Dirt bike riding is a highly adventurous sport or hobby. There is so much adrenaline rush associated with going off-road and conquering uncharted trails with your trusty two-wheeled companion. Not only that, you get up close and personal with nature as tear up the tracks, seems like a usual scene with your gasoline-powered ride.
If you prefer to camp out and stay a few days longer, you’ll need a set of good tools for your bike as you’re going to be riding it for more than a day and you’ll go exploring nature more often. Here are the things you must bring for an easy and great camping.
For the Camper/Rider
You are going to be venturing far from the comfort of home and the amenities of city living for a while so you need to prepare the things you’ll need the most. Consider your length of stay and the number of campers for the things you’ll be bringing. Keep your backpack sufficiently loaded with the basic gear and necessities and you’ll do great in the wilderness for a while.
Tent
This is one of the basic items you should bring with you unless you plan to sleep on open ground and watching the stars in the wilderness. Bring a camping tent that can accommodate more than the number of occupants. Also, It would be great if the tent comes with a vestibule, where you can keep your electric dirt bike parked, keep your bags, tools and other equipment. For extra protection, you can install an extra-large camp mat outside of your tent.
Sleeping Bag
Choose a sleeping bag that is compact and storable. Your bike has limited storage space, so make the most out of it by bringing along compact necessities. If the sleeping bag doesn’t fit the bike’s storage, use a backpack to store items like your sleeping bag. If you intend to camp out alone, just pack lightly and go for the basic stuff. If you’re going on a camping with family and friends, a pickup truck with a towing trailer can transport the campers, tents, sleeping bags, supplies, your bike and equipment for you.
Backpack
Going on a dirt bike camping alone or with companions means you are going to need a backpack for storing most of your gear. Depending on your planned length of stay, you’re going to need a backpack with a large storage capacity, preferably at least 40L backpack to ensure that all the necessary items are inside your bag. If you can stuff all the things you’ll need in camp inside your bag, then go for it.
Suitable Clothing
Going outdoors along with your electric dirt bike means you need to bring along the proper outdoor attire. Bring a comfortable set of clothes. Bring shirts with long sleeves to protect you from insect bites and sudden shifts in temperature, like the sudden heatwave near noontime and early afternoon or the sudden temperature drop during the evening.
Safety gear for your rides is a must-bring accessory. Again, you must consider if you are camping alone or with family or friends. If you are going to be camping alone, bring only the essential gear as you don’t want your backpack to be bulky and heavy. You just need to bring your helmet, elbow pads and knee pads if you’re going to be camping alone.
You may need to bring a jacket, preferably a thermal type for added protection from minor injuries and harsh environments. If cargo space can allow you to bring a complete safety gear, like camping with family or friends and having a pickup truck to load, bring the complete gear for longer rides and ensured safety.
Rechargeable Lanterns and Headlamps
If you’re going to be staying several days in the wilderness for camping with your bike in tow, you’ll need additional sources of illumination other than your campfire. Campfires can only provide outdoor lighting, and is unsafe to keep alight until morning. Also, campfires are not suitable for lighting within or near tents, as these can catch fire.
Instead, rechargeable lanterns should be used inside tents and headlamps should be worn if you are going to venture out into the woods at night for nature calls and other important purposes.
Since these devices run on electricity and need to be recharged, they will eventually run out of juice. So use your rechargeable lanterns sparingly and only when needed.
If there is still sufficient outdoor light from the campfire, you can use the lanterns after the fire had died down. If you’re camping along with friends and family, you can also bring along a charger set that can be connected to the car’s USB port.
Water
There are two important things when going on a dirt bike camping: the rider and the bike’s good condition. Water is an important thing to bring when camping, with or without a bike.
Water is essential for hydration for a long day ahead in the wilderness. You wouldn’t want to get weak from dehydration and ruin your camping experience. The amount of water you’ll need depends on your length of stay and location of the camping site.
If you prefer camping on a base camp or an off-road resort, you may have access to a clean, potable source of water. However, when camping in a remote location out in the wild, a good rule of thumb to follow is to bring at least 2 liters of water per day of stay.
In case you have access to a stream or spring water, you’ll need to include water purification tablets in your must-bring items, especially when unsure about the safety of the natural water source. It always pays to take extra precaution.
Food and Cooking Supplies
Another essential factor to consider for keeping yourself in good condition for riding your bike is having enough nourishment. You need to operate it efficiently, and you’ll need a lot of energy going through different trails. Bring non-perishable foods like MREs, freeze-dried meals, canned goods, jerky, energy bars and others.
Remember to bring portable and basic cookware for your camping activity. You can bring a portable gas stove with you, or if you prefer a more natural approach, just bring a foldout grill and cook over a campfire.
Fire Starters
Fire is important when camping in the wilderness. Aside from providing heat and light, fire also is used for heating, cooking, sterilizing many more uses. Remember that you’re going to the wilderness for camping purposes, not for survival, so you should bring matches, gas lighters, magnesium strikers or other types of specialized strikers. The more fire starting options you bring, the better.
