By 
Running lean John Hudson’s tips on the gear you need for ADVX. You might be surprised how little you can carry.
The whole luggage load for ADVX can be handled by a man in a collared shirt and slacks on a hot, Gold Coast day.
Last issue we covered my set-up for general, multi-day adventure riding, but I’ve been fielding so many enquiries about what to carry for ADVX, I’ll run through the set-up I recommend specifically for that transcontinental ride.
I’ve seen some horrific descriptions of massive gear loads on the AdvRiderMagforum, and while it’s great everyone’s so excited and wants to be well-prepared, some of the cargo people are considering would make an already challenging ride way, way more difficult than it needs to be.
Here’s a rundown of what I recommend.
Remember, I know my own bike and my own gear. Your bike and your personal requirements may well be different to mine, so we’re covering general ideas here. I’m hoping you’ll look at the size and type of gear I’m carrying and then ask yourself if you have those same areas covered, and especially whether you might be carrying extra gear you won’t need.
Tarp on the rack to stop chafing, swag on the tarp, fuel bladder quickclipped to the swag. Neat and compact.
Dress for success
You’re only going to need one set of casual clothes on ADVX.
Think about it.
You’ll be on our bike all day. You’ll be camping, so there’s no dress code to meet.
All you need is to be able to get out of your riding gear and put on something “if I get carted off to hospital, my mates can grab the dry bag, chuck in my phone and phone charger, and hand that single bag to the ambos.” comfortable at day’s end, and those clothes only have to be acceptable for a country pub.Any clothes after that aren’t required.
You could throw in a pair of lightweight shorts to sleep in on a hot night, but even that might be considered a luxury.
John Hudson
On the side
I use Andy Strapz Expedition Pannierz because I believe they’re the best on the market.
They’re Australian-made and they’ll survive a crash where hard panniers often won’t.
In the panniers I have a first-aid kit, food, a ‘wet pack’ (soap, shampoo and so forth), spare gloves, and I always put a set of clothes in a dry bag. The reasoning behind that is, if I get carted off to hospital, my mates can grab the dry bag, chuck in my phone and phone charger, and hand that single bag to the ambos.
You want the lightweight dry bag. It’s travelling in your pannier, so it doesn’t need to be heavy-duty. That would just add extra weight.
Next up I have a few stray items like a ratchet strap, the fuel bladder if I’m not using it on that leg, and a pair of shoes that’ll pack nice and flat, but will still be acceptable in a pub, or hold up if I need to walk 20km or more.
Replacing the supplied mattress in the swag with an Exped inflatable means the swag shrinks to about half the size. The Exped is about the size of a large soft-drink can.
Rack pack
I always start with a cheap tarp on the rack to stop my swag chafing on the rack itself.
The tarp has a million uses and weighs next-to-nothing, so it’s good value to have on board.
The swag itself is so small because I pulled out the supplied mattress and I use an Exped inflatable. It makes the swag-and-mattress combo unbelievably compact and still very comfortable.
With the swag and tarp on the rack I then lean a 10-litre fuel bladder up against the swag. I have quickclips on each corner of the bladder, and then I use zip ties to make loops to clip on the bike and rack. Aside from the bladder being out of the way, when I need to fill it at a servo I can leave it in place, unscrew the cap and get the job done without unpacking anything.
One big advantage with this rig is that all the gear on the rack and rear stays on the bike. When I arrive at a pub I leave the gear on the rack in place. I grab the dry bag with my casual clothes from the pannier and I’m checked in and showered while everyone else is dragging gear out of different bags and backpacks and trying to find the personal items they need.
Of course, it makes departure the next morning just as quick.
Fully packed for adventure.
On your back
A 20-litre or 25-litre backpack is all anyone should need.
All you need in there is your wet-weather gear, drinking water, sunnies and hat.
The idea is that as the day warms up you can peel off your wet-weather gear and stick it in your backpack. You don’t have to pack or unpack gear. The hat and sunnies are handy for whenever you pull up and are off the bike.
The tankbag has a fair collection of bits and pieces.
Safety first
I see a lot of discussion about satellite phones on the forums, and they’re undoubtedly a good thing, but I’m a big fan of SPOT trackers.
