Hard vs soft luggages for long trips

[Roadrunner]

Hey Fred, the GDWs did an excellent job for us.

We both crashed a couple of times, Lulu once at about 30-40 km/h and hardly a scratch on hers. I left my bike out in the snow in the middle of nowhere on the Tibetan plateau overnight, and when I came back the next day they had quite a coating of snow on it. I could feel a little bit of dampness on the ziplock bags when I put my hand inside to check my things, but given the sleet and seriously crap weather from the night before, I would forgive them that. I was expecting a pool of water at the bottom


I'm guessing they are made from the same material that the military tents are made of and they are waterproof enough to keep the water out when you're in rain, snow etc, even fording rivers and driving into massive potholes filled with water up to the headlight

I put all my valuable breakables (like camera, hard drive and laptop) in the tank bag because I was concerned about security and about preventing breakages in case I crashed. We very rarely left the bags alone (and I ALWAYS had my tank bag with me) because they couldn't be locked (and could be easily broken or opened with a decent knife if we had found a way to lock them) so they may be less ideal for the solo riders who are carrying expensive stuff.

Either way, for the 90 days or so that we had them (I still have them actually), they did the job and held up excellently. I was told (by the guy that gifted them to us) that they held 30 litres each, which on my bike added to 90 litres (I had three bags), and Lulu had 60 litres (two bags). This meant we had more than enough space than we needed.

And at the end of the day, when we were shattered after another a of hard slog, all I had to do was untie the string that tied them to the back rack, slide them on my shoulders and carry them to my room, with the trusty Bass (not well known for it's adventure riding durability) pack that I brought from the start.



It can be hard work lugging those bags around though (I had taken far more useless stuff than I needed, and none of the most important things, like tools to change a back tyre ), but I felt like it was more convenient to unpack things in the room as I needed them. I could get everything off the bike in one go and plop on the bed for the night.

In terms of pillion passenger comfort, I don't know but I'll say that it will probably get uncomfortable over long distances, given that the canvas isn't the softest material, and the fabric handle straps that sit in the middle of the seat make the surface uneven.

Versatile, waterproof, convienent and cheap, but they don't offer alot in the way of security and are probably not the most comfortable seat for a pillion passenger.

In terms of clearance, that depends on what kind of bike you've got. I had racks put on mine which held the bags up a bit, but the muffler is low enough for that not to have been a problem anyway.

No bags!!



Bags!!