Time to tour
Are your summer touring dreams about to become reality? Are you preparing to pack or ready to simulate strapping all bags to any part of your bike that will accept bungee cords, or carefully trying to place clothes, personal grooming kit etc into panniers that you thought were big enough but appear to have shrunk? We here at Evotech Performance have been there and yet, when it comes to another tour, we still try to fit the proverbial square pegs into round / oval / triangular holes.
One very important part of our early motorcycle touring escapades was the route. We wrote simple, basic directions in block letters on a piece of paper, wedged it into a see-through plastic bag and duct taped it to the petrol tank. We still got lost.
Today’s sat nav units and smartphone App-maps to Bluetooth enabled bike dash displays are god-sent systems, as in brilliant! The main problem is where to mount them so they can be safely seen and used – this is more and more apparent as the good old handlebar is being filled with all manner of controls. The answer is an Evotech Performance Sat Nav / Mobile Phone Mount mounting system. We currently list 2,000-plus systems that can accommodate leading brand sat nav units or smartphone connector, most of which have judgeme.com purchaser reviews.
With so many aftermarket accessories requiring a suitable power supply, despite many new motorcycles having a USB A / C 12v feed as standard, there’s always a need for one more, as we have found with the huge demand for the Evotech Motorcycle USB charger. In short, it is a waterproof female USB-A charging lead, 2.2 metre in length and provides a 5 / 9 / 12v power feed to accessories installed anywhere on a bike and can be battery connected or via the on / off ignition system for a reliable (3.1A) feed. It even comes with a substantial fitting kit as well.
If we worried about every possibility and the way we might get stranded miles from home or in unknown foreign locations, there would be little point in leaving the house let alone setting off into foreign territory. However, experience dictates a good tubeless repair kit is always worth packing – Evotech do not do these – on top of the legal “must have with you” travel pieces required in some countries. Another item or two to consider are handlebar clutch and brake levers. The staff at Evotech Performance obviously run their bikes with Evotech Evo Levers (folding or shorty-type) but pack their OE levers when travelling abroad in a group, just in case one of the group’s riders has a problem.
One other possible must have for everyday and touring use is a safety cam. No, Evotech doesn’t supply cam units but does produce cam mounts with the universal three-prong mounting point. These units are available in fitting styles to suit front mudguard, rear tail section, fairing screen or top fork yoke.
Wherever your touring route takes you, we wish you a dry, fun and safe ride.