How We Prep for a Trip

A new year brings new adventures. As you go about planning your trips, I thought you might like to see how we prep for ours. If you have any trip prep tips to share, please add a comment. Thanks.

Winch Trick

Via West County Explorers Club: This looks like a great trick for winching a truck that’s pinned against a tree or rock.

In a nutshell, here’s how it works. Turn the front wheels toward the object you’re pinned against. Take the slack out of the winch cable. Put the truck in reverse. It will pull against the cable and crab sideways away from the obstacle.

In the video, the guy reverses while winching forward, which I imagine only works in slippery conditions.

Has anyone tried this?

KTM 450 Adventure

Not available from the factory, but a potent exploration weapon nonetheless 

KTM Zweiradcenter Bernhardt in Germany has performed an impressive conversion the to KTM 450 EXC, a factory dual-sport motorcycle with a considerably bias towards short-distance technical dirt travel.  The interesting result of Zweiradcenter’s modifications is a motorcycle better suited to long distance, remote exploration, with expeditions into the Sahara, the Road of Bones and even the Trans-America Trail all coming to mind. The concept of this platform has considerable appeal, combining the athletic performance of the 450 with additional range and greater rider comfort. The brakes are bigger, a rally computer has been fitted, along with 37L of fuel.  The complete modification list is impressive, but additional oil capacity or improvements to the service intervals seems to be absent from the line-up.  I could easily see strapping a Giant Loop bag to the back and ripping up the Skeleton Coast. Zweiradcenter Website