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Posts Tagged ‘adventure touring’

Packing camping gear on a motorcycle requires flexibility in the thing that will hold the equipment. Often times it isn’t necessarily the weight, but instead the dimensions of camping gear that makes packing difficult on a motorcycle. Many of the popular sidebags and top cases aren’t long enough for tent poles and other long items. This leads many riders to build tubes or just strap things on to the bike.

The Giant Loop Great Basin on my Suzuki V-Strom 650 during a trip last summer.

Personally, I like most items to be stored inside where they are less likely to come loose and fall out while on the road or trail. Strapping things on, such as a sleeping bag is  ok. The fewer items that are left hanging, the more secure I feel.

Hands down, the best solution that I have found for packing camping gear on a motorcycle is the Giant Loop Great Basin Saddlebag. Those of you who have followed my product reviews for a while may remember the accolades that I gave Giant Loop for the Fandango tank bag. These guys have it going on.

Build Quality – A

The Giant Loop Great Basin is a soft bag with a tough personality. The bottom portion of the bag is made of 1050 nylon ballistic cordura, the top is made of 22-ounce vinyl coated polyester. Top-notch YKK zippers allow easy access to goods and the whole package is sewn together with military-grade thread.

If you hear “vinyl” and don’t think the Great Basin is up to the rigors of off-road and long-distance touring then you’re sorely mistaken. Giant Loop calls it a Bomb Shell material and says it is similar to a trucker’s tarp. That is a very good descriptor. If the material can hold up to hundreds of thousands of miles on a semi-trailer, then you can bet it will hold your gear securely on the bike.

The straps and heavy-duty metal clamps hold the Giant Loop Great Basin securely to any bike.

Speaking of holding it on the bike, this thing isn’t going anywhere once attached to your bike. The compression/attachment straps are made of 1-inch ballistic cordura and Nylike webbing with steel and aluminum buckles. Two similarly constructed straps secure the bottom of the bag to the bike. I’m not sure what the heck “Nylike” is, but these straps are strong.

Ease of Install – A

The straps secure the Great Basin to just about any bike in less than a minute. Racks aren’t needed, which further simplifies the installation process. Some hard bags might be easier to take on/off, but they also require timely installation of racks to hold them on.

The bag sits on the pillion portion of the seat and is then strapped on. The mass is held close to the bike all three directions of the U-shaped bag. This is perfect for adventure motorcycles and their top-heavy nature. The weight is centralized and held close to the bike.

The bag is removed from the bike quickly at the end of the day. I often put it in my tent to rest against it to read at night. Think of it as the motorcycle camper’s big-back-arm-pillow, like the one you had as a kid.

Included removeable and attached internal bags make easy packing of the Great Basin.

Bang for Your Buck – A

The Giant Loop Great Basin Saddlebag sells for $439. On the surface it seems that there are cheaper products available in plentiful supply. Other dry bag-type saddlebags from high-quality manufacturers such as the Ortlieb Dry Bag Saddlebag and Wolfman Expedition cost $187 and $214, respectively. These bags and others typically require (or at least suggest) the use of side racks to keep the bags from rubbing on the bike. Racks will set you back about $200. The Ortlieb’s 39 liter and Wolfman’s 42 liter capacities are much smaller than the Great Basin’s 50 liter capacity. That is why the Great Basin Giant Loop is a fantastic bang for your buck.

I have not found another product that compares to the Great Basin.

Complaints

A complaint that I do have is that the straps can make access to the contents of the bag more difficult during the day. Pack items that you may need near where the zipper can be opened between straps. Being mindful of where the straps are located will save time during the ride. Another complaint is that the material and zippers of the bag will keep water out, but the threaded areas won’t. Giant Loop provides seam sealer to correct this. Once applied, your gear should stay dry.

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Glines Canyon Dam - by Scott Church

Continuing the relaxed nature of this trip, we weren’t in a hurry to leave the comfort of our sleeping bags. The sun began to warm the ground by the time that we woke up. This was to be our last day on the Olympic Peninsula.

