The Motocamping Packing Calculator
How many litres of luggage do you actually need? Answer six quick questions and get your number, whether your bags will allow it, and the order to pack it so the bike still handles like a bike.
First, your luggage
One number: the luggage you already own in litres, added up across every bag. It becomes the marker on your results bar below.
It's printed on the bag — a pair of OS-22 panniers is 44 L, a US-20 tail roll is 20 L. Add yours up and slide.
What kind of trip?
Every answer nudges your litres in real time, watch the bar below respond.
Clothing and food scale with nights — but slower than you'd think. Past night three you wash and re-wear, not pack more.
Cooking earns its litres — hot food at camp is half the reason you're out here. Dehydrated keeps it to boil-water simplicity; pub touring cuts the kitchen to a mug and a brew kit.
Two riders share the tent and kitchen but double the sleep systems, clothes and water.
Cold is the volume killer — the sleep system and insulation layers roughly double the summer kit.
Water is the heaviest thing on the bike — one litre is one kilogram. Plan refills, don't hoard.
Minimal trims clothes, kitchen and tools by ~15%. Comfort adds it back — and that's a legitimate choice, not a failure.
This is your kit, in litres
Every segment is a category of gear. The black marker is the luggage you set above, if the bar breaks past it, something has to go.
Pick your luggage below to check the fit.
Pack it in this order
The whole game: mass low, central and as far forward as the frame allows — a top-heavy rear end is how good days end early. Work top to bottom, ticking off as you load.
Tap a step to tick it off. Nothing is saved — it resets when you leave, like a good campsite.
What countless trips agree on
The patterns that come up again and again when riders compare notes worldwide
Distilled from years of packing threads across ADVrider, r/motocamping and Australian riding forums — plus our own kilometres.
Gear that earns its place
Everything below is filtered to your answers, change the inputs and the picks change with you. No pressure either way: the calculator works just as well with whatever's already in your shed.
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Packing questions, settled
How many litres of motorcycle luggage do I need for camping?
For a solo rider in mild weather, most setups land between 35 and 50 litres once you count shelter, sleep system, kitchen, water and clothes. Cold weather or two-up touring pushes past 60 litres. The calculator above does the specific maths for your trip — and adds 12% headroom, because a bag packed to bursting is a bag you'll hate by day two.
How much water should I carry moto camping in Australia?
Plan on 3 to 4.5 litres per person per day depending on season, including cooking. The real question is resupply: near towns you might carry only a couple of litres and refill often, while remote stretches mean carrying multiple days at a kilogram per litre. Carry it low in the panniers and split between sides — never as one big bladder strapped up high.
I've never done this before. What do I actually need for trip one?
Shelter, warmth, water, food, and a way to make coffee — everything else is optional. Set the calculator to "First trip", keep the nights low, and pick somewhere with phone signal and a town nearby. Borrow what you can for the first run; buy properly once you know what annoyed you. The gear that matters most is the sleep system: a bad night's sleep ruins a good ride.
Where should the heavy stuff go on the bike?
Low, central, and as far forward as your luggage allows. Tools, water and food live in the bottom of the panniers; light bulky gear like the sleeping bag and clothes ride up top in the tail roll. Keep the tank bag for things you grab while moving. Get this backwards and the bike wallows in corners and wanders at speed — weight placement changes handling more than total weight does.
Is a camp chair really worth the space?
The most argued three-and-a-half litres in moto camping. The case against: it's volume you could spend on anything else. The case for: after 600 kilometres, sitting on a log is punishment, not recovery — and camp is half the trip. We're biased, but we also sized ours to pack down to a water-bottle footprint precisely because of this debate. Try one night without; you'll have your answer.