I’ve been tenting and backpacking since I used to be a child, however I didn’t begin driving bikes till I used to be in school. Even then, for fairly a number of years I by no means thought-about combining the 2 hobbies. Bikes felt harmful sufficient on their very own.
Making an attempt to make use of a motorbike to go tenting felt even riskier, to not point out complicated, including new logistical snafus and stresses to people who already come from a tenting journey.
It wasn’t till a visit to Guatemala in 2021 that I first started bike tenting. I rented a Honda XR250 Twister, spent a month touring the nation, and fell in love with residing off of two wheels. Within the years since, I’ve ridden and camped on over a dozen bikes in areas from the Andes to the Himalaya, South Pacific, and Balkans.
On this article, I’ll share why I fell in love with the apply, with 4 causes you may wish to take into account bike tenting (and one purpose you may not).
1. You’ll Save Cash and Be Extra Eco-Pleasant
Motorbikes current quite a few benefits each to your pockets and your carbon footprint. Small-to-medium displacement motorbikes are sometimes a mere $5,000 new. Older or smaller bikes can simply be discovered for a lot much less. I’ve bought motorbikes for as little as $900 in some international locations.
Bikes aren’t simply higher to your pockets on the entrance finish, although. A small bike’s fuel mileage is infinitely higher than even essentially the most fuel-efficient automotive. You’ll save TONS on fuel. This varies based mostly on the bike, however for instance, with the Royal Enfield Himalayan—a motorcycle I’ve ridden in India, Ecuador, and the US—you’ll be able to rise up to 70 or 80 mpg, if not greater.
NOTE: Motorbikes emit far much less CO2 than automobiles, however do emit extra smog-forming pollution like hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides. Nonetheless, if you additionally account for the uncooked supplies and power used within the manufacturing of a bike vs. a automotive, there’s a clear winner within the eco-friendly contest.
2. You’re Pressured to Pack Smaller, Lighter, and Smarter
Motorbike tenting encourages an uber-minimalist strategy as a result of area is at a premium. You may solely carry what you’ll be able to match behind you. In contrast to in a automotive, the place you’ll be able to throw in oodles of random gear and provides and decide what you need if you get to the campsite or trailhead, on a motorbike you must make all these choices earlier than you allow residence.
I used to suppose this was a ache within the butt, however the extra I’ve camped off of a motorcycle, the extra I’ve appreciated the way it forces me to take heed to what, and the way, I pack.
It is a good way to combat the consumerism so rampant within the outside trade as of late, to study what you actually want and what you are able to do with out, and what items of drugs and attire are so light-weight and versatile that they’re value bringing. Years of journeys on motorbikes have helped me pare my gear closet right down to the naked necessities, so once I do attain the wilderness, I’m not surrounded by half of REI’s catalog and might truly give attention to the character round me.
3. You’re Extra in Contact with the World Round You
One other seemingly irritating function of motorbike tenting is that you just’re all the time on the mercy of the weather. Wind, rain, snow, sweltering warmth and freezing chilly… None of this actually issues if you’re touring by automotive. You may merely roll up these home windows and placed on Spotify to dam all of it out.
You’re out of luck on a motorbike. I’ve spent many hours caught beneath freeway overpasses as rain poured down or prematurely stopped to arrange camp for the night time amid snowstorms and excessive winds.
This will likely look like a curse, however it’s actually a blessing. In spite of everything, tenting is about getting out in nature, exterior of our little bubbles at residence and work, and experiencing the pure world round us. Bikes pressure us to be on the market. When issues go south on a motorbike journey, there isn’t any escaping to the A/C, radio, and plush reclined seats of your automotive. You need to pivot and profit from it.
4. The Journey Begins the Second You Depart Dwelling
Once you drive a automotive to a campsite or trailhead, your journey doesn’t begin till you arrive and park your automotive. Once you use a motorbike, your journey begins the second you swing your leg over the bike and go away your storage.
In a automotive, the journey to go tenting is simply anticipation. You’re sitting behind your glass home windows, sipping espresso, listening to podcasts, and attempting not to go to sleep because the world drones by exterior. On a motorbike, the journey is a part of the journey.
One Purpose You Shouldn’t: Bikes are Harmful
The largest purpose most individuals won’t ever study to trip a motorbike—a lot much less take one tenting—is that they’re harmful. In line with the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration (NHTSA), motorcyclists are 28 occasions extra possible than passenger automotive occupants to die in a motorcar site visitors crash, and 4 occasions extra prone to be injured.
There isn’t a means round this. Among the danger will be mitigated by defensive driving, common expertise apply, carrying high-quality gear, and never driving underneath the affect of medicine or alcohol. Nonetheless, you’re taking a danger anytime you get on a bike, even in the event you’re an ideal driver.
If it’s not for you, it’s not for you.
However as outside fanatics, we take dangers on a regular basis in return for rewards. When you give bike tenting a shot, chances are you’ll discover that the rewards are greater than you anticipated.
