Ever wonder how noobs (over) pack their tool kit on their first major ride?
We had spent four weeks working on our motorcycles, doing anything from basic maintenance like oil changes and coolant flushes, to adding farkles that would enhance our experience, to doing major upgrades like adding aftermarket LED lights and water pump rebuilds before embarking on what we were sure would be an adventure of a lifetime to Baja, Mexico.
We took our wheels to Woody’s Wheel Works to rebuild our front wheels, making them stronger and beefier than before. We packed extra fluids, even ones that would be rare to need, oil and coolant, brake fluid, everything and anything we could think of. I took extra bolts, nuts, and washer of different sizes, extra spark plugs, super glue and fuses (to name a few).
We tried to prepare ourselves for the worst-case scenario. People made fun of our preparation efforts. In a way, I think we were scared. We had read so many horror stories and mechanical issues that other people had run in to. We thought that if we covered a lot of problems with preventative maintenance before we left, we would hopefully not break down in the middle of nowhere Mexico.
And then came time to pack the tool kit. We had zero experience for this whole process and now here we were, supposed to build a tool kit up from nothing and rely strictly on this tool kit if/when we were broken down in the middle of the desert.
While we fueled our tool kit with affordable (o.k. more like cheap) tools from Harbor Freight, we knew we needed a more reliable source for the important tools.
We considered lots of variables that could potentially make breaking down in the middle of the desert scenario worse, and many were out of our control. What was in our control, however, were the tools that we chose to bring along with us to get the job done. We included Motion Pro Tools as the breadth of our tool kit because we knew we could rely on Motion Pro Tools if we needed to. With their experience, innovation, and knowledge, their products would definitely enhance our mechanical experiences.
While it was probably overkill and contributed to us bringing along way too much shit on our trip, here’s what we included in our kit.
1. Small Vice Grips from Harbor Freight
2. Chanel Lock Pliers from Harbor Freight
3. Set of Metric Wrenches from Harbor Freight
4. A Hook and Pick from Harbor Freight
5. A Valve Core Remover by Motion Pro
6. Digital Multimeter from Harbor Freight
7. Basic Screwdriver with interchangeable bits from Harbor Freight
8. 11-inch Long-Reach Needle Nose Pliers
9. BeadPro tire bead breaker and lever tool set by Motion Pro
10. Dykes from Harbor Freight
11. Metric Hex Key set from Harbor Freight
12. Legacy Tool Roll by Carhartt
13. RimShield II (sold in set of 2) by Motion Pro
14. 3/8 in Socket Driver with Metric Sockets (we only pack sockets specific to our bikes) from Harbor Freight
15. Small Right Angle Screwdriver with 6 different bits from Harbor Freight
16. T-6 Combo Lever 32 mm, T-6 Combo Lever 10/12 mm (both are tire spoons on one end) and T-6 Combo Lever Hex Adapter, 32 mm to 27mm/22mm all by Motion Pro
17. 8-inch Adjustable Wrench from Harbor Freight
18. Hex-Pro Metric Pivot Head Hex Wrench Set by Motion Pro
19. Circlip Pliers from Harbor Freight
20. The Skeletool CX by Leatherman (We accidentally ended up with 4 Leatherman/Multitools along with us on this trip. We kept finding them in backpacks, vests, etc. and it was kind of scary because in Mexico, as far as I understood, multitools can be considered a weapon unless in a tool kit. So yes, we ended up stuffing 4 multitools into our kit.)
21. PBR Chain Tool by Motion Pro
Along with tools, we also brought an array of miscellaneous parts. Here are some of those parts that we felt were important:
1. Extra Fuses (specific to the sizes that your bike would need)
2. Electrical Wire
3. Blue Threadlocker because the Baja Desert will rattle your bolts loose in less than a day.
4. Safety Wire
5. Quick Setting Epoxy from Harbor Freight
6. A Small Funnel for those hard to reach reservoirs
7. O-Rings of many different sizes
8. Medium and Small Sized Zip-Ties
9. Extra Hose Clamps (specific to hose size)
10. Nitro Tape by Motion Pro
11. Legacy Tool Pouch by Carhartt
12. A whole gaggle of extra Bolts etc.
13. Replacement Spark Plugs
14. Extra Tubes for each tire, of course
15. Duct Tape
16. Extra Electrical Connectors
17. Seal Mate Fork Seal Cleaner by Motion Pro
18. Spare Master Links for each chain
19. Tube Repair Kit & Tubeless Tire Repair Kit
20. Sharpie and Paint Pen because who really knows
21. Super Glue
So it turned out, we ended up never really using our tool kit. Ok, I guess we used if a few times, but never to it’s fullest potential. We used 1 spare bolt (we brought 20 but we were glad when we had the variety of sizes to choose from), 1 zip-tie, the socket wrench (with 8mm head), and our cheap multi-meter.
There were so many things that could’ve gone wrong that didn’t. If it gives you any kind of scale as to how little faith we had in our motorcycles making the entire trip, we at one point came up with the plan that if or when the motos broke beyond the point of being able to be fixed, we would just buy an old pickup, tie them down in the bed, and haul them back to Colorado. Yes, we did bring tie-downs with us.
Maybe we went a little overkill on spending so much time preparing our bikes (and we probably move slower than the average moto mechanic) and a little over the top on the contents of our tool kit, but we didn’t even get a flat tire.
I’d like to credit our mechanical skills and people like Jared at Woody’s Wheel Works, but I simply think the moto gods were looking out and we got pretty lucky. For that time we are not so lucky, we are equipped with some pretty damn good tools that will last for many adventures down the road.
