Category: Gears and Accessories

Why did we chose Dane clothing, which of the Danish brand for our motorcycle riding gears?

We are on the world trip therefore we can’t choose a weather or season when we want to ride because we are on the road everyday. We have been living in the tent so, we carry our house on the motorcycle and our carry capacity is limited.

We need motorcycle clothes, which we can use everywhere and every season. We don’t want to get wet under the rain, we don’t want to feel cold in the winter and also we don’t want to burn under the sun. We can’t carry summer jacket and winter jacket, need something mix.

He never rides motorcycle before so, he didn’t have any motorcycle gears. When we started our journey we bought a Dane jacket for him. I had motorcycle gears, which I bought ten years ago. I decided to keep continue with it for a while and see it can work still or not. 10 months later, I had Dane as well. 🙂

Motorcycle Riding Gear : Jacket

Both of us have been using Dane Limfjord 2 model. Yes, it is a men model but I want to have it as well because they called it the 3 in 1, which we were looking for. Also, we want to wear the same clothes. All season we have been using. Most likely the weather is hot in Africa. We took out the thermal line and Gore-Tex rain & windproof liner. We also open all zips to have fresh air. Light color is better than dark/black color under the sun but so hard to keep clean where we ride motorcycle. 🙂

Especially the southern part of Africa we had a lot rain and used our windproof Gore-Tex liner because we couldn’t escape from the rain season. Until now, we used thermal liner only in South Africa because when we were there it was wintertime.

We don’t use our motorcycle jackets only when we ride. But it is not like that for us. We don’t carry outdoor jackets for our self. First of all we don’t have enough space in our bags, second we don’t need because of our motorcycle jacket.

We climbed the Kilimanjaro with our Dane Limfjord’s thermal and Gore-Tex liners. When we were climbing to the Nyiragongo lave lake we used them as well because the temperatures where below zero. Also, we went many trekking under the rain Gore-Tex part was always with us to protect.

End of the day, we can use one jacket for ride motorcycle and outdoor sports. 🙂

Motorcycle Riding Gear : Pants

Both of us have the same pants, Dane Brondby 2 model. It is combine with Dane Limfjord also called the 3 in 1. We haven’t use thermal liner part yet. South Africa was cold but we felt the cold more on our top not with our legs. But we used a lot Gore-Tex liner part of Brondby in rain season.

One thing we really like jacket and pants in front extra zips. When the temperature goes hot slowly we start to open them slowly. 🙂

We have Dane Limfjord and Brondby model motorcycle gears since September 2017. We made 25.000 km with them, used all season, all road. We are happy to have it and wear it.

You can check their website to more info : https://www.dane.eu/en/home

A short video from  our adventure with gears :

GS

How did we decide to have Sw Motech, motorcycle bags?

It was a big challenge for us to choose bags. Because we didn’t know which one is good for our world trip and how much space do we need? After talk with some riders who has a lot of experience on the road they told us SW-Motech, soft motorcycle bags can be good for the journey.

It was not look like SW-Motech has a lot of stuff for small bikes in the beginning. We have been riding Honda CRF 250L. So we must find bags to almost perfect match with Crf 250L. After search sw moto website we found a lot bags and accessories 🙂

A short video from our adventure with our bags :

GS

When we started our world trip we had only their side bags, dakar saddlebags. We used them a year. We liked it therefore after that we had all our bags from SW-Motech.

First of all, we didn’t want to have hard cases. Our motorcycles are already small we didn’t want to have heavy bags. And we didn’t have any experience to ride off road, gravel road… etc. it means that if we fall down we will easily give damage to the hard cases. So, we more focus soft motorcycles bags.

Which motorcycle bags have been using from Sw Motech?

EVO Enduro LT strap tank bag

We started with our tank bag. Our motorcycle is small we can’t put a lot of luggage in front. We have 5 lt. tank bags. You can think it is small but not. (You can make 7.5 liters as well if you want.) We carry in what we need easy access like phones, camera, cables to charge, external charge, small first aid…etc.

Sometimes when we go to shopping we carry eggs there as well. 😉

Drybag 80 tail bag

All our soft bags have extra waterproof bags inside except the tail bag. It is one bag, totally waterproof. We use them in front of motorcycle up to the engine protection. What we don’t need to use really or we must protect rain anytime they are in it.

