Carrying camera gear on a motorbike ?

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stevewestern

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How do you bikers carry your gear when out for a ride ?
Usually I use a backpack which I wear, but today I was out with a shoulder bag, so put it into my top box.
It isn't a tight fit, and I got a little concerned that things would be a little rough...

So, what do you do ?
 
If worried about roughness of the ride, vibration, etc., put each item of gear in some kind of cushioned pouch, then put that in an appropriately sized slot with cushioned sides in the gear bag. I did that with my pedal bike, and then stuffed the gear bag into a box on the rear carrier. On cobbled streets luggage on a pedal bike gets very rough treatment. And once I was hit amidships by a sports car driver coming out of an intersection without looking properly. The bike ended up under his wheels withe the bike's wheels bent out of shape. The gear bag was thrown onto the bonnet of the car, bounced off, and rolled about fifteen yards up the road. Nothing was damaged except for the flashgun which was was without any padding in an outer pocket.

The same gear bag packed in the same way also once fell all the way down the stairs in a double decker bus because a shoulder strap buckle failed as I swung it onto my shoulder. Again nothing was damaged. I've become a great fan of this kind of double padded gear packing!
 
I made a sort of case for the top box. Stiff card taped to make a box shape and then the deviders, (allow for foam outside) then I lined the inside of each square with more foam, ok I lost a lot of space but the gear was well padded.
 
Echo the above, I have a lowepro active sport bag and its a little padded but not over the top so add a single layer of bubble wrap to be sure and its been fine so far.
 
chris malcolm said:
If worried about roughness of the ride, vibration, etc., put each item of gear in some kind of cushioned pouch, then put that in an appropriately sized slot with cushioned sides in the gear bag. I did that with my pedal bike, and then stuffed the gear bag into a box on the rear carrier. On cobbled streets luggage on a pedal bike gets very rough treatment. And once I was hit amidships by a sports car driver coming out of an intersection without looking properly. The bike ended up under his wheels withe the bike's wheels bent out of shape. The gear bag was thrown onto the bonnet of the car, bounced off, and rolled about fifteen yards up the road. Nothing was damaged except for the flashgun which was was without any padding in an outer pocket.

The same gear bag packed in the same way also once fell all the way down the stairs in a double decker bus because a shoulder strap buckle failed as I swung it onto my shoulder. Again nothing was damaged. I've become a great fan of this kind of double padded gear packing!
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There was a bag years ago that was advertised as being able to be dropped from an upstairs window, cant remember the name now. My mate had one, his party trick was to throw it down the stairs in work with his OM1 inside. To be fair his camera was fine, but that said I wouldn't have bought it off him after that sort of treatment.
 
I wedge any camera bag in the top box with rolled up card and/or t-shirts etc. Anything to stop the bag shifting around too much. On bikes without a box, lots of bungees on the rack!
 
I've always put mine in the topbox in the camera bag . Unless your planning on a lap or two round a Motorcross track it really shouldn't be bouncing about much anyway .
 
Many thanks for the replies - they have put my mind at rest.
We, like most, have a lot of potholes and sleeping policemen and I was concerned that the bumping might damage the fragile bits inside lenses etc.
I'll make sure to wedge-up a bit with waterproofs, a suspenders panties and a bra or whatever else I have lying around.....
 
Those rubber / foam kneeling mats are good to put in the bottom of the box...plus they come in useful if you are doing landscape shots etc....as others have said wedge the equipment in with clothing etc..to stop things rattling about.......
 
A tank bag is the best place, you can generally just lift it off to carry with you too
Top Boxes can amplify some types of bumping like cattle grids, and really hammer stuff inside.
Alternatively look at good compacts that will fit in a jacket pocket - problem solved.
 
I'd hazard a guess that the best place to carry gear with minimal vibration would be a close to the midpoint between the median displacement of the front forks and the rear axle. A tank bag would probably provide the best bike based protection. But, that said, a backpack might be just as effective given the seat and your body as additional shock absorption.
 
But there is a slight risk f back injury should you fall off with solid objects on your back.
Having said that a backpack designed to protect cameras is fairly well padded and the straps would likely give way promptly enough.
Having tried a backpack with SLR it isn't something you want to take on and off for a quick shot on the roadside.
Tankbag scores highly there too.
Backpacks start to feel pretty heavy too on a long run.
 
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I have an oxford magnetic tank bag, the bottom I lined with polystyrene foam then I bought some furniture type foam which is cut to the size of the tank bag, the camera then sits within cut outs in the foam as does a telephoto lens. It is topped of with another piece of polystyrene foam cut to size, finally I pad it all with a small towel on the top. My big concern on a motorbike is vibration, electronics hate vibration in my experience. The tank bag then comes with me wherever I stop and it has straps so can be used as a backpack. Side pockets take a Gorilla pod and a bottle of water. It also has its own little rain cover. Dropped this combination twice at petrol stations without any damage to camera or lens.
 
4wd said:
But there is a slight risk f back injury should you fall off with solid objects on your back.
Having said that a backpack designed to protect cameras is fairly well padded and the straps would likely give way promptly enough.
Having tried a backpack with SLR it isn't something you want to take on and off for a quick shot on the roadside.
Tankbag scores highly there too.
Backpacks start to feel pretty heavy too on a long run.
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I'd agree with that but rode my bike with my laptop in a backpack up until last year when the bike was written off as a woman changed lanes without looking The backpack, laptop and me (bruising, ligament damage to hand) survived, the bike was written off, as was the lamp post it hit :D

A tank bag scores heavily if you are thinking about stopping to take images. I have a foam insert cut to size to put the camera and some lenses in as we used it in flight cases at my old company :) but you can buy it most places.

