COMMON MISTAKES on a LONG MOTORCYCLE TRIP (do you make them?)

good a you people's billet Amata back with another video and today we're going to find out if you make any of the following common mistakes when going on a long motorcycle trip seasoned riders might already be familiar with a few of these but those of you going on your first long-distance motorcycle trip should pay attention because avoiding some of these mistakes will save you time energy and money but more important it will leave you with greater peace of mind because a big part of the ride happens in here so let's get in it folks hope you're doing good happy Canada Day to all the Canucks watching I've met more than a few of you on my travels and I've actually got family living in Canada I'm really looking forward to get there one day during the last few years on my long motorcycle travels around the world I've made my fair share of mistakes and I would like to help you to avoid them so let's kick off with the most obvious and most common mistake bringing too much stuff on the ride simply having too much gear thus making motorcycle heavier than it already is and this will affect its handling especially offroad bring smaller versions of items like a compact travel towel or smaller non bulky tools and you don't need all these different toiletry items a bar a soap will do for your whole body and when you do need more clothes it's pretty affordable or downright cheap depending on where you are in the world if you need to buy some new ones and don't go overboard with the gear that you're wearing keep it simple boots helmet gloves and a nice riding jacket with a good back protector upgrading that worthless piece of stock foam padding that comes with some of these jackets it's definitely worth it add a good pair of riding pants and you're good to go also remember that when you're traveling from the cold into the heat that you'll need space to put away your winter liner that you'll remove from your pants and jacket same goes with a rain suit if you're bringing one just look at this bulky mess by the way it's definitely worth it to compartmentalize stuff into containers or plastic bags I've used Tupperware boxes for example and it keeps things organized especially if you're riding with soft luggage what happened to me was that the longer I was traveling the more stuff I accumulated over time looking back it's amazing how long I rode around with spare tires but I always figured hey they're so good especially in Australia because it was hard for me to throw away stuff because the country is expensive also I was working and living down at the same time so stuff remain useful for most of the trip in New Zealand I put gifts that I was given along the way and there are items in the box and send them back home one hundred and twenty dollars god damn you New Zealand Post still salty another mistake not having a general plan outline of the trip but Bay through my plan is no plan you've been grabbing travel cliches from the cliche had haven't you all good man until you run out of money barely halfway there or you're experiencing this strange stressful feeling you can't really put your finger on where you feel like you're getting everywhere and nowhere at the same time see the thing is most people aren't that much of a free spirit to cope with that kind of travel I consider myself pretty loose when it comes to planning but even I had a plan when I went out there and still it definitely could have been a bit tighter during some parts of the journey or I should have really waited or change the plan sooner without basic planning you won't have a realistic idea of how much the trip will cost how long a trip will take and where you're going to be during certain time periods enjoying being on the northern hemisphere in November in some parts of the world and how South Australia in January mate did you drink your own piss yet the worst is when you got too much distance to travel and too little time let's see you've got two months of travel been riding for about one get about what five thousand kilometres got one month left I still got to do about 18,000 kilometers that's divided by 30 about 600 kilometres a day you just still gonna make it have fun trust me I was that dude at some point I had to do about 5,000 kilometres in Russia riding east in about six days because my visa was running out it ain't great and the stress already started to creep up in the back of my head when I was in East Iran and slowly it started to rule my mind and poison the experience should be something this is too good to know good so plot your route on one of the many online mapping services and add 20% to that number decide on which states or countries you really want to visit which regions are absolutely must seek and which parts of the world are so unique that you should stick around longer personally I wish I could have stayed longer in Tajikistan or Mongolia because the riding experience there is just out of this world watch one of the videos to see what I mean in my humble opinion it's better to focus on spending more time in countries further away than countries nearby because the ones nearby you can always visit those on a different trip I for one spend too much time riding around in Europe during the beginning of my journey decide on how many kilometers or miles you're gonna ride or day and this can always change the higher that number the less fun and realistic it becomes for most people and don't spend let's say more than two thirds of your days on riding though you don't have to go crazy and plot every day on the excel sheet tomorrow I want to ride eight hundred and twenty seven kilometres and arrive at the camping spot between 623 and 635 and there's always a chance to add or deviate from the plan because your journey is always evolving just remember to adapt on time third mistake time is flying a bit isn't it travelling with another rider or in a group without having ever done that before oh boy so it's one thing to Rio of other people for a few days or maybe a week but it's a completely different experience where you traveling with someone for extended periods of time especially when you don't really know them because Pleasant formalities or the honeymoon period only lasts for so long and after a while the real you comes out and the same goes for the others why does he talk so much why is he so reserved bloody inconsiderate why does he take so long to turn off his goddamn turn signal I can't believe he drinks Heineken so everyone has their own unique personality travel preferences and financial situation and oh yeah riding style these variables can mismatch on quite a few levels and this is only naming a few remember you're riding on a motorcycle so you can go anywhere it anytime on a whim there's an insane amount of freedom a or disposal at the twist of your wrist now imagine not being able to enjoy all that freedom the way that you want to experience it maybe the other likes to go fast but you like to ride at a leisurely pace maybe you want to ride the most obscure backroads but the others wanted to ride the highway and maybe the other likes to get riding before the crack of dawn but you you like to enjoy breakfast after sunrise how you deal with this depends on your personality and experience therefore undertake a few short riding trips alone and with others so you can distill your own riding preferences so you'll better understand where you're willing to compromise but more important where you draw the line resentment is a real and it poisons the mind slowly things can get real dark and your mind isn't where it's supposed to be that is being in the moment and enjoying the road ahead I just worry a bit about how my own brain takes in that regards but over the years I've heard similar experiences from other riders Ed March from C 90 adventures actually briefly mentions this darkness in one of his episodes go watch it it's absolutely brilliant there's crap on TV that somehow wins Emmys that doesn't even come close by the way let us know in the comments what your preferences are can you ride with someone else or in a group or do you only ride alone let us know if you got any strange or funny experiences anyway at the end of the day it's good to remember that were bloody monkeys sitting on a combustion engine on wheels you click better with some people than others or maybe you just like to ride alone so don't be afraid about what you find out about yourself take it into account and plan accordingly better to find out sooner than later before people have invested time money and emotion into a big trip the fourth and final mistake sounds so dramatic a focusing too much on destination and where you're going let me grab the cliche hat there for a second okay it's a big one it's not about the destination it's about the journey this Leisha is actually pretty solid because in most cases it's true and the funny thing is is that we tend to forget what I found is that I will create these arbitrary goals that I had to achieve within X amount of time get to that country go to this place go this route better be there before Sunday for sure there are times when these are legit goals and pressures that you have to adhere to but a lot of times when you're honest with yourself you'll find out that it doesn't really matter and in most cases you're literally free to do whatever also there's a bigger chance of making mistakes when your mind isn't really there and you're thinking about other things or you're stressing out and you're too much in a hurry a calamity is the sum of smaller mistakes that meet each other in a perfect circumstantial shitstorm where your mine is not there or you're in a hurry that could be the final piece in a horrible puzzle so we create these non-existing pressures that feel real to us like I said monkey on wheels but I know where this goes slow is slowly moving to that State of Mind of haste and there's something that learned along the way that's not where you want to be and especially not in these conditions and all these little missions can take you out of the moment because you're too preoccupied with what's ahead we keep thinking about where we ought to be and completely miss out on where we are sometimes or in some amazing place but our mind is too preoccupied with some external circumstances you know for me it helps when I become aware of those silly situations and have a chuckle about it this can bring you back into the moment alright folks I'll be a happy man if some of my suggestions have been useful to some of you I had a couple more mistakes to talk about but time went by pretty fast actually maybe I'll make another video and let us know in the comments if you would like that and if you have any suggestions yourself no joke by the way about time because as you can see it slowly got dark outside also let us know if you agree or disagree with any of these mistakes and which mistakes have you made while on the road let us know so please subscribe if you got anything from this video and if you haven't already and I click that a little bill icon so you get notifications of new videos YouTube is really bad at doing that nowadays and it would be super helpful if you could share this video with other riders out there go ride stay upright and I'll see you all soon enough job [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Pedro Mota

