Our approach to kit was that, if we were likely to be able to use an item in our own country before or after the trip it was worth spending a bit on it to get quality gear. If an item would just be for the trip then go the budget route. Also bear in mind that any kit you take will get as much wear in a week as it would normally be subjected to in a couple of years in the UK. That's largely down to it soaking up dust & sweat.
Let's start at the top and work our way down.
Helmet
We used open faced helmets. In the UK I normally use a full face or a flip-front helmet, but in Asia it would be generally too hot and humid for either of those. An open face helmet with a visor, but one that could also be used with the visor up and a pair of goggles (motocross type) would be ideal. The reason why you would want both goggles and/or a visor? A visor works best most of the time, especially if it's raining. However on many of the roads, dust can be a major issue. On the main routes, trucks in particular kick up a lot of dust. And off the beaten track, much of the time you might be on unsurfaced roads. Goggles keep most of the dust out, whereas a visor will not.
Goggles
As mentioned above, at a minimum just get yourself either a budget (£10-20) pair of motocross goggles off ebay. As long as you can use them with your chosen helmet they are almost all sponge-backed and comfy. When you're the last rider of a group on a dusty road, all riding behind that truck that's held you up for 10 miles...you'll thank me for it!
Neck tube
One of those cloth tube type things that you wear around your neck. In this case it's not to keep your neck warm, it's to help filter out dust so you're not breathing it. A thin one will be fine, thick ones would be too warm. I normally take two or three of these at £1.50 each because they can get really dirty in no time.
Jacket/Armour/Top
This one is a little more down to personal preference combined with how safety-conscious you are, and the climate in the country you'll be visiting at whatever time of year you are going there. Vietnam in April meant 30+ degrees C, so we went lightweight and minimal. I bought a body armour top off ebay that cost £30, it did the job but it was fit for the bin by the end of the trip. As it happens, I think it's still sitting on a window ledge at the Hotel Tirant in Hanoi (3rd floor) where we left it. If you can find it, you can have it. So, body armour tops will work if it's hot enough. If you're going at a cooler time of the year humidity will still be a problem so best to take something that's still breathable if you need it to be. Touring jackets with a stitched in waterproof membrane could be much too hot. If it has a membrane that can be unzipped and removed if you need it to, great. This year we're going a month earlier and it won't be as hot, plus the route we're taking involves a lot of mountain roads at altitude. Because of that I've bought an RST Ventilator armoured mesh textile jacket with removable thermal and waterproof liners. I expect to just wear the mesh part most or all of the time. If you do take something heavily ventilated you can always just chuck a waterproof over jacket or a fleece on over/under it if it gets a bit chilly at altitude. It's usually easier to layer up than try and cool down a jacket that's just too warm for the conditions.
Lightweight jacket
When you get to altitude you can be in the cloud cover and it gets much cooler, so a light jacket (doesn’t have to be a motorbike jacket) will do the job. I used an old touring jacket that I bought in 1997, removed all the armour and liner and put it on over the body armour top. If you have one jacket that converts and can do both jobs, great. Alternatively just a regular soft shell jacket (£20 from sports direct) will do to keep you warm as long as you have armour underneath.
Lightweight jacket
When you get to altitude you can be in the cloud cover and it gets much cooler, so a light jacket (doesn’t have to be a motorbike jacket) will do the job. I used an old touring jacket that I bought in 1997, removed all the armour and liner and put it on over the body armour top. If you have one jacket that converts and can do both jobs, great. Alternatively just a regular soft shell jacket (£20 from sports direct) will do to keep you warm as long as you have armour underneath.
On a trip like ours, we're forever stopping to take photos or gaze at the scenery so gloves that keep the heat to a minimum, and can be put on and taken off easily are paramount. Also given my tendency to take photos many and often, I want to be able to do that without taking my gloves off each time to use the camera. Personally, I use motocross or supermoto type gloves which are lightweight. I realise they won't be the ultimate in protection in the event of a spill, far from it in fact, but we keep our speeds low since we're on 125cc bikes so it's unlikely the gloves would have to cope with a spill above 30mph. I go that fast on my bicycle with much less kit, so I'm happy with the compromise. A cheap pair of motocross gloves can be picked up from as little as £20.