It helps too if you have a tankbag that can turn into a backpack, plus tankbags are generally a little more protected from the elements
 
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Bearair said:
I have an oxford magnetic tank bag,.
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Me also, four piece, magnetic bottom, large expanding bag that doubles as a backpack, a smaller non expanding bag and a map pocket. Zip them together in the combination you need.
 
With respect to worries about vibration I once wanted to make a video of a motorcycle ride, back in the days when portable video cameras were big heavy things which sat on shoulder pads and wrote to big magnetic tape cartridges. I strapped a big pad of compressible foam on the tank, then tied a thick heavy metal plate onto that. The camera was fixed to the heavy metal plate. With some tuning with bungee cords the result was a nice stable vibration free camera mount which also did a good job of damping down and smoothing pothole wallops etc.. So it's possible to carry delicate electro-mechanics on a motorcycle.

The big camera very obviously mounted on the bike also had the interesting effect of making car drivers behave towards me with much greater polite consideration than usual! :)
 
Tank bag.
 
chris malcolm said:
With respect to worries about vibration I once wanted to make a video of a motorcycle ride, back in the days when portable video cameras were big heavy things which sat on shoulder pads and wrote to big magnetic tape cartridges. I strapped a big pad of compressible foam on the tank, then tied a thick heavy metal plate onto that. The camera was fixed to the heavy metal plate. With some tuning with bungee cords the result was a nice stable vibration free camera mount which also did a good job of damping down and smoothing pothole wallops etc.. So it's possible to carry delicate electro-mechanics on a motorcycle.

The big camera very obviously mounted on the bike also had the interesting effect of making car drivers behave towards me with much greater polite consideration than usual! :)
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A long time ago I used to provide footage to the police camera stop type programs as usually there was two or three incidents a week on my daily commute. This had a Sony Video Walkman GV-300E unit connected to a sony SD bullet camera, recording to tape. Worked really well.
 
What tripods do those of you that ride use? Mine is a little too long to fit in the top box / panniers so apart from leaving it at home the only option left is for me to bungee it to something which I'm really not up for; tripod + head jettisoning itself would be a costly loss.

James
 
A dab of Loctite on the head mounting thread should stop it unscrewing itself, as should the use of the grub screws (if provided). If no other option and you're that worried about the possibility, a length of gaffer tape should keep it secure (even insulation tape should be enough.)
 
Tobers said:
£15-£20k of sports photography on the back of my old Yamaha Super Tenere

https://tobinators.photoshelter.com/gallery/Peli-Case-Fitting/G0000w5fehkSTpx8
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Reminds me of the time many decades ago when I moved house, doing quite a bit of the transporting of the smaller stuff via multiple journeys on my motorcycle. A policeman spotted me with my bike parked on the pavement with a big pile of hifi gear on the pavement beside it, plus a lot of rope and straps. "You're never going to get all that stuff on that bike,", he said. "I've just arrived and taken it all off," I said. :)
 
Back in the 70’s I’d carry my Spotmatic with 50mm in a pocket of my Belstaff.
Got knocked off one Sunday morning on the way to Gaydon.
The camera didn’t make it...
 
My lowprowe shoulder bag fits perfectly in the side cases of my bike hard luggage
I put a small piece of extra foam inside the bag where the camera sits
I doubt if there's that much more vibration than being in a car boot
I can certainly avoid potholes more easily on the bike than in the car
 
Is anyone using one of the tanklock system bags?
They're a bit pricey but the bike-specific mount should you change is not too bad.
A big plus for me is that not having magnets can be used to carry a drone without risk of compass being upset..
 
vtrjames said:
What tripods do those of you that ride use? Mine is a little too long to fit in the top box / panniers so apart from leaving it at home the only option left is for me to bungee it to something which I'm really not up for; tripod + head jettisoning itself would be a costly loss.

James
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I didn't generally use a tripod when I was riding but I have a BeFree which is small enough to go in the tank bag
 
Sorry to hijack the thread but I thought my question was close enough to this thread to not warrant me starting another thread. Would I be OK riding a pushbike with my camera gear in a lowepro Backpack. It'd mainly be on road or very gentle trails, so it will be more vibration and the gear 'jiggling' about that I'd be concerned about. I'm guessing camera gear is hardy enough to withstand this, after all I'm quite happy for the gear to go in the boot of my car and I it'd get 'jiggled' around in there too?
 
snerkler said:
Sorry to hijack the thread but I thought my question was close enough to this thread to not warrant me starting another thread. Would I be OK riding a pushbike with my camera gear in a lowepro Backpack. It'd mainly be on road or very gentle trails, so it will be more vibration and the gear 'jiggling' about that I'd be concerned about. I'm guessing camera gear is hardy enough to withstand this, after all I'm quite happy for the gear to go in the boot of my car and I it'd get 'jiggled' around in there too?
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I wouldn't worry about a bit of jiggling, but if you fall off with a backpack the chances of damage to equipment are obviously greatly increased, plus the added risk of hurting yourself if you fall on it.

Years ago, there was a theory that the high-frequency vibration found on aircraft could loosen screws, but I've not heard that mentioned in a very long time and it's surely something manufacturers would guard against these days.
 
Sorry if already covered but for me i use my Kriega R20 or R25. Expensive rucksacks but i've carted around all my gear in them, i just took the insert out from my Lowepro [emoji4]
 
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4wd said:
Is anyone using one of the tanklock system bags?
They're a bit pricey but the bike-specific mount should you change is not too bad.
A big plus for me is that not having magnets can be used to carry a drone without risk of compass being upset..
Click to expand...

Yes, I have the tanklock on my bike. I have a small mini-tankbag and a larger unit which has much more space. I usually take the larger one on tour and pop the camera (Leica CL) in there. I also have a Kriega belt bag which fits a compact camera quite nicely.
 
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