ChCh to Auckland Bike Recommendations?

[FJRider]

Seriously, though, what's wrong with your SRV, a magnetic tankbag, and a pair of throwover panniers?

Plenty of folk have toured around the country on GN250s, and your SRV goes a fair bit better than a GN.

Big bikes just encourage you to go fast, anyway. And that's illegal.

What he said, go with what you have. Any gravel you find, just take slowly. Visit a few bike shops to see what you CAN get in the way of carrying gear... then find the same second hand.

[jafar]

Hmm, maybe I should look a little harder for some bags that'll fit the bike without causing problems with the tail. It would make sense I guess.

I think I just like a good excuse to buy toys

Ventura rack & Oxford saddlebags for the back & a Tank bag, problem solved
250 is plenty to tour on & you get to see a lot more when your travelling @ a conservative pace. Take your time & enjoy the ride.

[xwhatsit]

Hi xerxesdaphat,

My initial plan was to take the SRV, but the tail is really flexible so I could see it being an issue for mounting saddle & tail bags as I wouldn't want to tighten them down for fear of damaging the tail (all the bags I've seen generally lash around both the tail and frame). I lashed my sleeping bag to it the other day, using the proper tie down tabs, and was worried about damaging the tail as it squashed right down and deformed a fair bit.

If you get a pack rack, these attach to little brackets that join to proper mounting points, like the shock mounts and subframe. Then you attach the pack rack to these (so it's removable in a hurry). No worries about deforming the tail.

Soft panniers -- you can get throwover ones that drape across the pillion seat. You'd have to check them out with your bike first, see that the don't tangle in the rear wheel or shocks or whatever.

Tank bags sit on your tank, which is hopefully fairly strong. The worry with these is that they can scratch the paint on your tank, but you can get clear protector material (cut to size) if you're stressed about it.

SRV250 would be luxury compared to this

[BigDave]

Cheers for all the advice guys, really appreciated. I've certainly been swayed back towards taking the SRV - I do love that bike!

I'll see what I can get for it, luggage wise, and take it from there.

Cheers,
Dave

SRV250 would be luxury compared to this

That looks pretty uncomfortable! Hats off to the guy (or gal!)!

[FJRider]

Remember... when you are touring, if ya can't carry it... ya don't need it...

[clint640]

Soft panniers -- you can get throwover ones that drape across the pillion seat. You'd have to check them out with your bike first, see that the don't tangle in the rear wheel or shocks or whatever.
:

Soft panniers are my favourite, Since you're travelling solo the panniers can sit well forward & keep the bike well balanced. A packrack puts the load about as far from the bike's centre of gravity a possible, & especially on smaller machines this often screws up the handling a bit.

Some bikes will need some side rails/brackets to fit panniers, but any light engineering shop (or mate with welder) should be able to make something up for similar $ to a packrack.

Cheers
Clint

[-easy--rider-]

when would you ever need to go on shingle anyway? a tank bag would be the go get one off trademe but make sure its a good size one and if you cant get a pack rack get someone to make you a rack for saddle bags with peices down the side so the bags dont go into the wheel. i have some bags you could probly borrow or buy if you wanted. where are you planing on going? i plan to go away for a bit my self around that time