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Pack Neatly Or Lob It In
Blog Date - 06 November 2018
I once gave Sharon some saddlebags with the comment "If it can fit in there it can come with us". This was before Sharon got her own 2 wheeled transport. A week later the saddlebags were on the floor, ready to be loaded onto the bike. I tried to pick them up only to find Sharon has glued them to the floor as some sort of a joke.
Oh. No. It's not a joke. They aren't glued to the floor. Sharon has packed the bags so densely the 2 roughly 30 litre panniers probably contain the mass of the moon - in each pannier.
Ah yes, if I look carefully I can see light bending around the side of the bags. There are now a couple of cars circling in the street outside, I presume they are in orbit. Sharon approaches with "just a few more things to pack" - I shout "STOP!! You are close to reaching critical mass and creating a singularity"
"A what?"
"A singularity, a black hole" I notice as she reaches out towards the saddlebags her hand slows down in time.
Maybe I'm exaggerating - but not as much as you'd think. We both learned a lesson that day. Weight as well as size matters on a motorcycle. Of course now Sharon has her own bike and has to carry her own kit her luggage habits have changed. Considerably.
Anyhooooooooooo - the point of this video is to answer something I've pondered. Is it better to pack clothing very neatly because you'll get more in or does it not matter. To the video!
If you've got some great motorcycle luggage you'd like us to try out contact ren@bikesandtravels.com
Reader's Comments
Snod said :-
But what about the creases and crinkles!?
06/11/2018 12:14:56 UTC
Ren - The Ed said :-
Creases? Crinkles? Oh oh oh right yeah, Sharon used to occasionally fret about like lines and stuff where her clothes were folded. Apparently her mother would use an "iron" to flatten all the clothes and bedsheets. I don't own an "iron" so I've never found the need to worry about flattening things. If I want something to be flat I usually use a "hammer".
06/11/2018 12:21:59 UTC
Upt'North said :-
Don't own an Iron!
How do you press your handkerchiefs?
Standards, standards, standards.
About packing for a trip, that spare pair of pants just in case won't make much difference pressed or not.
Upt'North.
06/11/2018 16:34:25 UTC
Ren - The Ed said :-
Handkerchiefs? Ah you mean old torn t-shirts?
Yes I have very very strict standards and I'm raising them for no-one.
Spare pants - essential due to my poor riding skills.
Do I strike any of you as being the ironing type? Do you think when I'm not pretending to be a roughty toughty biker I'm dressed in a tuxedo or dinner jacket, quaffing fine brandy and talking to Charles Fortesque-Smythe the Third about horses? Damn, I've been rumbled!
06/11/2018 17:16:12 UTC
Ren - The Ed said :-
...or should that be "Dash! I've been rumbled"
06/11/2018 17:17:06 UTC
Bigngreen said :-
Should be Dash, one is rumbled.
06/11/2018 17:26:29 UTC
Ren - The Ed said :-
I guess I've been rumbled that I'm not posh then. Pffffft
07/11/2018 09:01:00 UTC
Stuart said :-
I'm impressed by the extent of your wardrobe. It must take you ages to choose your shirt!
08/11/2018 06:35:47 UTC
Ren - The Ed said :-
HA! It works like this Stuart. Freshly washed and dried t-shirts are crumpled up and thrown into the right hand side of the drawer. The t-shirt to be worn for the day (or 2, or 3, or 4, or 5....) is selected randomly from the left hand side of the drawer. This ensures a stock rotation of t-shirts.
I have not purchased a t-shirt for years and years. I have several friends who just give me t-shirts they no longer want. Same with trousers and jumpers if I think about it.
08/11/2018 08:36:26 UTC
Sharon said :-
Please let me spend your money and take you shopping, you have got a good figure it is about time the world knew it :-)
08/11/2018 15:03:37 UTC
Borsuk said :-
I discovered on one assignment that the grey version in one cheapo brand of Polo shirts would shake out wrinkle free after being washed and dried, as against any other colour in the same range of T shirts, which had to be ironed to be suitable for wearing in the office I was temporarily assigned to. I promptly bought 6 more of them and wore the same 7 shirts in rotation for the next 2 years. Combined with my penchant for buying trousers with the number of pockets available being the predominant deciding factor and hiking boots being my preferred choice of footwear I tended to be dressed identically every day.
This led to one of the permanent office staff complaining that I never changed my clothes and that I wasn't obeying the office dress code of shirt, tie and proper trousers and shoes
Being a good employee I proceeded for the next 2 months to turn up in the approved proper attire stipulated by my division of the company as suitable for wearing in our offices. Namely bright orange retro reflective boiler suit, safety helmet, boots, goggles, gloves, gas detector, safety harness ear defenders and webbing belt with assorted tools and other crap attached. For 2 months I dressed like this before returning to my more normal grey polo shirt and combat trousers. For some reason the complainant never mentioned my violations of the dress code again.
On the topic of the thread I find that rolling my clothes up from one end when I pack seems to cause less creasing in my case. I also subdivide my stuff into some small travel cube bags, makes it a lot easier finding stuff when living out of a suitcase for any period of time.
08/11/2018 22:42:27 UTC
Ren - The Ed said :-
Oh I'm sure you were the office darling Borsuk. Luckily where I'm working now the dress code is smart casual. In the interest of playing fair I have 2 polo shirts with the business logo on them in a drawer. If we're expecting visitors I swap into one of them so I at least look the part.
Why would anyone be worried about creases? If I put a t-shirt on first thing in the morning that's all wrinkled by the time I've had my breakfast it has self unwrinkled. As for proper shirts that are supposed to have creases my argument would be "You're in the wrong job".
09/11/2018 06:36:35 UTC
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