What's in *your* tankbag?

[bmwgreenrt]

I have this great "New" cell phone that I found, that I am keeping in my tankbag now.

It says BMWRider on it, but hey who am I to complain when it's for free.

 

[MarkF]

I have one of those small BMW tank bags.

I carry the other faceshield (tinted or clear)
Breaf loaf bags to make boots more waterproof
Baclava to keep warm
maps and BMWMOA Anonymous book
Garage door opener
More earplugs
Tire pressure gauge

In the extention pocket I carry my 'stich
pants and bib converter if not wearing.

 

[Melissa]

I hate to say this, but besides the above mentioned products that we all normally carry, I also carry an emergency number someone could call...just in case! I also have the number in my riding suit.

I also carry some medical information. I know, not as exciting as martini glasses....but a necesity nonetheless.

 

[iRene]

What's in *your* tankbag

This is a lively thread! Most of my contents have been hit in other posts, but I do carry a Coyote thermal mug for rally coffee and my indispensable Lexan travel wineglass and corkscrew. Each can further be packed with other small items like spare earplugs or foil single servings of peanut butters and honeys stolen from those irresistible Cracker Barrel restaurants, RIGHT, STACE?

 

[BMWRider]

I have this great "New" cell phone that I found, that I am keeping in my tankbag now.

It says BMWRider on it, but hey who am I to complain when it's for free.

Aw, you can keep it, Chief. Just don't dial any of the numbers on it ... you might get a few surprises.

 

[BMWRider]

It'll make a big shaker of three or four martinis and it looks real cool too. It seems to work.

Mmmmmmmmmmm, martinis.

 

[fish]

Since this turned out to be a mostly serious gear thread, I moved it to the Gear forum (great name, huh? )

Please, no discussion of Glocks vs. Colts.

Not a problem. I don't particularly care for Glocks, and since I discovered HK, I don't carry a Colt anymore.



So, seriously...in the tankbag. I don't keep much stuff in there. Usually a Wee Willy faceshield kit, extra earplugs, flashlight, Benchmade folding knife and Victronox multi-tool, fleece, maps, snacks, and a digital camera, so I can get shots like this while rolling:

 

[allan]

Stuff

maps
shades
swiss army knife
leatherman tool
extra ear plugs
power bars
heated vest cord
plexi-polish
lighter and matches
flashlight
waterless hand cleaner
cork screw/bottle opener
Army can opener
meds
sun screen
small first aid kit

 

[RichEdwards]

These are all very helpful suggestions. I'll be installing my BigMak Tankbag this weekend on my RT and, besides my digital camera and some maps, I wasn't certain what to put in the bag.

 

[BMWGypsy]

Re: What's in *your* tankbag

This is a lively thread! Most of my contents have been hit in other posts, but I do carry a Coyote thermal mug for rally coffee and my indispensable Lexan travel wineglass and corkscrew. Each can further be packed with other small items like spare earplugs or foil single servings of peanut butters and honeys stolen from those irresistible Cracker Barrel restaurants, RIGHT, STACE?

And the maple syrup...not that I would know anything about that.

 

[deilenberger]

Jeeze, you hadda go ask..

I just refilled it since Bob Weis had it for a month doing a few custom mods.

It's about 2 gallons of stuff with one extra quart thown in.. (kept the crap in a big bucket and a quart jar while the bag was away)

From memory (I don't have the ambition to dig it all out again):

o - Maps to the local area - usually a few
o - Maps to places I went to and forgot to take'm out
o - Maps to places I'd like to run away to and if I get pissed off once more I'm running away from home to

o - WeeWilly - carried it for years, SWMBO and son bought it for me one birthday 'cause they thought the name was so qute. Never used it on the RT, use it all the time now that I got the S. Hadda buy a refill for the splooge in it.

o - Leatherman - won it someplace (doorprize) so figure since I don't carry Weapons of Localized Destruction (WLD in George talk), I'd toss this in, just in case I run into a crazed bunny or something. I could plier the thing to death.. or mebbe throw it at the damn bunny and bruise it or something.

