Stay ready with Two Wheel Tactical Part 1

Not a lot of us think about advanced safety until the shit hits the fan and we absolutely need it. Whether it’s first aid, personal protection, or having the right tools for roadside fixes. It only takes one time to realize that riding is fun, but it can go south at a moment’s notice. After finding ourselves up shit’s creek without a paddle more than a few times and witnessing major injuries and even death, V-Twin Visionary has teamed up with a new brand known as Two Wheel Tactical to aid you in. Mind you, these are suggestions learned from our own two-wheeled adventures, and we encourage everyone who rides to take a first aid, CPR, and gun safety class so you know what to do when things go south. We are starting this series out with Jeff G. Holt’s thoughts on what he carries on his bike and how he uses Two Wheel Tactical’s products every time he rides. 

I have witnessed some serious shit go down in my 25+ years of riding, and I can tell you that I have learned most of what to carry the hard way by not having the right tool for the job when I needed it most. I started out riding choppers and never carried a damn thing except maybe a knife or a hand-me-down revolver from my dad. Now I stay on the ready and have my saddlebags or backpack jam-packed with the right stuff. I also moved from sunny California, where there are more stoplights than trees, so emergency phone service is a thing. Then I moved to East Tennessee, where every ride seems to have its fair share of weather changes, and you can find yourself in some remote areas with zero cell service and have real-deal difficulties real damn quick. And I have learned that AAA should be the backup and not your own personal tow service. I have a few setups that are easy to expand, but I will start with the basics of what I carry. The basics are, of course, a cell phone as well as some personal protection in the form of a semi-automatic 9mm (I prefer Glock) and both a fixed blade and a folding knife. I live in a state where I can carry on my person, so I do so without fail. But your legalities will vary where you stay, so check your state’s laws and, most importantly, their repercussions of carrying before you strap up. After covering my personal protection factors, I carry a basic first aid kit. I have put it together from Amazon and Walmart for light-duty incidents like cuts, scrapes, snake bites, headaches, bug bites, sunblock, and small-scale issues like that. I also have a medium-sized bag filled with the right tools (more on that soon) to fix those low-impact motorcycle issues and not get stranded. I also carry the opposite of what I am wearing when I start the ride. If it’s cold, I of course have warm clothes on my person, but I also have packed lighter-weight wearable items to switch it up when/if the weather gets warmer and the sun starts beating down. I hate being cold or wet, so I also have a lightweight waterproof jacket and wind and waterproof gloves packed at the very least. But I have been known to have a full rain suit with shoe covers packed no matter the weather. Remember, all of this stuff is scalable to your size allowances, weight, level of comfort, and how many miles you are covering. If I have a backpack and I’m hitting some local roads, then it’s of course going to be a different packing situation than if I have two Bagger saddlebags and a TourPak riding cross-country. 

But one thing is for sure, the Two Wheel Tac stuff has made personal protection, tools, FAK, and gear management simple and easy to achieve. Also, the thing I like about the Two Wheel Tactical line of Molle Panels and bags is that they are all modular, so you can pack as little or as much as you like. And that I feel suits most riders perfectly. 

In the next Stay Ready feature, I will show you what I am carrying both on my person and on my bike and why.