Lets see your lightweight camping setup!!

I decided I wanted to travel ultralight. I already have a reasonably light bike at 299lbs (04 625SMC) and have no reason to add hard cases and the like. I use this thing as a dirt bike half the time. I have the pro moto billet rack on its way. On it; A Eureka Backcountry Solo Tent at about 3.5lbs. Ultralight Sleeping Bag 2 lbs, Thermorest 1.5lbs, alcohol stove and alcohol, about 3 oz., titanum pot,?, plastic water cups and bowls, 2oz, Candle lantern 8oz along with another dry bag with clothes and a backpack with tools, water, food, flashlight, etc.

Has anyone have a similar setup with some pics?

I was looking into buying really light stuff, but the prices are too high. We travel two up and this is the set-up:

tent: 6 lbs
sleeping bag x2: 6 lbs
coleman multifuel stove: 1.5 lbs (fuel comes from bike gas tank)
sleeping mat x2: 3 lbs
stainless steel cooking set: 3 lbs

Don't have pictures, sorry.

Doug.

I do some remote mountain camping on the motorbikes. All I bring is:

Hennesey Hammock
Bivy sack
Thermarest w/chair
Camelback full of water
Ipod
Clothes to sleep in
Food is pre cooked (rice, jerky, well done pork, etc) so no need for stoves, pots and such.

Not sure what it wieghs but its not much. Here are a couple of pics for an idea.


This is how its packed, hardly takes any space.



This is what it looks like unpacked. Home sweet home for traveling light.

Ray Jardine has all the answers. Very light weight stuff (8 Lbs. without water!) Most of his stuff can be homemade without a lot of skills or tools (sewing machine maybe..) and most is available commercially if you just want to buy it.

I use a Hennessey Hammock and a 2 pound sleeping bag. I have a 1 pound Ny-Sil tarp for the lighter trips. I made a .5 Oz Stove and aluminum mess kits are good.

I really liked my Hennessy the two nights I used it.

Till it fell off the back .

Oh man that is slick, the hammock part is kind of limited in the northern lands though ...

Yeah, that's a nice setup!!!

get us some info on the Ray Jardine set up

and in the pictures notice the Tree savers ,, nice and responcible

Although it may look loaded, there is a lot air in the bags, and of course loads of gear not needed (dinner date clothing etc)...
however i could stay out for 5 days before a refill of food/water etc, tools, spares and what have you. now down to about half the size with better gear, lighter tent/sbag etc.. I guess if in a warmer climate things could be smaller again, not needing to have gear for storms, snow etc..Best thing was doing loads of small trips and chipping away at the amount of stuff i carry.. note, this shot has the helmet, riding jacket, knee gaurds etc all on the bike secured for a hike..
ps start with a 250cc bike, needs to be low weight..

Hammocks and tree's are rightly made for each other . I have used mine though tied up to trucks and fences. People have even turned them into makeshift tents by tyeing one end of the hammock to your motorbikes handlebars.



They are especially useful when rain comes down in buckets. Ie 5 inches in a storm. I got it set-up here just as it was starting to teem down. I looked on the ground from inside my hammock and see an inch of water running down the side of the hill. Glad I wasn't just in the bivy sack that night .

Thanks for noticing.

Everyone knows about light wire frame stoves and Titanium pots, etc. Here's my big two things that provide full camping comfort with minimum weight:

Big Agness sleeping bag - no insulation in the bottom, only a pouch to hold your mat. The mat provides the insulation from the ground, the pouch makes it impossible to roll off the mat. Works really good. These bags are very light for the comfort ratings & pack up really small.

Bibler tent - at 4.5 pounds it's the lightest 4 season tent I know of. It is free standing with only 2 poles, but strong. It sets up in about a minute. You can sit inside it to set it up (like if the mosquitos are eating you). Mine is an old one with only one vent so it's hot in the hot weather, but great in the cold - I've slept in it at least 20 degrees below F. Designed for mountaineering by mountaineers, spendy, but way good.

Wow some good responses. The Bibler tent looks very nice but too spendy for me with the amount of use I will be able to get from this. The tent I chose seems to be the right combo of compact but still robust. Remember, I am camping in Florida. Here in the winter, I will face no more than 45 degrees at night however severe dampness makes it feel like 35 or so. Winter is mostly the dry season too so it all helps to travel light. I plan on some trips to Ocala. Probably turn on the GPS and head into the middle of the forest and set up camp. No one around to bother and no cars etc left on the road somewhere.

