First Camping on the WR with Giant Loop Coyote

My WR-R will be two weeks old tomorrow and has about 150 miles.

I bought this bike as a replacement for the 03 Dakar that I'd put around 70K miles over the last three years, camping on average of two or more nights monthly. That bike was totaled in a January accident.

With the smaller, lighter WR I wanted to go in a more minimalist direction, something I'd begun migrating toward anyway on the Dakar.

So, I went with the Giant Loop Coyote system and so far I'm amazed at what it holds and how simple it all works. The weight is distributed close to the frame. Imagine if you had a passenger who had no body from the waist up, if that makes sense.

Tonight a buddy and I are camping to give the system a test run. It's around 80 miles there and I'll be riding over a combination of twisty pavement and gravel roads en route.

For this shakedown run I took my entire winter camping kit (much more than summer, but I wanted to see how it would do with the max load). On my Dakar carrying all this required using my Jesse Odyssey aluminum panniers, a large tail bag and sometimes a roll-top vulcanized dry bag. All the same stuff fit into just the Coyote and smaller Peak tail bag (with longer items strapped on top using the GL's cinching straps). The GL system comes with three compression bags sewn to an exact fit for the shape of the bag. This allows you to pack stuffable items like tents and sleeping bags to a fraction of their uncompressed size.

In these photos of the loaded bike, inside the GL are the following items:

MSR Velo tent (it's a big 'un)
North Face 0º down sleeping bag
Exped Downmat 9 sleeping pad
Thermarest pillow
tent stakes
tent ground cloth
shower/shaving kit/towel
extra jacket, pants
a few other small odds and ends

In the Peak tail bag are:

Jetboil with coffee press
Jetboil 2 qt. pot
fork and spoon
coffee, food for dinner tonight
couple of other small items
LED head light

Strapped to the top (no need for extra bungees or straps - just used the sewn-in compression straps):

tent poles
hatchet
Sven saw
Kermit Chair (I know... but it's a test of max-i-osity)

Enduro tank bag:

small camera
baseball type cap
couple of other odds/ends
space for candy bar, soft drink, etc.


All that remains is strapping my camp shoes to the top of the Peak bag using its built-in shock cord web.

Here are some photos of the bike all packed (I'll update this with more info on how it all did camping after I get home tomorrow):

Side view (note - those are my gloves on top):



From the rear (slim 'n trim):



Front view:

The quickie overnighter camping gear test went very well.

I carried the max load I'll ever carry to see how it affected handling and it was not really noticeable. I didn't weigh it all, but based on previous weighing of the same gear everything including all camping gear, the GL Coyote, Peak tail bag and Enduro tank bag will be less than 50 pounds. The Jesse casea and mounting racks for them weigh around 30, and that's before I've packed the first thing!

On the several gravel roads I took en route and back the bike felt exactly the same as without gear. The only problem encountered was with my Kermit chair which was tied so high between the GL and the Peak tail bag. Mounting and dismounting my boot grazed it a couple of times before I learned to make a bigger arch stepping on or off. There is also limited room in which to change position on the seat front to back, but every bike I've seems to share this issue when loaded for camping.

En route Friday:



A cold morning Saturday (around 24ºF). That's my Velo tent on the top right:

Great to hear you had a wicked trip without much of a hassle, Dave! Bike looks good with that setup, the yellow matches with the gold forks. I know with me I have to stand on the peg and lift my leg over the stuff because I'm already short in the leg.

Wow, you sound just like me. I sold my 03 Dakar and replaced it with a WR. I too own a Velo tent and a Giant Loop bag.

Keep up the great taste in gear

matttys wrote:

Wow, you sound just like me. I sold my 03 Dakar and replaced it with a WR. I too own a Velo tent and a Giant Loop bag.

Keep up the great taste in gear

And believe it or not, I'm also right now looking at an 01 Tiger for a long-distance bike!

David Haynes wrote:

And believe it or not, I'm also right now looking at an 01 Tiger for a long-distance bike!

Haha! We are soul mates (minus the hooligan motos).

I think you will do if you find a Tiger. They are generally cheaper than 1150 or 1200 GS's and they go like stink. I had to buy mine in Florida and ride it back to Ohio. Definitely more like a sport bike. . . it doesn't like to lug down low - I can't imagine someone using a 995i Tiger as a dual sport (wrong engine config and the hefty weight). Can't go wrong with Roulette Green! It also burns some oil, otherwise, I'm very happy with it.

...the one I'm considering is also green!

This time we were riding some negelected FS roads that followed a ridgeline - rocks everywhere baby head-sized and bigger - so I decided to lighten the load even more and camp in my Hennessey Hammock.

