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We are fortunate that Eric Hougen of Wolfman Luggage has shown us some love for our project bike in the form of his wonderful water proof soft luggage! Wolfman has been around since 1992, is made in the USA and they basically know what they're doing. Many have come (and gone) as well as flattered them with imitation but there can only be one Wolfman. How do I know their products are waterproof? I used a Rolie bag on my two week Bolivia adventure and three of those days were on a boat in an Amazon rain forest camping in the jungles at night. Eric Hougen actually grew up in Bolivia, so he knows what I'm talking about here. I first met Eric at AltRider's Taste of Dakar back in 2013. I wish I had a picture of his sweet Super Tenere but all I have is this one of him (third from right) ogling Johnny Campbell's Honda Dakar Rally bike. So what are we getting set up with? Expedition Dry Saddle Bags (reviewed here) Large Rolie bag Blackhawk Tank bag Wolf Bottle Holster (2) I'm eager to get some photos of all this new gear on the project bike. Perhaps the week of Jul 20 Stay tuned...

This will be my first attempt at a ride report so if my ramble doesn't make any sense or I can't hold a story line for any length of time, that would be entirely accurate of my personality....Squirrel! First let me give you a little background about myself. I have been riding motorcycles my whole life. I started in a dirt at four years old on an Indian 50cc. I have ridden street bikes, atv's side by sides but I keep coming back to dirt bikes. When I bought my 2008 Husky Te450 I was excited to be back on a dirt bike but I was a little disappointed by how horrible is was on the road. Over the last few years my dirt biking has mostly consisted of chasing my kids around on their dirt bikes. I figured that I should try an adventure bike as I surely could keep up with them on it and it should be better on road. About three months ago I purchased a 2015 KTM 1190 Adventure R. My first few miles off road scared the crap out of me. I quickly overcame this fear and found that I forgot that I was on a 500lb bike. I found out about the Tourtech rally on another forum, I tried to find people to travel with but it seemed like everything fell through. I chose to trailer my bike down as i hadn't gotten around to figuring out luggage for my bike and i had plans the following week and I wasn't going home in between. The rally was in Plain Washington which for me coming from Canada is an hour south and about two hours east through Stevens Pass. Stevens Pass is a very scenic drive through the Cascade mountains if I'm not mistaken it reaches altitudes of about 6000 ft. A very nice drive on a motorcycle. Plain Washington is a tiny little town about 15 miles from Leavenworth. The Rally it self was really quite impressive and Touratech did a great job of organizing the whole thing. The weather forecast was ridiculously hot(for us Canadian folk). Tourtech gave out water, Gatorade and drove around camp to make sure everyone was hydrated. They had over 500 motorcycle rides in addition to the overland people, I would estimate there were over 800 people in attendance. There were 88 vendors, a mixture of motorcycle and truck people. Touratech sent out all the GPS routes a few days ahead so everyone would have the opportunity to load them before attending the event. I Thought I would meet up with others from XLADV and i kept a sharp lookout for Rainer runner's 1190 but there were so many people there it was impossible. Since I'm a big baby when it comes to the heat i quickly befriended a local KTM 990 rider who brought his air conditioned trailer. Touratech did a great job of arranging clinics and providing great visuals so that riders could talk to ride leaders about the terrain they would be facing when they signed up for the organized rides. Since I mentioned before that I am a big baby when it comes to the heat my new found friend, his wife and i came up with the plan that we were going to get up extra early and follow some of the GPS tracks to get a head start on the rides before the heat and the dust. It didn't also hurt that they were loacl and had ridden the area many times. Did I mention it was HOT! The first day we polished off three of the rides, I was not positive of the route numbers as I color coded them in my GPS when I loaded them and I didn't know the route numbers would be so important. We found that we had little difficulty riding the intermediate and advanced trails. There were so many people out riding that it was virtually impossible to get lost but it wasn't overcrowded. This event is definitely Big Bike friendly as i would estimate 60 percent of the bikes were 1200cc. But there were also a few DRZ400 and XT250's. The campfire was an impressive sight to see up to 300 people sitting around the pit. On Friday night they had an obstacle course which proved challenging and entertaining but it didn't stop people from trying it two up and even two hacks rode the teeter todder! We found some fellow Canadians and retired to our camp and mixed up some Belini's to combat the heat but it wrote off the night! I will be going back next year as it was a great event with some great sights and it was impossible to fit it all in.

