In India, the culture of going for motorcycle rides among people has increased a lot over last 2 years and likewise I have also developed love for riding. I remember the day I had started riding. No gadgets, no idea what to take with me while on motorcycle ride. Over a period of time I did so many long rides and figured out what all gadgets I need. I have compiled the list of gadgets for you (beyond smartphone, charger and digital camera). There are few more things which I haven’t included in the list but deserve a mention are Puncture kit, Air pump (works on usb charger), few common size spanners, and screw drivers . Give it a thought for buying as they make life real simple when you are out on long motorcycle rides. When I say long rides means not Mumbai to Goa (Although you can use the same gadgets for that trip). Long means riding for few days and covering distances much distance daily or alternate day.

1. Action Camera

All riders face one challenge and that is when they are riding, they don’t want to stop at every corner/scenic view to click photographs all the time especially if you are already behind the schedule. Imagine you are riding from Mumbai to Goa in rain season. The route is so scenic that if you stop at every corner for a click, it will take so much of time to reach Goa. Keeping memories of the ride is what most of the riders would always want. You can even video blog the stuff , show it to friends or on YouTube. Action Camera can be simply be mounted on your helmet or handlebar or chest. They are normally waterproof, even rains can’t stop you. You can capture videos / photos on the go. I own GoPro Hero 5 Black. GoPro is the best but expensive, you might check out others like Xiaomi and SJCam which are not so expensive. Do your research before buying one.

2. Power Bank

One full charging of smartphones never lasts long. Also, these days we are not just limited to Smartphone. Last, when I went for a long ride I forgot to charge my Camera in the hotel while leaving and its battery died in mid of my journey. Here comes the power of power bank. I just plugged my Camera to power bank and it was ready to use again in an hour or so. I choose Ambrane power bank for me as it was not much expensive and does the job pretty well.

3. Hard Drive

If you are riding for multiple days, then you need to empty your memory card from the digital camera or action camera for more videos and photos to be taken. Given these days everyone wants HD videos or heavy photos. Now obviously, you try to figure out which photos/video are useless and delete them. Later you realize, you just accidentally deleted some good captures. Keep hard drive with you. It will help you to store previously taken videos and photos and empty your card. Your SD card will always be ready to capture as many as moments you want to. I use Seagate 1 TB hard drive.

4. Media reader/writer

Imagine that if you have a hard drive or pen drive and you want to move media files from sd card to one of them. Will you need a laptop to transfer these files? Laptop on a motorcycle ride? No, no one does that. Media reader lets you move files across devices. Kingston MobileLite G2 is the best media reader I know of. You can connect up to 2 TB hard drive, pen drive or SD card and move data across. It can also be used as power bank, you do not need to have extra power bank if u buy Kingston device. It can also be used as portable WI-FI access point. It is a multiple purpose device.

5. Multi-plug Adapter

When you share rooms with other people when doing a group ride or you have multiple gadgets to charge, you feel shortage of plug points. Multi-plug adapter or a strip always comes handy in such situations. Takes less space but it’s very useful.

6. Mobile charger for motorcycle

If you travel to a new place and end up in such a situations that you do not know roads. Phew, you can keep offline Google map of the route, it will be your guide. But due to GPS, your phone battery drains just too fast. It just can’t work beyond more than a half hour. The mobile charger comes handy here. You can mount the phone and charger on a motorcycle’s handlebar and just connect them. You are good to go! I prefer RoboTouch RideOn Charger as it is water proof and dust proof, it has overload protection(shock proof) and it comes with various kind of mounts. You can install that charger at home yourself.

7. Swiss Army Knife

On a ride, you never know when your motorcycle will start giving problems. Swiss Army Knife comes handy if you have to cut any wires or string hanging around after tying luggage or cutting tapes. Well you can also open a beer bottle with it. On Amazon you will find many swiss knifes on sell.

8. Bungee cords & Carabiniers

On a typical long ride, you carry extra keys for your motorcycle. Carabiniers can be used to hang motorbike keys in the bag . You can even use it for hanging hotel keys when are out after checking in. Keys are safe and you need to do whole bag upside down for searching keys. Bungee cords have been always of a great help to me. You can tie all your extra bagge with the help of Bungee cords or nets on your motorcycle.

9. Tank bag

Tang bag is must have gadget. It will help you keep hell lot of things handy. On a long road trip, you have taken everything but it is well packed and placed on motorbike. Imagine, you took a halt for lunch & you quickly want access to your charger. Will you unbag your all luggage? No. Tank bag lets you keep things for easy access in it like charger, power bank, camera, mobile, wallet..so on. Best thing is when you stop for break, you can easily remove the bag and keep it with you as normal bag. Take my words, once you buy, you willl love this change. I own Rynox large tank bank, which is quite tough, seats well on tank and nice strings to make it side bag.

Note that I haven’t included every single gadget I have. I have only included gadgets which are useful and will help you on your ride. If there is anything I have missed and you want me to add in the post, let me know in the comments section.