Weight Capacity Calculations, Weight Distrubution, Packing the Bags, What goes where,
Now that you've got your luggage and all your stuff laid out on the floor you've got to pack up everything and somehow mount it on the bike in sugh a way that you can still ride the bike and nothing will fall off.
The first thing you need to consider is the carying capacity of your bike.You'd be surprised how many people overload their bikes. It's pretty easy to do on a big touring bike with all that luggage space. This section is mostly directed at those people on larger touring bikes, especially those who ride two-up.
It's harder to overload a sport bike, mostly because there are so few places to put things. If you ride alone you're unlikely to be carying more extra weight than what a passenger would weigh so the additional wieght is not as important is how it's distributed.
Every bike has a GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating). The GVWR is the maximum weight of the bike, fluids (oil, gas, and coolant), rider(s), and gear -- all the weight supported by the tires. The GVWR can be found on a sticker somewhere on the motorcycle, usually along with the recommended tire pressures and other info. That same sticker will sometimes list the dry weight of the motorcycle. Dry weight is the weight of the motorcycle without rider, fluids, etc.
For some reason the manufacturers are wildly optimistic about the dry weight of their motorcycles. I've weighed my bikes and have found that they typicaly weigh about 20lbs (9kg) more than the manufacturers listed weight. If you're doing weight calculations using the manufacturers dry weight and find that you may be near the edge of the GVWR after your bike is loaded you may want to weigh your bike just to make sure that you're not overloading your bike.
The amount of additional stuff you can carry is:
Weight_of_stuff = (GVWR) - ((Bike_Dry_Weight) + (weight_of_fluids) + (weight_of_people)).
When you're doing the above calculation don't forget to include the weight of the gear that the rider(s) are wearing. This can be significant if you're wearing decent protective gear.
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Capacities of various motorcycles |
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CBR600 |
VFR800 |
KLR650 |
R100 / 7 |
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Dry Weight |
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403.5 lb. |
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459 lb. |
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nnn lb |
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Fuel |
4.36 gal |
35 lb. |
5.55 gal |
44.4 lb. |
6.0 gal |
48 lb. |
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Oil |
4.2 qt |
9.5 lb. |
4.0 qt |
9 lb. |
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nn lb. |
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Coolant |
2.1 qt 2.0 l |
4.2 lb. |
3.8 qt |
7.6 lb. |
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9.5 lb. |
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Cargo |
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30 lb. |
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60 lb. |
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load capacity |
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346 lb. |
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386 lb. |
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If you do the math you'll find that a bike with two people has a lot less capacity for luggage than you might have thought. The point here is get a bike with enough capacity for the load you're going to be hauling. If you ride solo (one person per bike) you will have much more cargo capacity.
There is one more thing to remember about carrying capacity.
Now all this weight capacity talk needs to be have a bit of realty added. The reality is that the GVWR is always conservative. The world is not going to end if you exceed the GVWR by a few pounds. That doesn't mean that you can ignore the GVWR. If you're 50 pounds over the GVWR, I think that you're looking for trouble. You need to use some common sense here.
There are some people who think that you can increase the GVWR of a motorcycle by changing things on the bike--specifically, the tires, springs, and shocks. If you look on the sidewall of a tire you'll see two pertinent pieces of information, "Maximum Inflation Pressure" and "Maximum Load."
The Maximum Inflation Pressure is the highest cold inflation pressure that the tire's manufacturer recommends for that tire. Note that this is not necessarily the normal inflation pressure. The normal inflation pressure is usualy less than the maximum and is provided by the bike's manufacturer. If you have mounted tires other than those that originally came with the bike, the proper pressure may be different than that recommended by the bike's manufacturer for the OEM tires. Check with the tire manufacturer for their inflation pressure recommendations for your bike and at least use that as a starting point. Most tire manufacturers have pressure recommendations for tires in their fitment charts. These are usually available on their web sites or by calling their toll free phone numbers. If you mount a tire on your bike which the tire's manufacturer does not recommend for that bike they will probably refuse to give you any any information. This should be a hint to you that you may want to rethink using that particular tire.
Back to tire weight capacity. The Maximum Load number on the sidewall of the tire is the maximum weight that can be applied to that tire when the tire is inflated to the Maximum Inflation Pressure. There are prople who think that if you install a tire with a Maximum Load rating larger than that of the OEM tire you will increase the GVWR of the bike. You might. You might not. The bike manufacturers will not tell you how they arrived at the GVWR and they will not tell you if any changes you make will increase the GVWR. They will say that the GVWR they put on the bike is the GVWR of that bike, period.
The same goes for stiffer springs and more damping on the shocks or forks. Doing this may in fact increase the GVWR and it may not. The motorcycle manufacturers will certainly not tell you and there is no way for you to know with any certainty.
I just don't exceed the GVWR. However, that's easy for me to say as I don't ride bikes where I'm likely to have a problem in this area. All I can say is follow the manufacturers recommendations for tire pressure and suspension settings. When touring you will probably have to up the spring preload and perhaps the damping a bit on the shock and forks. I have a lot more information on suspension setup in the maintenance section.
How should you load all this stuff on the bike? Whatever you decide to take, here are some suggestions that may help you load the bike.
The basic principle is that a loaded bike should have about the same front/rear weight distribution as it would have with no luggage. You also want the additional weight as close to the centerline as you can get it. If you can do both of these things you will minimize changes to the bike's handling. This weight distribution an ideal and is impossible to achieve in the real world but you should try to come as close as a you can.