After gathering our food from the bear-proof cabinet, we begin striking matches for a fire. The purchased bundle of wood is too damp to ignite. After many attempts with paper and evergreen branches, I ask the neighbor for some lighter fluid. He offers small fire sticks instead. Now we’re in business. One of our camping favorites is Spam and eggs on bagels or toast. The warm breakfast gives us the kick start needed to pack up and get on with the sightseeing.

We leave Heart O’ the Hills campground at the crack of… oh heck who am I kidding? It was 11 a.m. before we were back on Hurricane Ridge heading back toward Port Angeles. As soon as we reach town we turn west on Hwy 101 for a few miles until we turn South on Olympic Hot Springs Road. This pot-hole ridden road leads pat the Altair campground to one of two dams along the Elwha River.

These dams were built with absolutely no regard for the historical lifeblood of this area. No salmon can make it past the first dam. The dam won’t block salmon passage for much longer. This is the last year that the 100-year old dam will hold back the drainage from the Elwha Mountain Range. In 2011, the dam will come down and hopefully the salmon will begin to climb the rapids to their ancestral spawning grounds for the first time since 1910.

View of the Elwha River and Glines Canyon Dam from overlook

It is easy to see why the owner of the surrounding land, Thomas Aldwell was able to convince George Glines to finance the dam projects at this location. A strong water flow carved a deep and narrow gorge that allows the natural rock walls to do much of the work. The actual dam is perhaps 100 feet long and at 110 feet high. It isn’t a huge dam by any means, but it does hold back a very large amount of wate.r It was interesting to see man’s impact on this area. A future trip may be in order to see it restored to its natural free-flowing state.

Beyond the first dam the road turns to dirt. Many hairpin turns snake their way aboce the dam to a great lookout. The road ends and hiking trails begin just a couple miles past the Elwha Dam overlook. Now familiar with the road, I exercised my throttle hand a bit to make tracks back to Port Angeles.

We arrive to Port Angeles in late afternoon. Despite the heavy tourist traffic, most stores are closed as it is a holiday. A parade marches through town. We walk the parades’ flank and do some window shopping and walk into an antique store or two. Monica is a fan o fthe Twilight books and movies. The small movie theater in downtown Port Angeles is included in a few scenes of one of the movies. This being opening weekend for the latest Twilight movie, the theater and silly teeny-bop tourist trap Eclipse-themed stores are quite busy.

We take some photos and wave goodbye to the numerous cardboard cutouts of the cast members peaking out of windows throughout Port Angeles.

Sunshine Herb and Lavender Farm Sequim, WA - by Monica Ponce-McDermott

We didn’t make it as far as we would have liked. It was time to make our way back home. It is pushing 7 pm when we arrive to the ferry town of Port Townsend. Holiday travelers in their cars are beginning to form a long line for the Port Townsend to Keystone (Whidbey Island) ferry. I find my way around the line and up to the ticket booth. They take our fare for the ride to Whidbey Island and inform us that we’ll be on the 8:30 pm sailing. It happens to be the last sailing of the day. Not knowing the schedule, we are lucky to have arrived when we did. We have an hour to wait until the ferry boards.

We leave the parking lot and ride down main street. Port Townsend is a cute town. It deserves a weekend on its own. We walk along the streets and shoreline until it is time to get on the ferry. We will take the short ride back to Port Townsend in the near future. There is a 50’s themed diner and ice cream shop with my name on them earmarked for future indulgences.

As peninsulas go, there are three options for day trips (west side, north side and east side.).  This is the final article in the four-part series covering the Olympic Peninsula. The trip is  split up into separate articles by day. This allows you to pick and choose which parts best fit with your schedule and what you’d like to see. Time didn’t allow us to make the western Pacific Ocean portion of the Olympic Peninsula. Feel free to use the comments section to post ride reports and places that you have visited in the Olympic National Park. A future trip will include routes to the Hoh Rainforest, Kalaloch and Neah Bay.