quickly broke camp and rode over Guanella Pass to Georgetown and had breakfast there. We’re not going to do that again.

Asking around I found that the consensus is that the compact JetBoil cookstove is the way to go. It’s designed for backpackers, so it’s small and light-weight. We don’t care about weight on the bike but we do care about small. The JetBoil and its gas canister are probably smaller than a two-liter bottle of pop. So we got one of those and also some dehydrated camping meals. Now we’ll heat water in the evening and pour it in on the dehydrated food and that will be dinner, and at the least we’ll heat water in the morning for coffee. Of course this all eats up most of the space savings we made with the smaller pads.

Which brings us to the choice of bikes. We took the V-Strom last year because it’s the dual-sport bike and seemed the natural. Plus, it has two very large Givi side bags that hold a lot, and I have a top bag on the rear as well. It might still be the bike of choice, especially if we’re going somewhere where we’ll have to be on a lot of gravel.

We do want to try the Concours, too, however. There’s no top bag, but unlike the V-Strom it is easy to strap a bunch of stuff on the rear, behind Judy. Plus, when you’re strapping stuff on the back, larger or awkward sizes are not much issue, whereas they are if you’re trying to get something inside something else. The two side bags are quite large, too, so I’m thinking it should certainly hold as much as the V-Strom. We’ll try the Concours on a trip where we know we won’t need to do gravel. The Concours hates gravel. Hates it!

I’m not sure if we’ll be getting more stuff or not. A tent that packs down smaller would be good on the V-Strom, but on the Concours it’s no issue. Less bulky clothing specifically designed for this sort of thing could save space. We’ll see.

Right now, though, we’re just waiting for warmer weather. I had hoped to get out for my first ride of the year today but freezing rain overnight and cold temps early in the day persuaded me otherwise. Camping weather–June–is still a ways off. Patience.

Biker Quote for Today

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