Diving and motorcycles

[cariss2709]

Is it crazy?! So the idea has been forming in my mind of combining my two habits. So maybe someone has done this.

I normally carry a laptop backpack with books and other various stuff packed into it. It gives it a good weight. So, I'm thinking of getting a dive backpack (esp. since I want to use my bio-fins).

I'll be planning on bringing my fins, mask, regulator, booties and b/c. Hopefully if I use my bike (70mpg) instead of driving my jeep (15mpg) I can get far enough to actually make it to sites where I can get by in 30-50' of warm water in just a swimsuit. Not that I really mind standing around in 100 degree weather in a full 7mm. But if I wanted to do that, I can just drive there.

So any backpack recommendations?

Any b/c recommedations that might be lighter or pack better? I've got a jacket BC that I'm happy with, but it can be bulky. I'm thinking i'll have a great excuse to get a bp/w set-up. =P Of course, I'd rather spend the money on diving...

Thanks for any help. And yeah, I can tend to be wordy sometimes...

 

[peterbj7]

Make sure you have a waist strap, and that all straps are tight. You'd be amazed how the slipstream can lift even a heavy bag off your back. I've done what you suggest lots of times. Can't recommend any particular bag, but you do want one with a proper rucksack harness, and you don't want dangling or flapping straps etc. The one I used was a soft suitcase style, a sort of "crossover" rucksack.

I've seen someone biking to dive the Monterey Bay area with a complete scuba rig on his back. He had the tank mounted upside down so that if he did come off the valve wouldn't be the first thing to hit. But he was riding pretty carefully!

I've biked to other sports as well - skydiving and rock climbing. The only one I haven't worked out how to do is mountain biking.

 

[cariss2709]

Yep, I'm going to have to rig a waist strap. My current backpack has got a chest strap and waist strap, so it's good. But if someone can do a complete scuba rig, then that definitely motivates me to possibly try harder.

I've seen some with fins in the sides of backpacks to keep stable, but also considering a snorkel bag and maybe duck-taping it to my current backpack.

 

[peterbj7]

You have to be kidding! You'd get about two yards on that in the UK before you were pulled over. In any case, what does that gigantic rudder do to the handling of your bike (the motorised one!).

On the bag, I strongly recommend you have a single bag that is big enough for all your junk, fins included. Any items "bolted on " separately are liable to come loose and be a big problem.

 

[captain]

If only my Harley tourer could tow my boat with all the dive gear in it.

 

[peterbj7]

Another way of combining diving with motorcycles - go and dive the Thistlegorm in the Gulf of Suez (Red Sea). Lots of WWII motorbikes to pore over.

 

[jagfish]

I used to routinely go diving with my motorcycle. I have a relatively small bike by US standards now (Honda CB 400) and I strap a Rubbermaid daypacker on top of the back seat (hanging over the back a bit) and put all my gear in there.

No worries about anything getting wet after the dive, and I have room for lots more stuff than a backpack.

 

[peterbj7]

THAT would get you pulled over in Britain as well. The trouble with elastic straps is that the load moves, which can make the bike unstable. Whenever I've carried boxes or rucksacks on the back of a bike, which I've quite often done and for some quite long journeys) I've used rope or ratcheting luggage straps, because once fixed properly there's no way the load can loosen.

I take it you don't carry a tank?

 

[Nemrod]

Let's see now, you want to ride down the road with a compressed air tank straped to your back? Haven't there been studies indicating back packs on downed riders contributed to broken backs? I don't think Snell ratings including stopping a scuba tank valve from penetrating your lower cranium. If your ride without a helmet then mostly likely your head will just get squashed between the cement and the tank.

I have raced dirt track, motocross and all of that. I love wheelies and stoppies and built this SV650 to a bored and stroked 750 with extended oil pick up as a wheelie/stoppie machine. It was my last bike, I have decided my reflexes are not fast enough anymore to stay ahead of 100 MPH riding. BUT, I never once thought to ride with a scuba tank on my back. I did as a kid ride my bananna bike with a scuba tank on my back and the fins on the high rise handlebars like tassles and the mask on my forehead.

Nope, no scuba tank on my back here either, circa 1973, custom built Bultaco 125 Pursang, just somehow or another I did not figure wearing a scuba outfit was beneficial to racing in Georgia red clay. Do a search on neoprene rubber sometimes, apparently there is a quite a fetish involving bikes, rubber suits and stuff like that.

N

 

[Noboundaries]

Get a motorcycle trailer and load to your heart's content.