Strap these two essential items to your offroad bike before your next adventure.
Also read: The products were tried and tested on the ultimate Overberg motorbike route: Cape Town to Mossel Bay.
1. Navigation
If you’re serious about exploring ‒ and to my mind this is almost entirely the point of adventure motorcycling ‒ you need a rugged, waterproof, shockproof GPS loaded with good tracking software.
A Garmin Montana and Tracks4Africa combo is king. The Montana is glove-friendly, the display is bright and you can mount it vertically to avoid a cluttered cockpit. With Tracks4Africa there’s no voice prompt to tell you where to turn, but the road network is exhaustive and includes conditions, fuel stops and numerous points of interest. Familiarisation with the interface is vital ‒ it’s not as intuitive as regular navigation software and you need to keep an eye on where you’re going. However, the ability to plot routes and distances and mark waypoints make it an adventure-biking essential.
Garmin Montana 680, R10 099, garmin.co.za & Tracks4Africa SD card, R790, tracks4africa.co.za
Alternatively
For a more traditional motorcycle navigation set-up, the Garmin Zūmo 595LM is hardy, waterproof and has a left-hand- oriented mode as well as lane assist. The display is bright, has anti-vibration technology and can be operated with gloves. It also connects to a phone via Bluetooth.
Garmin Zūmo, R11 299, garmin.co.za
2. Luggage
We couldn’t have done it without our Garmin Montana and Tracks4Africa combo, and Kriega US Drypack luggage.
Motorcycle luggage is a polarising issue. Some say a hard-luggage system (top box and pannier cases) is best but for off-roading, I’d go with soft luggage. It may not have the security but it’s a little more affordable, less likely to break if you fall and you can customise your carrying capacity. The Kriega US Drypack luggage series is a top option for this. There are four bags in the range: a five, 10, 20 and 30-litre. Each is fully waterproof and designed in such a way that they can be strapped together in various configurations. A single 30-litre bag is perfect for weekend rides, but I would recommend a 30-litre with two 20-litres strapped to each side for longer trips.
Kriega US Drypack, from R1 224 for a five-litre pack, ktmcapetown.co.za
