Sport Touring Preps: Loading up the FZ for an ADV-ish adventure.

This weekend I have a three day road trip planned on my FZ1 with my buddy on his KTM 1190 Adventure. We were originally planning a full on ADV style, out in the woods, moto camping trip, but then I up and sold the V-Strom. Now we have one night of camping and one night in a hotel planned on a route that takes us to the tip of the Sequoia National Forest and back across the coast with as many twisty roads as we can hit in between. The rough route has us going between 750 and 800 miles in three days of riding. I have hit much of the route on previous trips, but there will be a few new roads in there as well. Last night I loaded up the bike to see if I could fit everything I need. Here's how it went:

Here is the FZ with all of the bags resting on it while I use the garage floor to lay out the stuff I'm bringing. From the tail end of the bike to the front we have: my Dowco Sport Fastrax soft saddle bags, my Nelson-Rigg soft tail bag and on the tank my Sedici magnetic tank bag. I detailed all of these luggage options in this post a while back. All together I have something around 80 liters of storage available in the form of lightweight, removable luggage.

Here is some of the junk I'm planning to take with me. Since we are camping one night and staying in a hotel one night, I have to bring more than I would if I was doing hotels only. The sleeping bag/bivy sack combo and the tarp are some of the extra gear needed. I'm not bringing my tent to save some space. I have some tools and rags as well as some miscellaneous things I use for those "just in case" situations. In this pic I've also included the rain/warm liner inserts for my two piece riding gear set. I'm not 100% decided about taking some of these items as I usually pack too much. My military training makes me go heavy on the packing even when I know I'll be fine without it.

The saddlebags fit very nicely on the FZ, even better than they did on the V-Strom. I have some straps holding them together in the back and wrapping under the tail light. In the front I have some straps looped around the passenger peg mounts holding everything secure. The bags connect across the top of the seat with some hook and loop tape. They dip a little from the weight of the stuff inside, but fit very well with plenty of adjustment left. They do put a little pressure on the rear turn signals so I'll have to watch that. The teardrop profile is nice to help blend with the lines of the bike, but it does cut some of the space I could be using.

Here is my first attempt at getting everything loaded. I used a bungee net to hold the sleeping bag to the rest of the gear. It bounces, but seems secure. The tail bag straps nicely to the rest of the bags in some of the same places as the saddle bags. If I want to, I can strip it all down in less than five minutes and take it all into the hotel with me if I'm in a sketchy area. I can't swing my leg over the top, but I can either step on the peg and swing myself over. Or I can reach my over the top like I'm stepping across a big muddy puddle. I still have a few things to assemble before final loading so I'll likely play with my adjustments to get it perfect. I don't know how the bike will feel with the extra weight up high. I can't imagine it being any worse than it was on the V-Strom.

I'm looking forward to getting out on the road. I haven't done this type of long distance ride in over a year and I know I've been missing it. All of this excitement has excited my neighbor and work colleague into getting his bike ready for a road trip. He has dumped a cool $1K into making his Aprilla road trip worthy. I will have a post or two regarding the trip once I get back and there is much more content coming your way for the month of October. Swing on back by real soon.

Blue