gear guide

Below is a list of gear we recommend to bring on the Mongolian Adventure Rally. Light weight items and only bringing the bare essentials is your best bet. It’s human nature to want to pack too much as opposed to not enough, fight this urge as best you can! Prepare your gear early at home and take it for a test ride with a night’s camping. Around 15kg of packed luggage weight on the motorcycle (not including riding gear) would be ideal, allowing for another 3kg of water and some food to be added on top of that in Mongolia.

Weather-wise, July is the middle of summer in Mongolia. Expect mostly warm weather and cool nights in the desert and at altitude, with the odd passing rain event. Of course, due to the nature of weather, anything is possible especially in the north, due to altitudes of over 1600m. We recommend bringing more summer oriented vented riding gear and jacket, with a lightweight water-proof shell and warm base layer you can add as required. Heavier weight and expensive Gore-Tex and touring type riding gear is not necessary unless you already own and would like to bring it.

You don’t need fancy overpriced gear to come and ride the MotoNoamd Rally. As long as you have the basics to survive in the wilderness you are ready to ride! The Shineray’s stock rear and side steel racks enable just about any bags, motorcycle specific or not to be securely mounted.

Motorcycle gear

Helmet Open or full face. Helmet with sun peak recommended.
Goggles with clear and tinted lens. Sunglasses, or helmets with a visor can also work but they do not protect eyes as well in dusty conditions.
Vented Jacket, shirt and pants
Gloves Not a bad ideas to have 2 sets, vented summer gloves and a thicker pair that offers more protection from the wind.
Boots Good ankle support and steel caps highly recommended. Waterproof or vented non-waterproof. Both have their negatives and positives, the choice is yours.
Neck tube Buff or similar
Waterproofs Lightweight throw-over shell, jacket only, or full overalls.

Personal clothing

Lightweight down jacket or fleece jumper Doubles as a warm layer under your motorcycle jacket as required.
Thin trousers
Shorts
T-shirts x 3
Long sleeve shirt
Underwear x 4
Socks x 3
Flip flops
Hat Floppy wide brim is best.
Light weight trainers/ sneakers (Optional)

Electronics

Mobile phone – Pre paid sims cards are readily available in Ulaanbaatar before departure. During the Rally we will pass through at least 1 – 2 areas with 4G mobile reception each day. You can purchase enough credit to last your entire trip very cheaply, showing proof of your international passport is required to receive your sim with Mongolian phone number.
Adapter (C type – 230V)
Chargers and cords to suit your devices.
GPS Garmin device, (Optional) can use smart phone with App like Maps.me with offline maps for navigation. The Motonomad rally route maps will come in GPX and KML format suitable for both types of devices.
GPS or phone handle bar mount. 7/8^”handle bar size, RAM Quickgrip XL, quad lock or similar depending on your nav device of choice.
DSLR or point and shoot camera (Optional) we will have a photographer on the trip taking lots of high-quality photos we can share with you. Most past riders who have brought larger cameras, drones and the like have found they have been to busy enjoying the adventure and got minimal use from them.
USB battery pack (Optional) the motorcycles have a USB port for charging. Participants will be able to charge devices while the bikes are running or off. Motorcycles have backup kick starter if the battery does happen to get drained flat, which hasn’t been our experience so far. Ger camps will generally have power outlets.
GoPro or other action cam (Optional)
InReach, Spot messenger or similar. (Optional) All motorcycles and the organizers support vehicles will be fitted with Spot trace units. All participants will have access to an online portal to view each other’s locations in real time. Access to the portal is only possible with mobile connection but expect to have this in 1 – 2 areas during each day of the ride. The units are GPS trackers only and do not have a SOS button or messaging function. InReach, Spot messenger, Satellite phone or similar will be carried by the organisers, participants are welcome to bring their own units and this is recommended but not compulsory.

Camping

Sleeping bag 3 seasons bag is recommended.
Sleeping mat With patch kit if inflatable type. Thermarest or Sea to Summit brands highly recommended.
Tent Light weight hiking style tent. Naturehikes range is worth a look for light weight tents at a reasonable price, if you don’t already own one.
Hiking stove – Gas or fuel type. We provide you with screw-on gas canisters during the rally.
Can opener
Cooking pots, cutlery & fire starter
Small Camp knife or Leatherman
Head torch
Travel towel
Hiking shovel Lightweight aluminium or similar
Inflatable Pillow (Optional) Sleeping bag compression sack stuffed with clothes also works!