Team ftb, probably when I was somewhat younger I would go that lean on gear. I recall holding a couple of tarps together on a knoll up in Tennessee when 40MPH gusts were coming through(while it was raining) right before the temp dropped like 15 degrees in about two hours. All our zippers on coats and anthing made out of fabric froze up. I prefer a little more shelter these days.

I like the precooked food. That is my idea at this point. Just heat up some coffee or some soup if necessary to warm up and bring some tinfoil to heat up the food. I dont build a fire either. Its not cold enough and when I get that cold I go to bed. If I wasnt traveling alone I would probably go riding at night but not worth the risk.

PS after owning about 35 motorcycles I have decided my LC4 KTM is probably the most useful motorcycle I have ever owned. It does well enough offroad unlike a true dualsport and does extremely well onroad. I like it.

My wife and I just started this, but it seems to be working great so far. We are carrying:

Kelty 2-person tent (4.5 lbs)
Sleeping bags (Feathered Friends 2 lbs & Kelty 2.5 lbs)
Sleeping pads (Exped Airmats 1 lb each)
Snowpeak GigaPower stove (5 oz?)
Coleman Peak1 Lantern (8 oz?)
Miscellaneous camp plates, cups, bowls, utensils.
A lot of food (my wife loves to cook when we camp)
Extra clothes for around camp
Camera (obviously)
Other goodies for camping (hatchet, flashlight, water bottles)
Aluminum camp chairs (a necessity for campfire comfort)

This photo is from our last bike camping trip over the Thanksgiving holiday when we had 65+ degree weather. I can't say enough about the Wolfman Expedition bags. They ROCK!



Cheers,
Shannon

G'day,
here's my ultralight setup for this ride http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169841:
Bibler Ahwahnee 2-person tent (including vestibule) & Mountain Designs -5degC rated Sleeping bag in dufflebag on back of XR400
Clothes/food/water - in Backpack
Tools - Kelly Enduro Bumbag

and another picture showing the whole lot

i've done ALOT of motorcycle camping. weight is an issue - but more importantly space! i've got a setup that works out well.... is very light... and will support 90% of situations i could get into, but it is very tall and cumbersome!

for lightweight camping, OFFROAD - i needed to keep it basic and accept that you'll only be able to travel for a limited amount of time and in a limited climate range.

in my case, a long weekend over 40 degrees, with one change of clothes... basically a decent sleeping bag under a tarp slung from the bike.

the lightest i can travel without making the bike unreasonable for navigating single track.

My question (since it's been a dream of mine to actually get off my butt and do this) is how do you handle fuel? It just seems like I'd run out after the first day. (Given I don't have an extra-large tank, but even for some of the Dakar equipped KLRs - don't you ride far enough for it to run out?

The trick to ultra light is to take less. My basic set up for camping in the west is a 30 degree Marmot Hydrogen sleeping bag, (weighs 1 pound and packs down to the size of a loaf of bread) a 1/4 inch thick cheap insulite pad, (1/2 pound rolls up very small) and a Golite Cave 2 tarp tent if theres a chance of rain (1 pound packs down 1/2 the size of the sleeping bag). No stove but a small tea pot for making hot water for coffee tea etc, (3-4 ounces) a partial roll of aluminum foil for cooking in a fire, or just take cold food purchased at the last gas stop. All this goes in a backpack.

The tarp I use is big enough for 3 people to get under if neccesary. The expensive thing is the Marmot sleeping bag ($300). But like most things you get what you pay for, all Marmot stuff is guarrantied for life. When it starts to get thin just send it back and Marmot will refill the down to original specs. I've sent 15 year old bags with thousands of nights spent in them back and they were restored to new condition for free.


This is the most loaded pack I've every carried on the bike. 1.5 gallons extra gas, 1 gal of water. about three days of food maybe 10 pounds. The actual camping gear 3 pounds.


Foil cooking prep.



Sleeping bag and pad.

DW

planning.

if you have a bike that is set up specifically for long-distance backcountry trips... your range could be up to 500 miles.

but through a larger or auxillary tank... 200-250miles is reasonable.

beyond that, plan a route that will intersect towns where fuel will be available.

dwrads,
Where was that first picture taken?

Do any of you guys use the backpacking food, dehydrated?

What bike gets 200-250 miles, I can only get about 100 miles with a 4.3 gal tank on a XR 650r.

This would be fun to do, except for the food part, I need substance.