Views: 1,329,799

Keywords: common mistakes on a long motorcycle trip, common motorcycle mistakes, motorcycle mistakes, long motorcycle trip, long distance motorcycle trip, long distance motorcycle riding, long distance motorcycle riding tips, motorcycle, motorcycle trip, riding mistakes, motorcycle riding mistakes, top 5 motorcycle riding mistakes, top 5 mistakes, how to avoid it, motorcycle travel, long motorcycle trip mistakes, motorcycle tips, motorcycle adventures, pedro mota

Id: viV67LjVJfU

Length: 10min 44sec (644 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 01 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

If it won't fit in a back pack you don't need it is my philosophy for trips other than camping.

[u/canonsnyder]

I do a 5-6 day long trip every summer exclusively targeting twisty roads in the NW corner states of the US. I’ve learned what works well for me and my group:

2-4 people.

350-450 miles per day.

Communicators.

Link up twisty roads to make a circuit, then find your night stops based on ride-day length, not specific destinations.

One full toolkit, including wrenches, sockets, tire patch & pump, chain tool, electrical repair, quart of oil & water, etc.

One top case with GoPro & other camera gear wired for on-bike charging and the full first-aid kit.

Each rider packs their own clothes & wet-weather gear. One person adds the toolkit. One person adds the camera/first-aid kit.

This year we leave this upcoming Saturday 7/7, and are all super excited, as always!

[u/wintersdark]

Gotta say, I've done a few long solo trips - that's fine for me, I'm good with what can fit in a backpack, and have no trouble with minimal planning (obviously accounting for realistic distance - time concerns). I'm a pretty simple, easy going guy, and it doesn't take much to keep me happy.

This year, I'll be going on my first long distance group trip, and I'm concerned, as I've very little experience group riding. Hell, in 25 years of riding, I've been on less than half a dozen "group" (read: 3 or 4 people) rides, all pretty short - hours, not days. I was hoping you'd go a little more into the "riding with others" portion there =)

[u/Highwayheatscore]

You tool kit guys kill me. You need to be able to limp your bike to a service station. You're not changing the oil pan out in the middle of nowhere. You don't know what's going to break so why bother trying to bring the whole garage? The toolkit under the seat and few more will do you fine.

[u/HERO_XXL]

Haven’t had the pleasure of making such trips yet. ...Someday. ...but if it’s ONE thing I’ve learned...it’s that experience is the best teacher. I can plan all I want for that first trip, there will ALWAYS be something that I didn’t plan for. So my first time doing ANYTHING is always the “dry run”.
So, maybe my third or fourth go round will be the successful one. Wish me luck.

[u/serenityhays44]

Being older I know that I like to ride alone, I have to deal with people all day already why do it on Vacation, Most my 2 week rides are all Pavement so a Cell Phone, credit card and small tool kit are all I really need, of course this is after learning the hard way and over packing, My only secret is good underwear and socks LOL I dream of taking trips like yours,Your videos are great.