These links are to sites I found useful in preparing for the Elefant. I'm not whole-heartedly endorsing any of these sites (well, not unless they pay me, anyway!) but in general, if they're listed here, I would use them again. Any suppliers who faffed me around - oh yes, there were a few - aren't mentioned. If you come across any broken links, please let me know.

Bike-related links

	Touratech are THE after-market suppliers of bolt-ons for BMWs (and others). They are however pricey and the French site doesn't accept credit cards. If I go through my dealer, he charges me an extortionate amount of postage. So I try and deal directly with the German site if I can. And their website crashes IE6 so I have to use Navigator. Sigh. Still, I've got their complete catalogue now, near enough!
	Coming up fast to compete with Touratech is Wunderlich (I never know if thats supposed to have an ü or not.
	Wüdo are another German site offering some very nice trick bits for Beemers - I got some carbon fibre goodies from them.
	Sheepy Hollow in Australia supplied me with a very comfy sheepskin cover for my Adventure (the stock seat is a mite hard). Great service but then French customs stitched me up for import duty. Still, I wouldn't be without it.
	I found it difficult to source some sizes of stainless steel fittings for the Adventure so in the end I forked out a ridiculous sum of money for a handful of blued titanium bolts. As the name says, they are soooo tasty!
	I've owned a Chilli heated waistjacket for some years - it's showing it's age a bit now. Essential for winter riding.
	I lust for a Street Pilot or better, but they're sooo expensive. My Garmin eMap with Mapsource software does sterling service for route planning and navigating. I bought a touratech mount especially for it which was too expensive but nevertheless worked well.
	Can't live without ebay. I even got a barely-used Remus carbon can off there. Only ever had one problemette bidding and that was sorted eventually. Love it. What shall I bid on today?
	Thought I'd mention these as I fitted their helibars to my old Triumph, with great success and much improved comfort.
	Oh come on, everyone's heard of Corbin saddles. If I change my stock saddle it'll probably be to a Corbin model.

 

 

 

Camping-related links

http://www.shop4gerber.co.uk

	I've owned an Ajungilak sleeping bag since my skydiving days. Lovely. And combined with an ex-army goretex bivvy bag (told you I loved ebay) and a Therm-a-rest mattress, I had no problems at all in the cold.
	Much better than the now old-fashioned foam pads, my only niggle was that I would've liked a wider model.
	Pretty much the Rolls-Royce of tents, they are neither cheap nor particularly lightweight. But they are just so easy to erect.
	I bought my Khyam Biker tent with groundsheet on-line from these people. They gave very good service. If they delivered to France they'd give even better service!
	I'm delighted with my Kelly Kettle (some people call it a volcano kettle). I carry it in the car now and use it whenever I can. I'm not that much of a tea or coffee drinker, I just like using this piece of equipment.
	I wasn't sure what I needed food-wise on the Elefant so I purchased an MSR Dragonfly stove. It's a tad expensive but it worked very well. From a gadget point of view, it's very clever. But I can't say I really needed it. Mebbe if I take to mountain climbing, then...
	I found this site on the web: they sold me a handful of ex-army 24 hr 1-man ration packs - I'm so sad I actually LIKE field rations. Especially those delicious oatmeal blocks. And they delivered to me here in France - can't get better service than that.
	I've been using Silvermans for years. Specifically regarding the Elefant, I took some goretex Pro-boot (similar to what the army use) which were completely comfy, waterproof with a good grip. They also made decent motorbike boots on the way home.
	I already owned a Gerber NATO-pattern folding spade bought from these people and very useful it is too. So in preparation for the Elefant, I purchased a back-paxe as well, hoping it'd be good for firewood. In the event, I didn't actually need it (but the spade was useful for clearing the site ready to put my tent up). I now carry both items in the Land Rover "just in case."