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Motorcyclists are a different breed of people. They don’t like being caged in a cement box rather wander around blending with the spirits of nature. Touring on a motorcycle is fun for some, relaxing for some, euphoric for some and a therapy for some. Only those who do it can experience it.

But touring can be taxing at times, testing your physical and mental capabilities. People on a Odyssey will understand the pain under the epiphany.

Thanks to the manufacturers who understand the passion and manufacture touring accessories that make your journeys safe and comfortable [coughs”Brand slogan”]

With the surge in demand over the past few years, touring accessories don’t burn your pocket anymore. You can get started with a vary of items that costs you less than 5000 bucks.

Here are some of the top accessories you can buy without burning a big hole in your pocket.

Top Box or Pannier Box

One of the most not so fancy part about touring is loading and unloading your luggage every time you step down and step back on your bike.

Bungee chords are effective but they come with the risk of breaking out and the process of using them is clumsy. Having a number or rucksacks and backpacks makes it too heavy and too many for a simple trip.

Top Boxes are easier to use and you can just remove them from the rack and again place it back with ease. They are resistant to rain and extreme weather conditions, that you don’t need an additional round off with rain covers over them.

One of the best travel companions that gets the job done quietly. You can buy these top boxes online and we have a variety if you are interested starting at just INR3200.

Mobile Holder

“The route less travelled is where the real adventure begins” – but Google maps needs to be your constant support throughout the journey.

Needless to emphasize the importance of Google maps through your journey. The Mobile holder with a charger will help you have a constant look on the go.

You can get those after markets at around INR500 and the branded ones will cost your around 1400 Rupees.

Saddle Bags

If you are riding with a pillion, you would know the benefit of having a saddle bag on your rear instead of a regular rucksack. They are handy, easy to remove and gel well with the shape of your bike.

You can get them on both bag and box versions. Just like top boxes, saddle bags are easier to load and unload and help you carry a lot of luggage as well.

Make sure you look for rain proof options to serve you in different climate conditions.

Puncture kit/ Tyre Inflator

There is nothing worse than a puncture or a bad air pressure in the middle of a highway or in the midst of a dense off-road trail. It is always good to have the basic skill set of fixing a bike and managing a puncture.

Things like a puncture kit or a Tyre inflator will be a savior in those times for you. Nowadays, they are compact and easy to carry. Plus, they don’t cause a huge amount of money but sure deliver some great value.

Add this to your next touring checklist without fail. The price range of the same is around 1200-3000INR

Tank Bags

If you are buying your first luggage accessory, this should definitely be on your list. The most compact luggage carrier that helps you carry your necessities for a quick morning ride or a short ride and to even your every day city usage too!

They come with magnetic flaps that can be easily attached to your tank if they are metallic and for non metallic tanks, you can simply use the cables to tie it around.

They come in different sizes and the bigger ones can suffice for a two day trip.

The price range of the same is around 2500-4000INR.

These items shall give you a good head start on your touring accessories, there are always more you can add on to the above list.

Some of them include

• Auxiliary lights or Fog Lamps
• Rear Racks
• Chain Lube kits
• Crash guards
• Knuckle guards
• Rear seat rest
• and more

Go one at a time and build your ultimate touring set-up over the long run.

On any day, prioritize your safety gears over the touring accessories. When it comes to munching miles, safety is always our top priority.

Happy riding folks!

Share this with your riding groups 😎

Moto vlog is a segment that has picked up pace over the recent years in India. Both in regional as well as English language, there are tons of motorcycle enthusiasts who take the help of an action cam to share their experience to the fellow cohorts.

If you are following us on YouTube or Instagram, you would’ve seen our SIRA SPOTLIGHT show every Sunday LIVE on Instagram and later published on our YouTube channel as well.

The reason why I am stressing it is to make you go check them out now 😉

We interviewed 8 leading moto vloggers so far and we thought we will compile some of our observations in this blog. If you love moto vlogs, if you aspire to start one or if you wanna know how did the pros do it – you can watch all the interviews or just scroll and read this one out.

Consider this as the 10 Commandments for your next Vlog!

Choosing a Channel Name

Every channel name has a story, but it has nothing to do with numerology or virality. They had to find something people would easily relate to like Number Plate.