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| Lightweight Supermoto Gloves |
Trousers
Ok so this is where we get to the White Trousers of Awesomeness. I set about before the last trip trying to find some suitable zip-off enduro trousers because they're tough and being able to zip the legs off on hotter days would be a Good Thing. It turns out they're quite hard to get hold of unless you want to spend £100 or more. So in the end I located the White Trousers of Awesomeness!
They did the job brilliantly, tough as you like but the zips make them super convenient. I think you'll agree they are Awesome, in a 1970's Bee Gees kind of way. Generally speaking though you want something on the lightweight and breathable side, and enduro or motocross pants will do fine providing you have some knee armour in there - or seperate. I got them from MotoIn.de
Knee Armour
Optional, depends on whether your chosen trousers have any in. I went for some Forcefield Limb Tubes which were nice and comfy. I would recommend you try before you buy with any knee armour because if it's going to chafe on the back of your knee you'll soon regret a poor buying choice. Especially if you're already travelling when you realise that, and faced with wearing them all day, every day.
Boots
Again, personal preference rules here. Some boots are warmer than others, but for the most part they're all warm anyway so there's no real way of keeping your feet cool. Keep in mind your boots will get muddy, dusty and sweaty so there's no point taking your brand new Alpinestars Francis Rossi replicas. The other thing is that if you do a route anything like ours you'll find yourself in thick slick mud sooner or later, and your typical boot aimed at road riding will not have a very grippy sole. I bought a pair of boots from Aldi for £30 which did the job well and had a grippier sole that was fine in muddy conditions.
Goretex boot liners
£8 a pair on ebay, military surplus, if it rains and you get drenched these will keep your feet dry inside your soaked boots
Waterproofs
You won’t put them on unless you have to, but if you do need to put them on it will probably be monsoon conditions. The waterproofs from Flamingo let water in after 2 minutes so take some that you know work and fit you.Underwear
Yes underwear. There's nothing worse than getting a severe case of swamp crotch is there. Well there is something you can do about that. Bamboo undies like these, expensive though they are, help loads and don't stink like normal cotton stuff, plus it's naturally anti-bacterial. You can also get bamboo socks which do a similar job.
Luggage
Oooh me favourite subject. I'll confess, I am a luggage addict. I've got more of it than I know what to do with and still manage to buy some more before any bike trip. I used waterproof dry-bags, similar to the ones you can pick up in Sports Direct for £5, to keep things like electronics, chargers, clothes etc all separate and safe from water or dust. For my valuables (passport, cash, cards, camera) I used a Kriega R20 Rucksack with a Kube Pocket on the strap which was perfect for keeping my camera handy. The Kriega has one of the comfiest strap setups of any rucksack out there, they have put a lot of thought into how it works and it does a good job of taking the weight off your shoulders. It will also take a hydration bladder and tube, which is a nice feature, or a back protector insert. I clipped an S-Biner on the camera loop which meant if I dropped it while taking photos on the move it wouldn't fall to the road. This setup worked really well. That said, this year I'm going to try and avoid wearing a rucksack altogether since I don't like any kind of bulk about my person. For that reason I picked up an Overboard Rucksack which is completely submergible, being designed for use on boats and yachts. I'll bungee-net that to the rear rack, and when we're away from the bike I can just wear it as a rucksack like normal. They also do a great roll-top duffel which you could just bungee to the seat. Clothes and other kit will go in those dry bags inside the panniers which our rental bikes come with.
Kriega
Ortlieb
Overboard
Camera
You probably already have a decent compact, most people do and that's fine. I used the trip as an excuse to update a bit since my last digital camera was a 6 year old Lumix FZ-7 which is halfway in size between a compact and an SLR (bridge camera sized). What I wanted was something that I could keep on my person, ready for that quick snap. But since I'd be on the motorbike it would need to be tough enough that if I dropped it or got caught in a downpour it wouldn't break. Well I found the answer after loads of research on lens types and photo quality, in the form of the Olympus TG-820 It's waterproof, can be submerged up to 5m, is drop proof, dust proof (important in 'Nam) and a nice compact size with no protruding lens. Better than that, the photo quality, always a compromise on a fixed-lens 'tough' camera, was better than most others in the class. All the photos in the Nambusters 1 trip report were taken on the TG-820. It lived in a Kriega Kuba pocket on the strap of my rucksack (more on that later) and did a great job. Many of the photos of scenery were actually taken one-handed while we were chugging along at 20-30mph and they still came out great, can't ask for more than that really.
