Motorcycle Forums

If you want to travel light; Phone/charger Preferably a smart phone £100 top up before you leave, can be used for maps, just remember to turn your internet off when you are not using it, abroad it will eat through £100 in a matter of hours. Money/ card, passport 2 sets of underwear, waterproofs, 1 pair of jeans, 2 t-shirts, footwear(providing you wear leathers setting off). Puncture repair can and tool kit under seat. The most important thing is to check tyres before you set off, no amount of puncture repair goo can fix a blowout or broken carcass. Try to avoid camping, you will feel a lot better when covering long distance, even if you have to stay in a hostel.

In some countries it is a legal requirement to have High-Vis jackets just in case you break down. They are cheap and worth carrying around. Bring a little tool kit, just in case something minor happens. I forwent the warning triangle cause my bike has hazard lights. Take with some excitement, a memory for remembering to ride on the other side of the road ;) and money for petrol and tolls.

My advice?

Forget the twat nav's ,eye fones, bi-vis and the ton of chargers and go explore and enjoy yourself. Stop being a slave to Technology and spend your hard earned on the local delights.

Well it depends on where you are going and what you’re going to do.

MAPS, take maps like you don’t have satnav, ADAC maps are good, but check the scale of any maps being used, be careful of 1:1,000,000 million scale maps.

Special Maps, ADAC motorradtouren (ADAC-UEM) maps are great www it, also if your going to the alps there are a few nice alps motorbike sites with maps you can download and print off.

SATNAV, get a good one with up to date maps and lane assist for the motorways, and work out how to use it. The motorway network in Europe is complex especially around big cities and it constantly changes, use the motorways to get to other places. If you can use the autobahn do so, not to do 5000 mph but just so you can relax at your cruising speed. 

If you do have pre-booked accommodation do a proper check of the location before adding it to your GPS, like verify the exact location using www maps and even print them off.

Compass (pre-satnav device), I have a floating compass inside the fairing of my bike, it comes in very useful.

Plan your route using ViaMichelin or similar. If you HAVE to use toll roads it will tell you the cost and you can prepare exact amounts in coin bags rather than faffing around trying to look for change. GPS is handy for finding petrol stations and cash machines but is probably best left in a bag until you are completely lost. Take cash, multiple credit cards and bank cards (some ATMs may accept cards from one bank but not another), small tyre repair kit, locks, alarm, insurance against the inevitable theft of your bike, etc etc