Luggage

Motorcycle soft bags or duffle type bags. Motorcycles come with strong steel pannier, top and side racks which make securely mounting any tough outdoors style bags with loops easy. 2 x 10-20L bags each side and one 60L larger bag on top should be plenty for storage space. Bags can be waterproof or only weather resistant and you can use separate dry bags inside. Motorcycle specific ADV type bags from brands like Mosko Moto, Kriega, Enduristan are great but expensive, do not feel you have to purchase these just for this trip.
Tie down straps – Rok straps are highly recommended for securing your bags to the motorcycle’s racks. They should be available for purchase locally in everyone’s home countries. https://rokstraps.com/
Water proof dry bags The lightweight type, use them as an additional layer of protection for important items and documents inside your bags.
Backpack with hydration bladder (Optional)
Motorcycle Tank bag (Optional)

Hygiene

Toothbrush and paste
Soap / shower gel / shampoo Small travel sized.
Vaseline Or other product for chapped lips and chaffing bits!
Basic First aid kit Check any medicines are legal to travel with, prescription or not.
Hand sanitiser
Sun cream
Toilet paper

Paperwork / personal

Passport With photocopies stored elsewhere. Passport must be valid for 6 months beyond the end date of your stay.
Copy of your travel insurance. With contact numbers and details.
Driver’s licence With motorcycle endorsement.
Cash Small amount of US dollars in small bills for emergencies. The Mongolian Tögrög is preferred by most and will get you the best deal. ATMs are available in the airport on arrival to Mongolia, throughout Ulaanbaatar and on at least 4 of the days of the Rally. Visa and Mastercard are both widely accepted. Participants will only need to carry around $900,00 Tögrögs or less at any one time – approx. $250 USD. Don’t forget to tell your bank you are off traveling before departure. In rural Mongolia, apart from the major centres, only cash is accepted for buying supplies, fuel or paying for accommodation.
Medical Up-to-date vaccinations are recommended for traveling to Mongolia (COVID not required anymore). Check with your GP well before departure.

Tools / spares

Basic tool kit (Optional) Your motorcycle will come with a basic tool kit plus spare tube (18” front and rear wheels), spark plug and small array of spare fasteners. You are welcome to bring your own tool kit if preferred. Contact us for details of what we recommend and for the common sizes needed.
Tyre pump Bicycle Schrader type works fine with a little effort. Electric pump connected to the motorcycles battery are also an option but in our experience we have no issues with quality bicycle pumps like the Lezyne micro floor pump.
Tyre gauge If your pump doesn’t have one inbuilt in. 0 – 50psi Pencil style gauge will be more than enough, and will be the most convenient to carry.
Cable ties / duct tape What can’t these two items fix?

The motorcycle above has 20L pannier bags each side, secured with rok straps onto the bikes fitted steel pannier racks. A top duffle bag can also easily be added to provide alittle extra luggage room. This is more than enough space to store all necessary items during the Mongolian Adventure Rally, and the size of the bags do not interfere with riding the motorcycle in any way.

Food / water. Each participant will need to carry a day or so worth of food and water with them. The MotoNomad route will pass through at least 1 – 2 or more small villages each day during the ride where basic supplies will be able to be bought and the odd small restaurant will be located. The smallest stores will have at least bottled water, rice, noodles, pasta, canned tuna & vegetables, dried fruit, cured meats and, most importantly, chocolate bars! We will pass 3 large centres during the ride where a much larger array of food types and restaurants will be available. The support vehicle will also carry plenty of food and water as a backup to distribute between participants just in case, but this isn’t expected to be relied on. Participants are welcome to bring their own freeze-dried food packs from home, but this isn’t necessary.

Petrol / fuel / gas.The locations of fuel stations will be marked on the rally route maps, expect 1 – 2 fuel stops per day. The motorcycles have 8L tanks which will take us around 200 – 250km. Average distances travelled per day will be around 170km. The motorcycles are fitted with fuel filters but the quality of fuel is okay, 91 or 95 RON is always available. Fuel is generally priced a little cheaper than we are used to in our home countries. The fuel cost for your entire trip is expected to be less than $200 USD.

Flying

Some of the above items may pose issues to bring with you on your flights to Mongolia. Below is our personal experience but each airline and transit country may have its own different rules and regulations

Small camping knife or Leatherman, generally fine in checked in-luggage. Worth reading the fine print of your airline carrier and any stop over locations you need to transit. Some have rules around locking blades and maximum length. If concerned, we can help you purchase a knife on arrival in Mongolia and you can donate it to a thankful local before leaving.

Motorcycle boots can take a lot of checked luggage space. Wear them on the plane if needed!

Helmets. Some airlines don’t allow helmets to be carried onto flights and insist they need to be in check luggage. Personally, we have had no issues carrying ours on in a lightweight helmet bag, onto flights with many different airlines to date including Mongolia’s national carrier MIAT.

Cooking fuel bottles. Obviously, gas canisters are a no go, we will provide you with a screw-on gas canister for the Rally. Liquid petrol type fuel canisters need to be thoroughly washed and can still be confiscated depending on the airline. For this reason, we recommend bringing a screw-on gas style burner only.

Tools. Best to be packed in checked luggage. Even the smallest most innocent tools can be classed as potential weapons!

Food. No limitations for bringing food into Mongolia, but it’s not necessary to have to bring your own in from home. We will pass many villages on the rally that stock all the basics we need.
Suitcase or travel bags. Traveling with all your gear to and from Mongolia will require a larger bag to transport this all in, plus anything additional you want to bring to use outside the ride. For those staying in UB before and after the ride, your hotel should happily store this extra gear for you to collect on your return. For those who are flying in and out directly before and after the ride and not booking additional accommodation. Contact us via email and we will help find you a solution.