Sometimes, it is as simple as Vignesh PT Travel Vlogs and sometimes, it is based on their nick names such as Unluck Jack or BlackBuddy!

Don’t think hard. Just name it.

Birth of the Passion

Loving Bikes and the Love for travel is something that grows along with everyone. Some people realize it and progress searching for more such experience.

The rest of the world experience it only when they are exposed to it.

All of them we interviewed had the inspiration right from their childhood days. Rider Mugi explained how he used to enjoy riding with his Grand father on his Royal Enfield sitting on the fuel tank.

Passion starts early. Find it.

Problems they faced

Nothing comes easy. Unfortunately we see only what is shown in the camera. Behind the scenes there is a lot of retakes, shuffles, broken cams, missed audio records and a lot more before the final video is out.

B4Choose Karuna, shared how they got caught by the police once when they were vlogging outdoors and later they had to explain it in detail before they we let go.

It must take 10 times more energy to make you not do it.

How did they start

No one had the notion to be a YouTube star or had a milestone in mind when they started their YouTube channel.

Some loved telling stories, some loved saying it in a video format, some loved sharing their knowledge to others and all of them loved talking more about it.

They started small, made a lot of errors, continued correcting the same – they succeeded.

To succeed, do it with all your heart.

Friends, Family, Support

Not just charity, even the journey of a good moto vlogger begins at home. If it had been not for their support, many of them would not have existed by now.

BlackBuddy named his channel after his close friend. They even shared their bikes until he bought John Wick.

DDCM concepts Dr.Dinesh is supported by his wife and brother to cover up his duties whenever he goes for a ride.

Vignesh PT’s wife who understands his passion and sacrifices a part of the family time for the same

Unluck Jack’s sister is the kind of sister we all wish for in our life.

Literally, all of them had their family who understand their passion and provide them the space to progress on the same.

Be thankful for the people you are blessed with.

Unique Style

Having a unique style for your vlog is one of the reason people will come back to watch your videos. It is one of the primary reasons, you see a genre with vloggers as well.

You would see a specific style in the camera angle, the story telling pattern, the ethnicity behind the scenes.

One way or the other, they all have their own style and continue sticking to it. It just happens over time.

People love natural content. Be the way you are.

What keeps them going

Every creator goes through a phase of creator block. They don’t know what the next content should be. Sometimes after a 1000 attempts, they still can’t figure out the best narration to express the story.

In all these times, two things help

• The love towards motorcycles and travel
• The subscribers

Shortfall is common and temporary

Subscribers Love

A YouTuber is made by the number of subscribers he gains over a period of time. Not everyone managed to hop into a shooting star, many had to wait before they started receiving better traction.

But during all times, Subscribers served as the best source of motivation helping them move forward again and again.

Many had a funny story but to top them all is checking with Number plate How often does he washes his hair!

The crazy ones are the best.

Time Management

One has to be a productivity master to manage a full-time professional job, spend quality time with family, go for rides and manage a YouTube channel with 1000s of subscribers.

Every hour of the day is planned well in advance to make sure none of the pillars in the family take a dent.

You have to burn the midnight oil to see success.

Success tastes the best when it is hard fought.

Personal Dream

The dream to ride longer and faster gets only bigger. It is the real-time Akshaya Patra (the vessel that never goes empty) which keeps coming back asking for more.

Like the vlogging style even the dreams have their own taste. Ranging from the roads in Iceland to the different places within the villages of India, each biker has their own dream ride in mind.

The exposure to touring and motorcycles on a professional level might have alleviated them from being fan boys to brands, but they all do have a motorcycle of their dream to own a day.

Don’t be stingy with your dreams.

I had the pleasure of interviewing these people who share the same level of passion with travel and motorcycles just like you and me.

Finding a network of people who share the same passion is one of the hardest thing to happen. But we are happy to bring together this community through our show.

If you haven’t watched the videos, do check them out on your Instagram page and YouTube Channel.

Hope you guys loved the read. What would be your favorite commandment?

Every motorcycle fan always has a dream ride in their heart. There is some place they want to visit with their bike and probably leave their tyre print all across the country. While many see this as a destination ride, for true bike lovers – Rides are a form of meditation.

Long distance rides help you develop inner peace, and helps you disconnect from the regular world and rejuvenate your inner child when you head back.