o - Little fuzzy stuff (ultra-whatever that stuff you make pullovers outta) pouch. In that I carry:

o - The cable/lock that the leatherman would he good to use to get off if I ever forget the combination (can you count to 4? - I knew you could!), used to use it through the sleeves of my 'stitch until I realized the 'stitch could fit in a sidecase

o - RadioShit DVM (Digital Voltmeter for you non-techies). Have never used it on my bike while on the road. Have used it at rallies on other peoples bikes and have used it in the garage on my bike (in fact - planning to this weekend)

Oh - now I remember - UltraFleece - that's what the bag is
made outta. I think it came from Rider Warehouse.

o - Stop and Go kit (the BMW tire kit is in the tailpod) - has this nice gun looking thing that I could mebbe use on the bunny (shoot it with rubber bullets!) of the Leatherman didn't work.

o - RiderWarehouse Evapodana - left over from the RT where I used to get WAY too hot sometimes.

o - RiderWarehouse insulating kerchief - needed more on the S since I don't get WAY too hot too often, but sometime do get WAY too cold.

The two above do look redundent - could use the Evapodana
for both purposes - but what'da I know.

o - One of those plastic sidestand pucks from Allstate insurance. It was given away at some rally. With a string on it so I can attach it to the bars when parked and drag it behind me when I ride away and forget to pick it up.

o - Handmade sidestand puck made from 1/2" plywood, a string on this that serves same function as string on the Allstate one.

o - Several short bungies (don't tell Helen!) - to bungie the stunned bunny to the bike

o - MowTow card - so I'll never need it (haven't yet!)

o - Finger squeegie thingie - slips over a finger in case I wanna make money while doing door-guard duty at a rally. Just need the next item and I'm in business.

o - Sport bottle (well - old Gatorade bottle with the sport top) of water that I filled up Gawd knows when in case I end up in the middle of a Gawdforsaken desert somewhere (or need some green spit to use with the finger squeegie to pick up a few bucks)

o - Big ass old Penthouse cigar in a glass tube. Dunno - someone at work gave it to me when I was leaving for a rally. Rumor has it Monica was intimate with this exact cigar. It's a big sucker. Bigger than the Wee Willie. Lots bigger in fact.

o - Matchbooks without a lot of matches in them, most of them kinda soft and mushy

o - The usual collection of spare and slightly used by fuzzy earplugs (I didn't know ear wax would grow stuff like that)

o - Small first aid kit - like for a splinter. A very small splinter.

o - Buncha out of date business cards for me in our club from the place that prints them for free (great deal BTW) and just charges for ths shipping. Have new ones on order.

o - Bic lighter with no fluid, but the sparker still works so I just couldn't throw it out (could prolly scare the bunny away with the sparks)

o - Extra cord for the Gerbing stuff - have a built in Heattroller (so there KBasa!) that I don't want to break, so invoking my law of spares seemed like a wise idea

o - Whatever pair of gloves I am least likely to need. In the summer it's usually the heated Gerbing gloves, in the winter the motocross mesh ones. This just seems to happen.

o - Pair of silk inner gloves. I forget why - except someone said to get these. They would be handy at a crime scene if I was the criminal. I wouldn't leave ANY fingerprints around the bunny.

o - Old pair of prescription sunglasses - where the presciption is SO old that they are *almost* valueless. Invoking Eilenberger's Law again.

o - 1 card that will let 2 people of adult age into a local nudie bar. Haven't found anyone worthy to take with me. It's a booze free bar so that's OK. It's also a VERY nude bar. That's also OK. Just expensive (even wtih the free admission card). But that's ALSO OK. What else am I gonna waste money on? The bike? HAHAHA!

o - Manditory bottle of ibprofen. Mostly turned to dust now, so it looks like a suspicious white powder.

o - Worlds remaining supply of our club patch. I keep these to barter with Native Americans (pc) to skin the bunny if I suceed in stunning it.

o - Raincover for the tankbag that Bob Weis finally put snaps on that match up to the bag (wasn't his fault, really.. I kept this raincover when I sold another bag. Really.)

o - Garage door opener that sometimes works when I don't even intend it to. It's like magic - I'm coming down the street and UP goes the garage door and I didn't move a finger. Amazes the people who were following me. Then I thought of H2W and the magic Apple laptop (if you gotta ask..)

