Tent

You need a tent. Right? Well, actually, the world's pretty geared up for people traveling about on business/holiday and business/holiday people want hotels so there's lots of them about. But you may feel more comfortable, may find it cheaper, may look the part and it may save your bacon if you have a tent.

Of course, whilst you've a motorcycle to carry it for you, the more the motorcycle carries, the more likely it'll suffer in some way and be harder to lift up when you (inevitably) drop it.

You can pay $10 at your local Tesco through to $100s for some whizz-bang titanium-alloy Everest conquering uber-tent. I wanted something that was big enough for me and my stuff (soggy, dirty motorbike gear is equivalent to having an extra person in the tent with you but not in a sexy way) so you may want to think bigger than a capsule tent.

I went for a Vaude Hogan:

which is fairly light (3.4kg), the inner and outer come up as one, the poles are bungeed as one unit (ie. you don't spend ten minutes putting the wrong pole in the wrong place) and takes maybe 3 minutes to put up single handedly. Brilliant!

I bought mine off ebay.

Groundsheet

They recommend their own tent-shaped groundsheet (to protect the tent's base against sharp stones) but I went for a large sheet of plastic with some rivet holes in it which could double as a awning style sun-shade/dry mat were I to be stuck at the side of the road.

Off ebay.

Thermarest

I bought a 3/4 thermarest for my RTW and that's worked fine though after a few night's it doesn't do my back any favours. I'm not sure how effective it is at keeping you warm but my anecdotal evidence relates to a cold wind blowing through the tent rather than surviving a freezing ground.

Sleeping Bag

Again, for the RTW, I bought a Snugpack and it's worked a treat. Stuffs up small, keeps you warm (modulo howling gales).

Silk Sleeping Bag Liner

Bought on a whim my silk (not cotton, silk) sleeping bag liner is easily the best camping thing since sliced bread. Inside a sleeping bag it ups the season rating by one and when it's too hot for a sleeping bag it makes a terrific light sack. It weighs nothing, it packs to nothing, when you wash it it dries in no time. Brilliant.

My only complaint is I'm sure when I first had it it reached over my shoulders, it doesn't any more.

Camp Bed

My brother-in-law said that one of these cured his bad back problems when in a tent so I chanced my arm on ebay:

and, whilst I'm as wide as it is and it's heavy (3.4kg -- not the advertised 2.8kg) and takes longer to set up than the tent and thermarest combined I suspect it'll find it's way onto the bike for the next trip.

Mosquito Net

I bought a mosquito net in the UK for about £25 before flying into Johannesburg for the start of my RTW trip. Those on that trip who had not bought a mosquito net and wanted one (if they were going to sleep outside of a tent) were told to go to the local store (later on in the trip -- you needed (still need?) an armed guard to step off the premises in Jo'burg let alone walk down the street) and pick one up for $2. Ho hum.

Not only that but my mosquito net has traveled the world with me and never been used in anger once.

I have re-permethrined it, mind. Just in case.

Torch

Everyone (OK, I) forgets that when you're camping it's generally dark and electrickery is far away. You however, are attuned to continuing after dark. You need a torch. Preferably two as finding batteries for the one when its own have died might be something of a chore.

The fashion these days is for a head mounted torch and I've fallen in line.

(although mine's a Tikka Plus -- why do companies remove information from websites for no-longer manufactured products? I'm still using it therefore it's not discontinued!).

I also have a mini Maglite in my toolkit.