It worked great and I could hardly tell I was toting any gear at all.

I basically carried the same kit as before except for leaving behind the Velo tent, poles, ground cloth, stakes, etc. This freed up a good bit more room in the GL tube.

Also, by moving the Peak tail bag back a couple of inches I was able to get the Kermit chair and Sven saw between the tail bag and Coyote, keeping the top line even with the top of the GL bag. And I didn't have to expand the tail bag, making it lower.

After getting home I got to wondering just how much weight I was packing so I decided to weigh it all. The two, one-quart water bottles I had were at the lowest point of the GL bag. One was empty and the other had about a pint in it, so I added two pounds instead of digging it out.

Anyway, I weighed both bags still packed along with the chair and saw. Total weight, a whopping 32 pounds (I rounded off to 35 pounds to compensate for the empty water bottles).

That's within a pound or two of what the aluminum panniers and steel mounting hardware on my Dakar weighed empty!

And this is for winter camping... summer should trim off a bit more!

Anyway, so far so good with the GL system. I'm getting into the whole minimalist mindset for riding and camping. Now if I can get a tank that'll let me go more than 75-80 miles before having to search for fuel!

Photo showing hammock last weekend...

Sure can't add to how you are using the WRR. Seeing these results on the forum convinced me that the WRR is a good choice for what I have planned. Thanks for sharing the pics and info.

Art

David Haynes wrote:

Now if I can get a tank that'll let me go more than 75-80 miles before having to search for fuel!

http://www.justgastanks.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=365

I have the 2.1 gal bladder... stows away into no space at all when not being used. That 5.2 gal one would really give you some range... and there's no law that says you have to put more fuel in it than you need & end up making it bigger than it needs to be.

I keep looking at the Coyote and Great Basin and thinking I wish there was more size in between. I drag a lot of camera and/or flyfishing stuff with me when headed for the boonies... but it looks like a Great Basin would dwarf the bike.

Jäger wrote:

David Haynes wrote:

Now if I can get a tank that'll let me go more than 75-80 miles before having to search for fuel!

http://www.justgastanks.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=365

I have the 2.1 gal bladder... stows away into no space at all when not being used. That 5.2 gal one would really give you some range... and there's no law that says you have to put more fuel in it than you need & end up making it bigger than it needs to be.

I keep looking at the Coyote and Great Basin and thinking I wish there was more size in between. I drag a lot of camera and/or flyfishing stuff with me when headed for the boonies... but it looks like a Great Basin would dwarf the bike.

For the bladder I'm looking for it to but not the 5 gal. I'd rather have two bladders to one cause it's easier to balance.

I'm still looking for info about the Coyote. The size doesn't matter a lot to me since I can still tie something to it. It's only the look that I don't like but since I can't see it when I drive, it's a no brainer.

Dancamp wrote:

I'm still looking for info about the Coyote. The size doesn't matter a lot to me since I can still tie something to it. It's only the look that I don't like but since I can't see it when I drive, it's a no brainer.

i have the coyote and love it. it holds a lot of stuff, but yeah, you need to strap the tent on the outside. not a problem.

just got back from a 5 day camping "road" trip, the bike did great. you do have to rev the tits off it passing traffic on steep uphills!!!!!!!!

I don't think the girl is going to let me rev her's that high.

Maybe until they just begin to quiver a bit.

clapped_r6 wrote:

Dancamp wrote:

I'm still looking for info about the Coyote. The size doesn't matter a lot to me since I can still tie something to it. It's only the look that I don't like but since I can't see it when I drive, it's a no brainer.

i have the coyote and love it. it holds a lot of stuff, but yeah, you need to strap the tent on the outside. not a problem.

just got back from a 5 day camping "road" trip, the bike did great. you do have to rev the tits off it passing traffic on steep uphills!!!!!!!!

I have the Dirt Bagz now and though I haven't done it yet the plan is to do some 11 day trips. I have been thinking about a GL but looking at your picture I am guessing you are climbing on with the scissor kick like move as opposed to the knee first mount up move. I am the knee first type so this is my only concern. But as I have yet to completely pack for this long I am not even sure I can even preserve the knee-first option with the Dirt Bagz and the pro billet rack out back.

David Haynes,

Thanks for sharing your trips and rigging. Roll Tide! (I am alumni)

Yeah, you have to step over the seat with stuff on the rack unless you're freakishly tall. Dirt bagz alone you should still be able to swing your leg over knee first.

This setup got me through a weekend of camping and riding, I'd probably pack differently for riding out of a base camp next time but it would work great for traveling.