Utility Knife
Camping requires different activities that may require cutting, carving sawing, can opening and many other utility needs. A Swiss Army Knife or utility knife can prove valuable for these tasks. Also, a utility knife can serve as an additional support tool for minor repairs and adjustments to your electric dirt bike.
First Aid Kit
The first aid kit is one of the top essentials for dirt bike camping or camping in general for that matter. Accidents and injuries can happen anytime in the wilderness. Access to modern medical facilities may be very limited or close to none, and mobile phone signal reception isn’t reliable in remote places. As a precaution, first aid kits should be brought along for unforeseen circumstances like accidents.
Accidents happen almost every day in the wilderness, and the odds are higher if you are riding on a bike. Whatever your reason is for bringing a bike, it’s good to take extra precaution by bringing a first aid kit. Simple first aid applications have saved many riders’ lives. Thus, bring your own first aid kit.
You can either customize and create your own kit or purchase a pre-assembled one. Your first aid kit should contain the following basic items and medicines, band-aids, gauze pads, elastic bandage, antiseptic (alcohol, Betadyne), antibiotic (Neosporin) and antihistamine (Benadryl). Other items you can add are antipyretic and anti-inflammatory medicines for fever and pain relief, respectively.
Maps and Compass
Getting lost in the wilderness can be bad news. It can happen to anyone, even to experienced campers or those that have camped at the same location for several times already. The difference in getting totally lost, and being lost but making your way back is by preparing a map or compass. Dirt bike riders are particularly at higher risk for getting lost because of the wide reach capability of their vehicles and the fast movement lessens the riders’ capability to remember familiar landmarks or trails leading back to camp.
Maps and compasses will help you keep riding on the right path, and your compass will guide you back on the right track in case you veer off the right path. If you’re camping in a park or an off road resort, rangers or resort staff will provide you with a map of the area. Keep two just in case you lose one. If you are camping alone in a remote area, remember the location of your camp on your compass and keep a mental note of it as a reference direction.
Carefully venture into the woods first and remember familiar landmarks close to the camp, then set out to make trail visible markings. Repeat the steps as many times as possible until you are familiar with the trail and able to return safely. Of course, you’ll be a lot safer with a GPS system added in your bike. It could be handy for tracking your location and remember your camp’s location.
For the Dirt Bike
Whether you are bringing your dirt electric bikes for fun in the great outdoors or for some serious adventure rides and thrill-seeking, you need to bring complete maintenance and repair kits.
Electric dirt bikes perform just as well or even better than fuel-powered ones, but no matter which type of dirt bike you have, maintenance is still a key factor for both, especially when you're spending an extended period in the wilderness. You'll need a variety of spare parts on hand for when things inevitably break, for which you can click here to find everything you need on a site like zmperformance.com. With proper preparation, your bike will be ready for anything you throw it at. Here are the main things you'll need:
Electric Portable Air Compressor
Bringing a manual bicycle floor pump can be quite a hassle even though this device has unlimited air supply as long as you can keep pumping. A bicycle can be easy to inflate, but a dirt bike tire can take considerably longer to inflate, taking at least 400 strokes.
You don’t want to exhaust yourself inflating your bike tire before taking a ride. Instead, bring with you a portable electric air compressor. These types of compressors are inexpensive, fuel efficient and provides powerful inflation capacity, up to 140 psi. Your bike wheel just needs an average of 40-50 psi per wheel, so you have enough pounds of air to add to your bike wheels. You can also use the portable air compressor for other inflation purposes by adding nozzle attachments, so you can even inflate air mattresses.
Tool Kit
Bringing a tool kit is essential when going on a dirt bike camping. Again, given the space constraints of your bike, you’ll need a tool kit that’s small enough to carry, but still has a complete set of tools to do all the necessary jobs you’ll need to do on your bike while outside in the wilderness. For customized tool sets, you check out the tools from the dealership or the store where you bought your electric bike or you can also check for tools from authorized service motorcycle centers near your locality.
Tire Patch Kit
Camping and bringing your electric dirt bike along in the wilderness means you’re going to be far away from the comfort of service centers, bike shops and repair facilities within the city. Also, you’re going to be traversing unfamiliar roads and terrains, which can bring you the possibility of having a punctured and a flat tire.
While most bikes use a tubeless tire, there are still other types of bikes that use a tubed tire. In order to cover all the tire patching needs of your bike or the bikes of your campmates, you should bring with you a versatile and portable tire patch kit that can handle both tubed and tubeless tires. The BikeMaster Tire & Tube Flat Repair Kit and Smittybilt 2733 Tire Plug and Seal Kit good options for tire patch and plug kits that you can bring.
Now that we have accounted for the basic dirt bike camping must-haves, you can be ready to set out for camping either alone or with friends. If you’re still not that comfortable going camping alone, you can go camping with a companion or another experienced camper. Just remember to have a safe, clean and fun dirt bike camping.