US Dollars
What I'd Pack Differently for a 10-Day ADV Trip
Posted by Hank Caldera on Apr 24th 2026
What I'd Pack Differently for a 10-Day ADV Trip
There is a specific kind of regret that only happens on motorcycles. It is not dramatic. Nobody gets hurt. It is quieter than that. It is the moment you are standing on the side of a road in a foreign country, staring at a problem you could have prevented, doing the math on how much easier your life would be right now if past you had made one different decision.
I have had that moment more than once. Vietnam gave me several of them in ten days.
I rode northern Vietnam in 2001 with four other guys on Honda XR400Rs. Ten days, mountain roads, river crossings, rain, and the kind of mechanical situations that clarify your thinking fast. It was one of the best trips I have ever taken. It was also an education in what not to bring, what to leave home, and what I would have traded my lunch for on day six.
This is that list. Some of it is gear. Some of it is philosophy. All of it came from getting it wrong first.
Learn to Change a Tube Before You Need To
Carry spare tubes. That part everyone knows. Here is the part people skip: practice changing a tubed tire in your driveway before you go, using only the tools you plan to carry on the trip.
Not once. Several times. Until it is not a puzzle anymore.
I say this from experience. Watching videos is not the same thing. Reading about it is not the same thing. There is a gap between knowing how something works and being able to do it with your hands, on the ground, under pressure, with limited tools, while your riding partners stand around offering opinions. That gap will find you on a mountain road in the rain if you have not closed it at home first.
If I were doing it now, I would find a scrap wheel at a salvage yard and keep it in the garage specifically for this purpose. Something to practice on until the process is automatic. A spare tube does you no good if changing it takes three hours and costs you a fingernail and your composure.
In Vietnam, Andrew's flat happened on a road that was not close to anything. Two of us rode ahead to find a repair shop while the others waited with the bike. It worked out. It works out less cleanly when you are truly alone and the nearest town is a long walk.
Know how to do the job. Then know it again.
Mad Lads Moto carries tubes, tire irons, and compact inflation options worth looking at before your next trip. Get the right tools and then actually learn to use them.
The Spare Cable You Will Definitely Need Someday
A clutch cable costs almost nothing. It weighs almost nothing. It takes up almost no space, either rolled into your tool pouch or zip-tied alongside your existing cable where it stays out of the way until you need it.
A snapped clutch cable in a remote area is a trip-ending problem if you do not have a spare. If you do have one, it is an inconvenient thirty minutes.
You can do the same with throttle cables. I have carried both at various points. Personally, the clutch cable is the one that has actually failed on me, so that is the one I never ride without. Your experience may differ. The solution is the same either way: carry the spare, know how to swap it, move on.
This is one of those things that feels like overkill right up until it is not.
Bring Legitimate Rain Gear.
Everyone knows they should bring rain gear. A meaningful percentage of people talk themselves out of it anyway. The bag is already heavy. The forecast looks okay. It probably won't rain.
It will rain.
In Vietnam it rained on us hard enough that the road surface became a separate problem from the rain itself. We were already dealing with one of those problems. A good one-piece rain suit worn over your gear would have addressed the other one. Some of us had it. Some of us did not. The ones who did not, remember it.
I carry a lightweight one-piece now. It goes on over or under my riding gear depending on conditions, packs down small, and does double duty as wind protection when temperatures drop faster than expected in the mountains. Cold and wet is a miserable combination that affects your riding and your judgment. Rain gear is cheap insurance against both.
Buy it before the trip. Pack it every time. You will be grateful on the days you need it and mildly annoyed on the days you don't. That is an acceptable trade.
Only Three Sets of Clothes.
This took me longer to learn than it should have.
One set you are wearing. One set drying. One set clean. That is the system. It works everywhere, it keeps your pack weight honest, and it forces a discipline that makes the whole trip run cleaner.
The temptation to overpack is real. You think about contingencies. What if this gets ruined? What if that gets soaked? What if I need something nicer for one dinner in one city? The contingencies multiply and suddenly you are carrying a bag that is too heavy for the riding you are trying to do.
Here is the reality: on most ADV trips, you are rarely so far from civilization that you cannot replace something if you genuinely need to. And the things you think you will need, you usually won't.
Two things that changed how I handle laundry on the road. First: Arm and Hammer makes laundry detergent in sheet form, similar in concept to a pod but flat and dry like a thick dryer sheet. They pack flat, they weigh nothing, they work. I carry them for all travel now, not just moto trips. Second: a cheap clothesline. The kind you can find for a few dollars. String it between two points in your room and your kit is dry by morning most of the time.
Small things. Big difference over ten days.
Wool Socks
I resisted this longer than I should have. Wool socks read as precious to a certain kind of rider. They are not precious. They are functional in a way that synthetic socks are not, across a wider range of conditions than you would expect.
They regulate temperature better. They handle moisture better. They do not destroy your feet over long days the way a cheap cotton sock will. On a ten-day trip, your feet are a piece of equipment. Treat them like one.
I wear wool on long rides now without exception. If you have not tried them, buy one pair before your next trip and ride in them. You will not go back.
Protect Your Neck
This sounds minor. It compounds over days in a way that earns its place on the list.
The back of the neck is one of the most reliably exposed patches of skin on a rider. Your helmet covers most of your head. Your jacket covers your shoulders and back. There is a small strip in between that catches sun, wind, and cold for every hour you are on the bike.
Over ten days in Vietnam, that strip of skin was a problem I had not anticipated. A neck gaiter solves it. A wind triangle solves it. F9 makes a gaiter worth looking at. Aerostitch makes wind triangles that have been around long enough to have proven themselves. Either one weighs nothing, costs little, and earns its place in the kit every single day.
In heat it blocks sun. In cold it holds warmth. In wind it cuts the chill that accumulates over hours and makes you tense your shoulders without realizing it. It is not glamorous gear. It is the kind of gear you stop noticing because it is just doing its job.
The Overpack Problem
Most people pack too much for their first long ADV trip. Most people know this in the abstract and do it anyway.
The weight you carry affects how the bike handles, how quickly you fatigue, and how much margin you have when the road gets technical. A heavy bike on a sketchy mountain road is a harder problem than a light bike on the same road. Every kilogram you leave at home is a small advantage that compounds over hours and days.
The honest version of packing for a long trip is this: lay out everything you think you need, then put half of it back. Then look at what's left and ask whether each item earns its weight. Not whether it might be useful. Whether it earns its weight.
You will probably still overpack the first time. That is fine. You will know what to leave behind next time, because the things you did not use will be obvious by day three.
Vietnam taught me that lesson in real time. The stuff I used every day was a short list. The stuff I carried but never touched was a longer one. I have not made that mistake the same way twice.
The Short Version
If you are heading out on a long ADV trip and you want the list without the story, here it is:
Practice tire changes at home with your actual tools until you can do it without thinking. Carry a spare clutch cable in your tool pouch or zip-tied to the existing one. Bring rain gear, full stop. Pack three sets of clothes and a flat pack of laundry sheets. Bring a cheap clothesline. Wear wool socks. Protect your neck with a gaiter or wind triangle. Then look at your packed bag and take some of it out.
The bikes will have problems. The weather will not cooperate. Something will go sideways that you did not plan for. The goal of good preparation is not to prevent all of that. The goal is to make sure that when it happens, you have what you need to keep moving.
That is the whole thing, really. Keep moving.
Mad Lads Moto carries tubes, tire irons, rain gear, wool socks, neck gaiters, and the kind of small-but-essential kit that makes the difference between a story you tell and a trip you cut short. Browse the shop and build your kit before the next one.