Motorcycle Touring Essentials

Avoiding for the moment the tagline From a tight-arsed Northerner's perspective, the premise of this book is to provide insight and inspiration for motorcycle touring that doesn't, as the author says, include; Blogging tips or advice on how to take the perfect selfie.

Collette Colemans has assembled a selection of iconic European motorcycle tours, from heading for the desolate beauty of the Arctic Circle to the sweltering beaches of the Aegean Sea.

The GT-Air II is Shoei's flagship sports-touring helmet and will suit the riding position of both a sports tourer or a more upright, adventure-style bike. It has a large visor aperture with an internal drop-down sun visor and is supremely comfortable and quiet two key factors essential for a long tour.

Oxford's laminated suit is a great option for all-weather performance and all-day comfort. It uses a nylon outer layer with Oxford's Dry2Dry laminate membrane to create a single garment that is water and windproof yet allows the body to breathe.

These touring boots from Alpinestars are super-comfortable and super-waterproof. They have a leather upper and while their protection isn't quite as obvious as say a sports boot, they achieve the highest levels of CE rating.

The Richa Street Touring gloves are proven winners, gaining a Best Buy award from our sister title RiDE. They are relatively light so should suit most climates and the addition of the Gore-Tex membrane means that they will keep all wind and water out while breathing, preventing the hands from getting too warm.

If you want to stay in touch while you're riding, this universal-fir intercom from Cardo will do the job for you. It comes with JBL speakers for excellent sound quality if you're listening to music and will pair with your smartphone and sat nav for making and taking calls and direction instructions as well as music.

If you're touring, you'll need to take clothing with you and choosing luggage is key. We have used Oxford's Aqua range in the past and found them to be very well constructed and completely waterproof essential on any long tour.

One accessory you hope you'll never need but when you do, it will be invaluable. This will help repair punctures in tubeless tyres and comprises a reamer to open out a hole, a needle to insert one of the 15 included repair worms, and a knife to trim the worm off flush with the tyre.

There are so many reasons to want nay, need a sat nav on a tour and this one from TomTom will do the lot. It will take you the fastest way to your destination, using motorways if you want. If not, then set it to use winding or hilly routes and it will avoid major roads and choose more fun ones.

Being able to repair a tyre on the side of the road, using a kit like the one above, is one thing but you also need to be able to reinflate your tyre so you can carry on. This battery in this rechargeable compressor should be good for up to six motorcycle-tyre inflations so not only will it get you going again, its digital pressure gauge will also help you check your pressures before each day of riding. It charges by USB and gets great reviews.

If you're off on a long tour on a chain-driven bike, you'll need to lubricate your chain somewhere along the way. While carting a large can of lube around may be overkill, this 75ml can from SDoc is small enough to tuck away in your luggage or under the seat but can be refilled for numerous trips from a larger can of the same product. Handy packaging for an essential bit of kit.

A tankbag can be extremely useful when touring, keeping a smartphone safe and in view, for example as well as housing wallets, passports, tickets and money or cards for motorway tolls if you are using them.

This handy little toolkit from Sealey will tuck away easily in your luggage or under the seat and while it won't allow you to tackle any huge jobs on the bike, should give you enough capabilities to make emergency running repairs or tweak your bike as you go. There is a small ratchet handle and five sockets, pliers, Allen keys and a screwdriver handle and bits.