If a rider can beg, borrow or steal a sat phone for ADVX, he’ll have a decided advantage because if he breaks down he can use the sat phone to order parts and get them fast.
In a medivac situation, a SPOT tracker is better. There’s no confusion and you don’t have to try and explain your co ordinates to someone who doesn’t know how to handle latitude and longitude. The people watching the SPOT are trained for exactly that, and for getting help to people the best way they can in the circumstances.
I keep my SPOT tracker in the top of my tankbag, because it needs to be where I can see the lights and know the unit is definitely on.
In the tankbag I also have my glove inners and a balaclava for the cold, a heap of chargers for various things I might need to charge during a day, business cards – because I meet property owners, rangers and others when I’m surveying and it’s good to introduce yourself properly – a test light, a head torch, a spare head torch, cigarette lighter, spare cigarette lighter, spare batteries, rescue tape, electrical tape, tyre gauge, deodorant, Loctite and some painkillers. I also have some sachets of tuna. There’s nothing better than these for protein.
My food preparation gear consists of a spoon, Leatherman and a quart pot (a military utensil with a lid that serves as a mug and cookpot). The spoon and Leatherman are in the tankbag and the quart pot, loaded with coffee and sugar sachets I pick up from hotel rooms, is strapped to the bike in a leather holster I bought at a saddlery.
The idea of the quart pot for ADVX is, a rider will pull up, get a fire going, push his quart pot of water into the fire, chuck in some two-minute noodles and a sachet of tuna, and he’s done his cooking. He might have a can of stew or something after.
The cup/lid means he doesn’t have to put his lips on the hot pot that’s been in the fire.
He’s camping for the night, so the swag comes off the bike and makes a seat beside the fire while he’s eating.
A saddler will sell a leather holder for the quart pot.
Tools
Mechanicals and tools include a spare front tube – because it’ll fit front or rear – a light-weight compressor, a bag of spanners and oddbod things, mainly nuts and bolts, some big hose clamps…things like that. Riders will know their own bikes best, but if you’re not sure of your own bike’s strengths and weak-nesses, get on the AdvRiderMag forum and ask. You’ll soon find what you need and don’t need, and that’s what we’re trying to do here: keep the load to necessities.I see there’s a lot of people talking about fastening spare levers and bits and pieces to their bikes. That’s fine, but just remember, unless you’ve bought the very best mounting system, it’ll break in the conditions you’ll face on ADVX.
So when you’re considering lights, radio mounts, or those kinds of things, you have to get either big, tough, heavy stuff like RAM mounts, or ultra-lightweight. By ultra-light-weight I mean things like Velcro.
The quart pot. It’s the only cooking utensil an adventure rider needs.
Tyres
Finally, tyres are a big topic of discussion.
Everyone has their favourite brands, but when it comes to tubes a rider needs to fit the ultra-heavy-duty Michelin or Bridgestones. They’re 4.5mm thick, and they’re quite heavy and come in big boxes, and they need to be run at between 24psi and 28psi.
Regular thinking says don’t carry heavy-duty tubes because they’re too heavy, but ADVX isn’t a regular ride. On ADVX every rider should carry an ultra-heavy-duty front as a spare. Heat is the problem with this type of riding. When you’re asking the tyre to do 500km a day and the temperature is already high, it’s just too much for a lightweight tyre or tube.
The best way to ensure good tyre performance on this ride will be to change the rubber as often as opportunity allows.
This bag from an old compressor is ideal for all the odd bits and pieces of tools, hose clamps, nuts and bolts and other hardware sundries.
GPS
The GPS has to be mounted somewhere so the rider can see it easily, and it needs to be hard-wired. Otherwise, if you pull up and turn the ignition off, the GPS will shut down.
I carry a second GPS, and I keep it in a pannier or bag, because if the first one gets damaged, it makes sense to have the spare somewhere different.
Read through my column of last issue to fill in any gaps here. As I said at the start, a lot of this is close to my regular riding set-up, and I outlined that last issue. Between that column and this one, you should be able to do some good, sensible preparation for one of the greatest rides of your life.
The weight of the whole rig I’ve described here?
About 10kg.
Any more, and you’re carrying gear you don’t need.
Comfortable shoes that pack flat, but will cope with a long hike if need be. They don’t have to look good.
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