 |
| The White Trousers of Awesomeness. Zipped off below the knee and they're still Awesome. |
They did the job brilliantly, tough as you like but the zips make them super convenient. I think you'll agree they are Awesome, in a 1970's Bee Gees kind of way. Generally speaking though you want something on the lightweight and breathable side, and enduro or motocross pants will do fine providing you have some knee armour in there - or seperate. I got them from MotoIn.de
 |
| Some more awesome white trousers. |
Knee Armour
Optional, depends on whether your chosen trousers have any in. I went for some Forcefield Limb Tubes which were nice and comfy. I would recommend you try before you buy with any knee armour because if it's going to chafe on the back of your knee you'll soon regret a poor buying choice. Especially if you're already travelling when you realise that, and faced with wearing them all day, every day.
Boots
Again, personal preference rules here. Some boots are warmer than others, but for the most part they're all warm anyway so there's no real way of keeping your feet cool. Keep in mind your boots will get muddy, dusty and sweaty so there's no point taking your brand new Alpinestars Francis Rossi replicas. The other thing is that if you do a route anything like ours you'll find yourself in thick slick mud sooner or later, and your typical boot aimed at road riding will not have a very grippy sole. I bought a pair of boots from Aldi for £30 which did the job well and had a grippier sole that was fine in muddy conditions.
Goretex boot liners
£8 a pair on ebay, military surplus, if it rains and you get drenched these will keep your feet dry inside your soaked boots
Waterproofs
You won’t put them on unless you have to, but if you do need to put them on it will probably be monsoon conditions. The waterproofs from Flamingo let water in after 2 minutes so take some that you know work and fit you.Underwear
Yes underwear. There's nothing worse than getting a severe case of swamp crotch is there. Well there is something you can do about that. Bamboo undies like these, expensive though they are, help loads and don't stink like normal cotton stuff, plus it's naturally anti-bacterial. You can also get bamboo socks which do a similar job.
Luggage
Oooh me favourite subject. I'll confess, I am a luggage addict. I've got more of it than I know what to do with and still manage to buy some more before any bike trip. I used waterproof dry-bags, similar to the ones you can pick up in Sports Direct for £5, to keep things like electronics, chargers, clothes etc all separate and safe from water or dust. For my valuables (passport, cash, cards, camera) I used a Kriega R20 Rucksack with a Kube Pocket on the strap which was perfect for keeping my camera handy. The Kriega has one of the comfiest strap setups of any rucksack out there, they have put a lot of thought into how it works and it does a good job of taking the weight off your shoulders. It will also take a hydration bladder and tube, which is a nice feature, or a back protector insert. I clipped an S-Biner on the camera loop which meant if I dropped it while taking photos on the move it wouldn't fall to the road. This setup worked really well. That said, this year I'm going to try and avoid wearing a rucksack altogether since I don't like any kind of bulk about my person. For that reason I picked up an Overboard Rucksack which is completely submergible, being designed for use on boats and yachts. I'll bungee-net that to the rear rack, and when we're away from the bike I can just wear it as a rucksack like normal. They also do a great roll-top duffel which you could just bungee to the seat. Clothes and other kit will go in those dry bags inside the panniers which our rental bikes come with.
Kriega
Ortlieb
Overboard
Camera
You probably already have a decent compact, most people do and that's fine. I used the trip as an excuse to update a bit since my last digital camera was a 6 year old Lumix FZ-7 which is halfway in size between a compact and an SLR (bridge camera sized). What I wanted was something that I could keep on my person, ready for that quick snap. But since I'd be on the motorbike it would need to be tough enough that if I dropped it or got caught in a downpour it wouldn't break. Well I found the answer after loads of research on lens types and photo quality, in the form of the Olympus TG-820 It's waterproof, can be submerged up to 5m, is drop proof, dust proof (important in 'Nam) and a nice compact size with no protruding lens. Better than that, the photo quality, always a compromise on a fixed-lens 'tough' camera, was better than most others in the class. All the photos in the Nambusters 1 trip report were taken on the TG-820. It lived in a Kriega Kuba pocket on the strap of my rucksack (more on that later) and did a great job. Many of the photos of scenery were actually taken one-handed while we were chugging along at 20-30mph and they still came out great, can't ask for more than that really.
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