Camping on the R18

[nielsm]

My GSA is my most common steed of choice for camping, though I’ve also done it on the S1000R. With giant panniers in the GSA and a big pillion seat & rear rack, I had plenty of packing options.

My R18 Classic isn’t quite the packmule the GS is. While I removed the pillion seat & put a rack in its place, it’s still less space than the seat & rack on the GS. Both saddlebags combined are about 30 liters. The smaller exhaust side pannier on the GSA is 38 liters.

I wanted to do a bit of a gear check out and test pack on the R18 for camping. This was also my first night testing out my new Wingman of the Road Toucan tent. I loaded up the bike for an overnight, so clothing was limited, but I did bring a toiletries kit. I did also bring a stove and food for dinner & breakfast, as well as my coffee maker rig. Of course, a camp chair was part of my gear. That plus a big Sherpa 100AC battery pack to recharge my phone, watch & speakers quickly filled the panniers. I ended up carrying an 18liter backpack that was only partially filled as I brought some camera gear to document the experience as well as some extras to see if they were really needed.

This is basically the rig I’m planning to use for a longer camping trip at the end of June. The new tent was great. There was some light rain overnight. The tent is made of canvas, so a bit of a throwback vs ultralight backpack camp tents. No worries on a bike with the extra weight. But the canvas was a much better regulator of temperature than the backpack tents. Those get very hot in the sun and have no insulation in the chill of night. This tent is made for fast setup, so it has a mattress and sleeping bag already in the tent. You just unroll the tent, add two hoop poles at either end and a center pole. I’d never tried to setup the tent before being on site & didn’t look at directions & I was able to lie in the tent within 10 minutes and some of that time was spent unwrapping the plastic wrap on the poles from shipping. I could see it taking as little as 5 minutes from being on bike to fully sleep ready in the future.

Given the cook gear (stove, Aeropress, coffee grinder, coffee beans & food) took up more than half a pannier, I think it’s a bit overkill for a lot of trips, where you can just hit a restaurant. My GSA is more of the off-the-grid camping bike, so a streamlined setup on the R18 looks to be the ideal setup. I was glad I brought a small Sonos speaker as some classic rock filled my campsite in the evening.

Here are a few shots of the setup on the bike and the tent setup next to the bike.

 

[BobW]

Nice flexible set up for a night or two. I like your tent, I still have my old Catoma I bought years ago at the BMW Georgia Mountain Rally. It's still works great, but the company was bought out and the new designs aren't made as well as the originals IMO. Anyway, quick set up was a big part of why I bought it and yours appears to be a good replacement option. Thanks for the tip!

 

[nielsm]

Nice flexible set up for a night or two. I like your tent, I still have my old Catoma I bought years ago at the BMW Georgia Mountain Rally. It's still works great, but the company was bought out and the new designs aren't made as well as the originals IMO. Anyway, quick set up was a big part of why I bought it and yours appears to be a good replacement option. Thanks for the tip!

This is definitely a tent for shorter stays. I'm 6'3", so I've got a few inches of space at head & feet. While you can sit up in it, I need to bend my head a little. It will replace my traditional backpacking tent which is reasonably small to pack up, but when you add your sleeping bag & pad, it gets much closer in overall volume & this is much quicker to setup & has the temperature regulation advantages.

The tent I use the most for multi-night stays on my GSA is my Redverz Series II. The new version is called the Atacama. The sleeping area is big enough for a queen size bed, so space is plenty. It even has a garage where you can park the bike fully under the tent and it's nearly tall enough for me to stand fully there.... great for changing in & out of dirt riding gear. That's when I bring the Kermit chair I picked up at a BMW rally years ago. But, it takes at least 20 minutes to setup the tent alone. I did it once in a rain storm with strong winds & that took over 30 minutes, so it's not what you want if you are staying only one night each spot as setup & teardown take a while.

The other setup which I tend to use on my S1000R & could work well on the R18 is my hammock setup. That's the smallest of any sleep system as you don't need a pad & there aren't any poles. You have a built in chair as well, so it does help reduce what you need to carry. But you need trees the right distance apart, so it won't work everywhere. It can take a bit longer to get it set just right as well between the angle of lie and putting a tarp over it but still faster than the Redverz, so the Toucan wins in the no brainer fast setup of all my shelters.

 

[BobW]

This is definitely a tent for shorter stays. I'm 6'3", so I've got a few inches of space at head & feet. While you can sit up in it, I need to bend my head a little. It will replace my traditional backpacking tent which is reasonably small to pack up, but when you add your sleeping bag & pad, it gets much closer in overall volume & this is much quicker to setup & has the temperature regulation advantages.

The tent I use the most for multi-night stays on my GSA is my Redverz Series II. The new version is called the Atacama. The sleeping area is big enough for a queen size bed, so space is plenty. It even has a garage where you can park the bike fully under the tent and it's nearly tall enough for me to stand fully there.... great for changing in & out of dirt riding gear. That's when I bring the Kermit chair I picked up at a BMW rally years ago. But, it takes at least 20 minutes to setup the tent alone. I did it once in a rain storm with strong winds & that took over 30 minutes, so it's not what you want if you are staying only one night each spot as setup & teardown take a while.

The other setup which I tend to use on my S1000R & could work well on the R18 is my hammock setup. That's the smallest of any sleep system as you don't need a pad & there aren't any poles. You have a built in chair as well, so it does help reduce what you need to carry. But you need trees the right distance apart, so it won't work everywhere. It can take a bit longer to get it set just right as well between the angle of lie and putting a tarp over it but still faster than the Redverz, so the Toucan wins in the no brainer fast setup of all my shelters.

I've used bigger tents and smaller backpacking gear, but find the "2 man" size offers me the "just right" room for a majority of the time while balancing weight and bulk considerations. Regardless the size for me I'll go for the quick and easy setup and take down being really appreciated when I'm tired and just want to crawl into bed or avoid prolonged exposure to rain and bugs during the process. Anyways, thanks again for posting the information, enjoy your trip and I look forward to any thoughts you may care to share.