But, how do you plan for your long ride?

There are numerous steps involved in preparing for a long-distance motorcycle ride. The first thing is defining what long-distance is – for some people 200kms is long distance while some might cover the same distance without a pit stop.

Your past ride history, physical fitness and your experience all comes into play while deciding on this. If you are planning for a group ride, make sure you all are in sync with the capacity of each rider and agree to find common ground for pitstops.

Here, we bring you 5 areas where you need to concentrate more before your long ride to make sure your journey is safe and comfortable. [yup that is our brand’s slogan as well]

Pre-Ride prep

The journey starts once you decide you want to go for a long ride. You need to start getting yourself prepared mentally and physically.

Travelling long means, you will get butt and knee sore easily. Make sure you keep yourself physically active – be it going for a walk/jog or doing basic cardio. It is important to keep your body agile to aid you cover those longer stretched during day without taking constant breaks.

Prepare your bike. Start riding frequently short distances before you take your ride for a long distance. You should create that bond with your bike knowing how it performs in different terrains and what could possibly be the faults that might occur in these terrains

Unless you are an experienced rider, it is not recommended to take a new bike and ride long. Most people when they travel to Ladakh, rent bike to ride there. If you are planning something like that, make sure you have already driven a similar model so that you are used to the seating position, kerb weight, breaking etc.

Safety Gear

I don’t mind repeating this 1000 times but “Safety is the top priority”. Your family and friends support you in these long tours and the best return you can give them is to be cautious in your ride and return home safely.

Don’t compromise your riding gears. No matter how responsible you are, you cannot assure your fellow riders riding along and opposite way on the road.

Ensure you get a Riding Jacket, Gloves and a standard Helmet. These are unavoidable. If you cannot get riding pants, get a knee and shin armour. A normal pair of boots should do for highway rides but if you are planning for off road terrains don’t compromise again on a safety boot.

Remember we are just one fall away. When you plan your budget make sure you have the budget for proper safety gear included in it.

Budget – expect the unexpected!

Thanks to YouTube for the hundreds of moto vloggers online, you can get all the information you want regarding your journey from their personal experience videos.

Try to gather as much information as possible to pan for a proper budget. You can also check for hotel and stay pricing online to get an idea of how much will it cost for different items.

Don’t compromise on hygiene and healthy food. Rather try to compromise on shopping in destinations.

Always keep 20% more than the estimated amount with you for all safety reasons. Maintain both digital and liquid cash. Place them in different spots like your pockets, saddle bags, tank bags etc. so that even in worst cases you will be left with some amount.

Luggage – Less is more!

Packing for the trip is the loveliest thing to do before your journey. There is a separate joy in packing things before your trip. But don’t go over bound.

If you are planning for more than a day trip, you might have to unpack and repack a lot of times and it can be cumbersome. Strapping them back to your carriers and then reaching back if you have missed something is a tedious job

You can purchase affordable packing essentials such as Top Box, Saddle Bags, Tank bags etc. to help you with the same. Compared to a ruck sack, these things are custom made to fit into your bikes and make it easy for you during rides – causing less vibrations and easy unloading.

Take luggage safety as top consideration and make sure you have strapped them right. Cruising at high speeds, if you haven’t strapped right they will cause a lot of vibrations and might trip off during the travel. Take enough time and cross check the safety measures before you begin.

Route – The Way forward

Ok so finally you are done with the above 4 steps but there is one more important thing to make it more awesome! The road matters – Period. If you decide to go just by google then God bless you!

Like I mentioned earlier, take some references from other riders, or join a community to find some new interesting rides instead of taking the boring highways. (Highways are good, but how long?)

You might find yourself near new ghat roads, new terrains that will make your ride complete.

In addition plan the right pitstops, your rest places etc. in advance to avoid confusion if you are going alone. If you are planning a group ride, take everyone’s riding ability into consideration while planning for the routes and terrains you wanna explore.

Rounding things off,

Bikers are a separate breed who likes to be free in the world out there. Exploring new places, meeting new people. The adrenaline rush caused by the sound of the exhaust is something nothing can match.

Ride safe, Ride Long. We at SIRA strive to make your Journeys safe and comfortable with our line of products. Do give them a try and show your support for local.

Share this with your friend who is a rider freak or who will find some good info from the blog.