I purchased a BILT Explorer Adventure suit from my local Cycle Gear in early 2014. This was my first rally style riding suit purchase. I made it based on price, comfort and convenience, in that order. In hindsight, I didn't look at build quality, armor and proper fitment. This is a lesson learned. I destroyed this suit in June of 2014, in Seattle, on the I-5, in rush hour traffic. A car swerved left into my lane, hit me square on the aluminum pannier and vaulted me forward. I had two hard impacts and tumbled as far as you can go at 55 MPH. The Explorer suit had to be cut off of me because they feared trauma and other injuries. I was very lucky to avoid anything terrible happening to me. But this is about riding gear, so let's get to it. First, let's talk about seams. The basics are PLAIN, FRENCH and FLAT. I wont bore you here with the details, search them on your favorite wiki for more information. To sum it up, PLAIN is what you will find on your t-shirts. Usually a single stitch with a fold. FRENCH is where you overlap the fabric and double stitch the seam. FLAT is where you fold two pieces apart then join them with a stitch. FRENCH is going to be the most durable and have the most chances of saving your flesh. Second is construction. Here is what Cycle Gear has on their product page: Features and Benefits 600 denier outer material 1200 denier abrasion resistant sections on shoulders and elbows 2-layer construction: Full waterproof/breathable/windproof fixed liner, Quilted detachable satin liner Reflective details for increased visibility Airflow inner lining to main shell Hip pockets with rubber tab pullers Long zip entry vents on front thighs with multi position airflow control Elastic waist with pull through adjusters and rubber grip strip Zip entry lower leg with hook-and-loop tab adjustment Short and all-around connection zippers CE approved armor at knees Let me mention the material. The 600-1200 denier fabric is what is referred to as ballistic nylon. The number refers to the weight of the nylon thread and the weave. It does not correlate to the strength of the fabric. This stuff is not kevlar so do not be fooled into thinking it won’t melt under a tumbling situation. The pictures show that the seams on the BILT product held together very well. It is chock full of PLAIN seams and even though I didn't find many FRENCH seams, I also didn't have anything part/rip or tear away at a seam. What did happen was the nylon fabric of the shell started to melt during the road abrasion part of the accident. It literally folded in on itself and ‘wear burned’ into small strips. 1 The padding and armor worked but, had a few setbacks that I would want to avoid in the future (as if I plan these things). The elbow armor and knee armor is nothing more than a foam vinyl or nylon pad. The knee wells and elbow wells for the pads had a lot of wiggle room and when tested, this proved to provide no protection at all. The pads stayed in place for the initial impact. Once the prolonged contact with the asphalt and subsequent tumbling began, the pads moved. One moved inside and the other outside of my knees. This left my kneecaps to be protected only by the nylon shell, which promptly burned away under abrasion. 2 The elbow pads pushed up and outwards, but the edges stayed in place to give some protection. 3 Since gloves and a helmet came with the suit, I am going to mention them here. My hands got some friction transfer from the initial impact. I got a bruise, some outer palm abrasion and a broken metacarpal. The gloves showed minimal damage and were still in good condition. The helmet spent some time on one side grinding on the I-5 and looked fairly effed up. It did its job and I am glad it didn’t fall apart. 4 That last line sums up the entire BILT Explorer Adventure Suit. It did it’s job and I am glad it did not fall apart. Would I buy another? No. Would I recommend this to someone? Yes, if you were on a budget, because it is a lot better than jeans and a textile jacket in an accident. When I went looking for my next suit, I looked at two brands. BMW Rally and KLIM Badlands. The build quality of these two brands are fantastic. The armor is superior and the fit of the suit is incredible… for a 6 foot 2 inch tall, 225 pound galoot. This last photo shows the rear of the jacket. You can see where I tumbled and slid briefly. Very minimal damage here. 5 I hope this gives someone a bit of insight if they are in the process of deciding “Do I want a $300 off the rack, foam armor, four size choice for a riding suit.” or “Do I want an $1100, fitted riding suit with quality fabrics, abrasion zones, impact armor and a warranty.” In this case, you get exactly what you pay for. Loren.

I saw Camel ADV on the obstacle course but other than that I saw no one. There were others from Canada but everyone was either riding or hiding from the heat.

I've had very good luck with Olympia Jackets, pants I'm all hit and miss, sizing is an issue for me(need to get more time at the gym). I have a pair of AGV kevlar cargo's that are pretty good slide protection, add armor as needed to your body to keep from moving it around. I'm hoping to try on some of the Raiden pants when i get back in the U.S. in a few weeks. I have an old Thor jacket that is of similar nature to your TourMaster one. Served me well in Alaska last winter for work!

Wish my GoPro didn't disappear off my helmet last year, but you should have seen the trails we found. Super tight mountain bike trails which were about 4 feet wide and 10 feet tall, completely covered by bushes and trees. Photo number 2 and 3 were from the end of that section. Simply the greatest ride, wish I could show more. I ride this thing hard!

Hey, a little light trail riding near Silver Lake on the 4th. The V did well but the seat height leaving me on my toes was interesting on uneven ground.