CB1300 Kitted Out for Touring (pics)

[ceebie13]

I thought "Crikey, that's a bit firm", worrying about what I was going to feel like an hour down the road. G

The mind boggles Geoff!!! What did Mrs B.Bird have to say about it?

[MacD]

Don't worry, Simon, there's oodles of space under the seat for rag, a sponge, a shammy, WD40, Autoglym and chain lube. So when Lyn has her head in a book I shall be being completely and utterly anal and tinkering with the bike outside the motel room door.

I hope you can fit a steam cleaner in there too!? I did the round trip to Invercargill from Auckland for the Munro rally recently and my lovely clean Bandit got absolutely filthy. There was a nasty gritty dust on every surface imaginable and it was in large part lime from road works and general road filth from riding in heavy rain. I'm still cleaning it 3 weeks later!

However the trip was great! I used a set of Oxford Standard panniers (wife's gear) and a Ventura Bathurst pack for my gear, tools, tiedowns, etc. I didn't use a tankbag as I find them a bit annoying, although they provide better weight distribution I guess.

Make sure you protect your paintwork really well from rubbing by the various straps etc. I thought I had my bike well protected but I still lost paint on the pillion grabrail as the tape on it actually started moving against the paintwork as the adhesive came unstuck over the 10 or so days of travel.

I'd also recommend putting ScuffProof or similar plastic protective coating on forward facing surfaces including lower forklegs and frame downtubes. I covered the forklegs which saved them, but my downtubes took a battering from stonechips.

Anyhow, have a great trip!

[ceebie13]

All good advice Mac, although I prefer to use the rubbery blanket stuff to protect my side panels etc. Have never used the protectacoat stuff at all and never had fork leg damage in years of long distance touring. Always a first time though I guess. Especially as this will be my first big trip naked for a few years. Liked the pic.

[MacD]

I was surprised at the stone damage I picked up too, but we hit several long stretches of roadworks in bad weather, so we were riding almost in grinding paste in places. I had thought of using rubber matting, but I was pleased I used tape as the grit couldn't get under it.

I really enjoyed touring on the Bandit, it was effortless compared to my RF900 in terms of body position. The standard seat was surprisingly comfortable too, I guess I have enough padding myself!? Only issue was buffeting from the airflow around the screen at times, but we were riding in some very strong winds at times.

Hopefully you'll have good weather for your trip. Are you coming up through Auckland at any stage (edit - OK, just found the other thread) ?

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

I daresay the handling will be interesting. Haven't tried that yet. Might need a bit of reverse thrust to stop mind.

They actually suite the bike very nice... put all your weight in the saddle and smake sure the side saddles are evenelly weigted... once they are you should hardly even notice they are there...

I found with my ventura side saddles I have to use a bungy cord across the them on the setat to hold them down (thats cause I fo have a pillion) and another to link the bottom of them to the rear sub frame to stop them blowing out... only takes a 30 seconds to put them on...

I also recommend ScuffProof or similar... I now have minor scuffs from the panniers (I have it... I must get round to actually putting on...)

As for reverse thrust... I been trying to work that out for years... apparently there are things called brakes and gears... pffffs

[Blackbird]

Ditto G, I'll call you a day or two before we get to Coro. How's that?

Absolutely fine. My beastie is already lodged up there and waiting for me!

[James Deuce]

Another piece of unsolicited advice: the rain covers for the panniers won't last long. Make sure you pack all the gear in the panniers in plastic bags, preferably good strong rubbish bags.

[MacD]

Would a Kleensak be OK Jim?

(OK, I realise you stated plastic bag also, but it seemed like a good joke at the time!)

The best use I've found for the rain covers is to use them if you want to check your panniers in as luggage on a flight. Put them on upside-down so that the elasticated opening is at the top and the cover holds all the straps in place.

[shafty]

Oh the joys of awesome factory luggage! Pete, ST1300

[ceebie13]

Another piece of unsolicited advice: the rain covers for the panniers won't last long. Make sure you pack all the gear in the panniers in plastic bags, preferably good strong rubbish bags.

Absolutely right Jim...on a recent tour round France the rain water actually collected in the bottom of the rain cover forming a puddle (read reservoir) in which the pannier sat for a few hundred K. Result? Soaking wet stuff in the pannier itself! Perfect! Since then,as you say, we have been insulating our stuff with tough plassy bags.

[ceebie13]

Oh the joys of awesome factory luggage! Pete, ST1300

...not to mention every other cenceivable luxury eh Pete?

[paturoa]

Make sure you have some of that plastic stick on paint protector stuff between the pannier bags and any paint. They work real well as paint strippers!

I got some of the cheaper oxford pannier bags and they have (had) little rain-coat thingies to cover them with. Well they dont stay on long. Tie them on.