Cargobag tail bag

It is 50 liters bag. We are calling it, clothes bag. Because all our clothes fit in it also it has extra zips left and right. One side for our shampoo, soap, creams… another side sun cream, mosquito sprays, washing powder…

Rearbag tail bag

It is 24 to 38 liters bag. Which size you want to use just open a extra zip. We need to be organized and find everything easy in one place. 🙂  So, It is our kitchen bag. For cook we just need the bag. Our stove, plates, pots, food… etc. it is more than enough for us to use as a kitchen.

DAKAR saddlebags

Each side bag is 32 liters. All of course has a name. 😉

One is camping bag. Our mattresses, sleeping bags, pillows, hammock, chairs and table are in it.

Other one is computer bag. All electronics are in it also our motorcycles pants and jacket extra liners. But still the name is computer bag.

Another one is shoes bag. Shoes, flip-flops and jeans are in it. Therefore still we have space 😉

Last one is extras bag. We put everything in it what we need extra on the road. Like water bag, soft cooler bag, chain oil, extra food, monopod, hammer, extra hook etc.

We said more than enough space we have with SW-Motech bags. General, we don’t take out bags because we sleep next to it in the tent. If we stay in a motel a day we can just take the inside bags. It’s easy to get it in and out. Actually so easy to take bags because each has only four clips to take our ropes and carry. We love their clips because they never get lose and shake when we ride all the bumpy roads.

Just keep in your mind to check bags after a day of heavy rain. Waterproof bags are fine keep dry stuff but water can be between main sides and inside. If the bags can’t see sun a couple of days they cannot get dry.

Backpack

We have two backpacks from SW-Motech as well. We don’t have anything in them. We carry them under the Cargo bag. Maybe we are traveling around the world by motorcycles but we like to go to hiking or make a backpack trip as well during our travel. We went to Madagascar, climbed Kilimanjaro also Nyiragongo Lava Lake. We put our motorcycles in a garage and took our backpacks to travel.

You can check their website to more info : https://sw-motech.com/en/

GS

We have Sena 10C intercom to communicate, Prism helmet camera and Sena Gp10, bluetooth gopro pack.  We are on the road almost two years and I suppose we have three years more. When we ride motorcycle most of the time we keep continue all day. Therefore, talk each other is so important because the roads are long also if we have any problem we can communicate with each other. Means, we need an intercom. 😉

When we choose a intercom we want to have a camera as well. We have a action camera to use up the helmet or on motorcycle but we had a lot of problem in some African countries. If police or military stop us on a checkpoint we always need explain to them that the camera is not on… etc. We knew that if we have a intercom with camera we don’t have this kind of problem. We were right. After start to use Sena 10C nobody bother any more because it is just a intercom to talk. 😉

A short video from  our adventure with gears :

Sena 10C

I would like to explain all detail about 10C but that’s impossible because it is so much functional, I need to write many pages for it. I want to give basic details what we use a lot. Still we have been learning day-by-day more function to use. It is crazy how you can put all of them in it.

First of all intercom system; Before Sena, we were using one basic intercom but we hate it because we never hear each other well also if it was raining it was out of order until it get dry again.

– We are happy to have 10C because we can hear each other very clear now. We don’t have any problem with any weather. Of course, sometimes we can forget to ride together when we enjoy so much mountain roads with corners and we can be far away from each other of course that moment we can lose connection we have 5 km minimum between us, corners and mountains. 🙂

– Charge is no problem. When Sena said I have low battery I can take a cable and I can charge it while riding and use it at the same time.

– We can easily connect to our phone to don’t miss calls but when we are riding we don’t want to do that, just enjoy ride and view. 😉

– Listen music sometimes so nice.

– We love the camera as well. It’s easy to use when ride. Anytime, we can make a video or take a photo at the same time. This is really good option because I want to record the moment to edit videos for our journey but I also want to have a photo for our articles 😉

– We have been using them almost a year but every-time we can learn new things as well. One thing is so cool the video part; we can record only our sounds clear or we can choose to mode to record outside sound and our voice.

We saw on their website 10C Evo which is coming soon. It is similar with 10C but smaller. It is look like no way to see it has a camera. Maybe we can have 10C Evo for the future.

Sena Prism, Helmet action camera

It is small action camera. When you compare the price it is cheaper than other action cameras and more than enough to use on motorcycles or trekking, hiking… etc.

We have GoPro more than 4 years and I’m so much use to it. After that we have prism. We really like the quality from photo and videos. It’s easy to use. Colors tell you what you are going to do. 😉

It can connect to the intercom and when we recording with prism it can still record our talking.