o - Tokens for bridges that are no longer accepted

o - A very green quarter. Kinda fuzzy too - it was kept too close to the spare earplug supply.

o - My lawyers card in case I get caught trying to shoot the bunny with the Stop-And-Go gun. Or some cop gets really picky about the white powdered ibprofen.

o - Fuzzy case for the GPS. Usually empty since the GPS is on the outside of the bike right in front of the tank.

o - One floppy disk. I think it was left over from a dyno run.

o - Some tie-wraps - the motorcyclists duct-tape. I have a big one I could use as a tornequet, or to handcuff the bunny.

o - A plastic garbage bag to drag beer and ice around rallies with.

o - Kewl little kit the credit-union gave me the other day for talking to them (they ran outta those squeeze-balls) that has a tiny little sewing kit in it, some headache powder in a glassine envelope (sheeze - the cops are gonna wonder), one bandaid and their name printed on the outside of the kit in case I have a sudden urge to call them.

And some other stuff.

And it's not even near full yet. This is just for around town riding, before a trip I load it up.

That's it - this is ALL you need in a tank bag. Sorta the definative list.

 

[mrskbasa]

And I thought a woman's purse was bad.

 

[deilenberger]

And I thought a woman's purse was bad.

Ya know what's funny? I took all that crap outta the tank bag except the old business cards, when I sent it to Bob Weis.. then I put it all back in after considering each and every item when I got it back.

I'm sure I'll need everything in there (except the Eilenberger's Law things) sometime.

It's just the basics really.

 

[kbasa]

It's just the basics really.

Hate to ask the obvious, but what kinda tank bag is that exactly, a 55 gallon drum?

 

[deilenberger]

Hate to ask the obvious, but what kinda tank bag is that exactly, a 55 gallon drum?

Just your standard Multivaro-1.. and it's not even full yet.

 

[RWMunday]

Tankbags And Bunnies

Don,

You need to cool the Bunny talk. My furry little friends are everywhere... and they are pissed!

I had my own encounters with Bob Weis and guns at the Blitz To Branson 7: The Lumens Smackdown in 2002. It was not a pretty sight. I, with my Bunny Organ... Bob, with his ear goo gun.

 

[globalrider]

Last summer was the first year I ever used a tank bag in my 28 years of motorcycling.

I never really liked them all that much, but I finally had a need for one.

I found it the safest place to store my Sony Handycam while it is taking on-bike videos that are captured by my helmet mounted lipstick camera. Along with the camera, it stores the battery pack for the lipstick camera and excess wiring.

Maps and other small odds 'n ends find plenty of room in my Aerostich suit. Other items end up in the tail pack or luggage bags.

 

[BMWRider]

Re: Re: What's in *your* tankbag?

Last summer was the first year I ever used a tank bag in my 28 years of motorcycling.

I never really liked them all that much, but I finally had a need for one.

I started using an Eclipse tankbag in the late 1970s because I had a Kawasaki KZ750 that had no storage space whatsoever except a little, teeny fairing pocket in the Vetter Quicksilver fairing. Once I had the Eclipse, I couldn't imagine ever riding again without one.
Fact is, though, that the next series of bikes I bought - '93 GL1500, '96 R1100RT, '99 K1200LT - didn't really need a tankbag because they had so much other room available. But when I bought the GS last summer, the first thing I investigated was a tankbag. A mighty handy tool to have.

 

[Beemn]

OOPs...I guess I forgot to get the tankbag....Hon, I have to run down to the bike shop...gotta get something!!!

 

[globalrider]

Re: Re: Re: What's in *your* tankbag?

Originally posted by BMWRider But when I bought the GS last summer, the first thing I investigated was a tankbag. A mighty handy tool to have.

As long as you can see up close. I couldn't make out the map and GPS when it was under the map window of my tank bag last summer (I don't like bi-focals), but then, as I mentioned, I bought my first tank bag for another reason.

Product note: I bought a Chase Harper Compac 750 strap on tank bag. No matter how well one straps the bag down, it still wobbles from side to side. CH picked the wrong attach points for their straps. Yet I will say that attention to detail of any Chase Harper product that I have is first rate. I'm just not happy with this particular product.