Keep as much weight between the wheel axles as you can. This means that the tank bag is an important piece of luggage. Since it is in front of you its weight can counter the weight you put behind you. This is where cruisers are at a disadvantage -- you cannot fit a tank bag to most crusiers.
One thing I see on cruisers (and some standards) is people will mount things on the handle bars, front fork sliders, or front fender. Most often I see tool pouches mounted on the fork sliders. Even though this does put some weight forward, as I said you should do above, I think that mounting anything on the moving (steering) front part of the bike is a bad idea -- even a small tool pouch. I don't want to mount anything that has any possibility, however remote, of interfering with the proper operation of the steering and front suspension, either mechanically or aerodynamically.
The heaviest single item I carry is my tool pouch and it goes in the bottom of the tank bag as far forward as possible. Note that that the carrying strap on most tank bags is at the rear of the bag and when you using this strap to carry the tank bag the front of the bag will be down. With the front end of the bag down, gravity will pull any heavy items to the front (bottom) of the bag so you might as well put these things there in the first place. I also put other heavy or dense items that I will not be likely to need while riding on the bottom-front of the tank bag.. This includes my bike cover, disk lock and maybe a bag or two of clothing.
The next heaviest items go in a tail pack sitting on the passenger seat. The lightest things go in the saddle bags. This is more important for soft saddle bags than for hard bags. Hard bags can handle more weight than soft bags because they are more securely mounted and are just plain stronger.
It's a bad idea to just pack your belongings in the bags (tank bag, tail pack, saddle bag, etc.). You need need to be sure that your clothes and other water sensitive things are protected from the rain. Do not assume that it won't rain or that your bags won't leak. If you're really lucky it won't rain too much but when it does, your bags will leak.
Some soft bags come with a rain cover. I have found that these rain covers do provide some protection from the rain but eventually the rain will get in. The rain covers also make it impossible to get into the bag unless you remove the cover. Saddle bag rain covers have a tendency to come off while riding. My current inventory of saddlebag rain covers are exclusively single pieces of what was once a pair. Each of the other covers is in a ditch along side a road somewhere.
Many tank bag rain covers fit so tight that they are difficult to impossible to fit over a completely stuffed bag. Also, with the exception of Eclipse, tank bag rain covers make it impossible to use the map case when the cover is on the bag.
As you can see, I'm not a fan of rain covers for soft luggage. They are just more things to carry and keep track of. I no longer use rain covers. Everything that needs to be protected from water goes in a Zip Loc brand plastic freezer bag. You can buy these bags in any grocrery store (in the USA, I would imagine that there's something similar in europe but I don't really know). Be sure that you use the Zip Loc Freezer bags, not the regular bags. The freezer bags are made of a fairly heavy-duty plastic and the zipper closure is quite tough. They come in a variety of sizes from two gallon (will hold a pair of Levi's), to one gallon (Sox, shirts, underwear), to quart and pint sizes for miscellaneous smaller items.
In addition to thinking about weight distribution, there are a few items that need special pavking considerations. Your bike trip isn't going to be a disaster if you don't do these things but it will make your life easier.
The general rule is that you should pack things that you may need while riding in locations that are easy to get at. This includes clothing like a rain suit, jacket liner, and electric vest and gloves. Other items are pen, pencil, notepad, maps, water bottle, hand lotion, lip balm and anything else you may need to use while riding (as opposed to in the motel at the end of the day).
I put my rain suit in the top of the tank bag. That location has two advantages. First, it's easy to get at. I can pull out my rain suit without even getting off the bike. Of course you still have to get off the bike to put on the rain suit so it's not that a big deal but it's still convient. Second, after I remove the rain suit from the tank bag the bag can now be made smaller. This would only be true with an expandable tank bag but most tank bags are expandable.
If you don't have a tank bag then put your rain suit on the top of the tail pack, tail trunk, or right saddlebag. Note that I said right bag. You will usually need to pull off the side of the road when you need to get your rain suit and if you are opening the right bag the bike is between you and the traffic. Standing on the right side of the bike makes it easier for you to observe approaching traffic and jump out of the way if some pinhead starts to fixate on you and try to take you out.
The next item to consider is you cold weather gear. In temperate conditions (about 65°F (18°C and above) I ride wearing a long sleeve T-shirt under my leather jacket with the thermal liner removed. If it becomes colder I put the thermal liner in the jacket, If it continues to get colder I add the Wind Triangle to seal the neck opening of the jacket. At even colder temperatures I replace the Wind Triangle with the electric vest. I have found that I am adding or removing these items a lot while riding, particularly in the mountains where you can have larges changes in the temperature in a short time. I keep all the above items in a stuff sack with the electric vest at the bottom, the Wind Triangle next, and the jacket's thermal liner on top.
Triple bungee redundancy is my rule: every item bungeed on has at least three bungees. My friends laugh, but when I'm looking for a campsite up some abandoned old logging road, I want my gear to stay with me. I line my saddle bags with plastic trash bags for waterproofing, and carry extra trash bags to cover the other gear on the back if it starts raining. Put your rain gear on top where it's easily accessible. If you haven't done this already, you might want to consider equipping your bike with crash bars, a luggage rack, a windshield, saddlebags, and a tank bag. If you plan to travel solo, you can do without the tank bag and maybe even without the saddlebags if you pack light. You don't need much windshield: just enough to take the main part of the wind blast off your chest. On your Virago, you may be able to strap your sleeping bag or tent to the handlebars and get some of the benefits of a windshield, but this could adversely affect handling.