Maybe you don’t need a remote control to use Sena Prism for outdoor but we can highly recommend to have one for the motorcycles. Video, tags, photos… etc will be easy to use with one finger when you ride.

Sena GP10 bluetooth gopro pack:

Two riders and one prism therefore one of us still use gopro with Sena gp10 bluetooth pack. We can record all our conversation from Sena 10C. It is easy to use. If you have sena intercom and want to use gopro also like to video editing like us we can recommend to have bluetooth pack.

You can check their website for more info : https://www.sena.com/

GS

We have been using Difi enduro, dirt biking boots, which is wind and waterproof. We know that Africa is so hot but ride motorcycle is a challenge as well. We are on desert, mud, gravel, river…etc. We decided that hot is not important but to protect our ankles and legs if we fall down is more important. Therefore we have Difi Negev Aerotex enduro boots.

Short video about our gears :

Difi Negev Aerotex is good for it. Also we like the clips because our old boots were with zip and a couple of mounts later the zips broke I suppose because of sand and mud. On the other hand when the weather is so hot our legs and also feet swell. We can feel our boots is getting small. That’s why clips work well because we can get them big to have more comfort.

I fell down many times and few times I get stuck under my side-bags. Nothing happened because of the boots.

The boot is waterproof, not like Gore-Tex. We are fine with short or light rain but if we have heavy rain and need to ride all day our socks can get wet. I suppose all waterproof boots can have the same problem. When we were talking some riders on the road they told us they had same problem even if they have Gore-Tex boots.

We are happy to have the Difi Negev boots. We can recommend it if you have a plan to do a trip like us. It is worth it.

We have been using Difi dirt bike boots in a year now and we made 25.000 km with them. Actually, we didn’t use our dirt bike riding boots only to ride He climbed Kilimanjaro with Difi boots as well, It was to cold up there. 🙂

More info about boots : www.motoport.nl

How they looks like afterAfrica 🙂

GS

We have been riding motorcycle around the world with Caberg Duke 2 and HJC Is-Max 2  flip up helmets.

Yes, we have two different brands helmets. He was going to have for the first time a helmet and our budget was limited. He searched and decided to buy HJC Is-Max 2. I had two different helmets before and I knew what I wanted to have but price was important as well. So, I bought Caberg Duke 2.

We have been using them since July 2016. (20 months and 62.000 km.) Our opinion is both of them are good helmets when compare the price who is looking for budget.

Caberg Duke 2

I always use flip-up helmet. Which kind of journey we have been doing people say that we need full-face helmet. But I am not sure I can skip flip-up.

A lot of time, I need to talk people, soldiers or police and I don’t want to take off my helmet all the time. They want to hear me well and see my face. Easy to open flip-up and show your face.

When it is so hot, short break, I just open the flip-up for fresh air. I can say a lot of things like that why not full-face helmet. 😉

I want to write something about Caberg Duke II. Design is looking good. When I use I can feel that my head is safe 😉 because giving the feeling. Visor is wider so, I can see that I am looking from my window. 😉 It is ready for a intercom system, which we have been using.

I have a problem with the pin-up. Because it is fit in the beginning after a while we can’t stuck it to the visor anymore. We already change two times and I have again same problem with third one now.  And I can hear outside sound so much.

Short video about our helmets :

GS

HJC Is Max 2

For me this is my first helmet so I cannot compare, but I will tell you my experiences with this helmet as I’ve been wearing it now for over 60.000 km.

She told me it’s very nice to have a flip-up helmet and I can agree on that, I really do not want a full-face helmet. It’s so easy to open it and talk to someone with a helmet like this so this is the best solution for me.

Comfort, a helmet needs to feel perfect on your head, it need to stuck nut not hurt you, this is one of the reasons my choice was the HJC helmet. It feels safe and comfortable, you need this when you ride every day and long days.

Sound, of course it’s important unfortunately this is a bit hard for me to tell about, as I never wear another helmet. I do wear earplugs most of the time so I don’t really have a problem with the sound and I’m used to it.

The pin lock is also a very important thing in the helmet; we ride in all weather circumstances. Especially in the rain we need it otherwise the helmet is getting foggy and you can’t see anything. Unfortunately this is also very sensitive and not working a 100% correct but it’s doing the job okay.

End conclusion is that I’m pretty satisfied about HJC Is Max 2 helmet. Also it’s not a really expensive one.

You can also check our motorcycle gears and accessories.

How they looks like afterAfrica 🙂

FS