Tesch panniers - any advice?
 

Found a good deal on a set of eight year old Tesch panniers including racks for roughly 200 Euros. They're a bit worn and have seen quite a bit of this planet already but still look good from what I can tell. No damages, holes, dents, etc. though.

Attachment 2358

I drive a Tenere 3AJ and they were previously used on a 55W which means they won't fit right away without further adjustments. I've heard much about Tesch panniers, they're supposed to be among the best aluminum panniers money can't buy. But does that still hold true for eight year old ones or will they not be worth the money? Any advice from experienced Tesch owners?

I may be very wrong here and correct me if so but the photo you show looks like a tesch rack but they don't look like mine or other tesch panniers I have seen. I have a set of tesch panniers fitted to a r80gs, they are about 16 years old now, have covered about 50,000 miles - they still do not leak, they are very strong and reasonably secure and have withstood a few spills and one heavy crash, the frames look basic and rough but are solid. Good points, the lids have a great closing system which allows access even if the top of the pannier is loaded over with tents etc over the seat (the lid lifts a little then slides off at an angle), its also fairly secure and easy to uprate the security, The panniers sit close into the bike and for the capacity are reasonably slim, The panniers are very strong and I can lie my bike over on them to do awkward maintenance chores without the pannier or frame distorting, they have extra tool boxes inboard of the pannier so you dont need to empty the panniers to get to extra tools etc, Only bad point they are fixed to bike and take a while to unbolt should you need to - so far for me this has not been a problem but could be for some peoples needs.

Thanks for your input. I've asked about the panniers and apparently, they were custom made by Bernd for himself and he sold them at a travellers meeting. I've got some high resolution pics last night and they do indeed look quite good. The rack probably won't fit my bike (it was built for a 34L/43F/55W, I drive a 3AJ) but I was able to find out that the panniers can easily be modified to fit my preexisting rack.

As the racks are very strong and box section it may be very easy to get them cut and re welded to fit your bike - if your looking at doing any serious travelling I would think its a worthwhile investment good luck jake.

That's precisely what I'm looking for, cause the old Krauser K1 panniers that I have already used on my old XJ 600 are not a good fit for a Tenere. Thanks Jake, I'll let you know how it turned out.

Quick update: DHL delivered the rack and the panniers on friday and saturday, respectively. Boxes look really good, can't possible tell that they're already eight years old and have seen half of our planet already. I'll try to fit the rack to my 3AJ tomorrow and let you know how it worked out.

Final update: as expected, the rack didn't fit, and it was significantly easier to make the panniers fit my existing rack than make the rack fit my existing Tenere ;)

After four hours of hard work in the sun I have one last thing to say: dem boxes is pure awesomeness(tm)! :mchappy:

200eu looks a bargain just for the boxes, and if the rack doesnt fit sell it on. the boxes can be altered to fit another rack easy.

They are. My previous GS came with Tesch boxes that had been fitted in 1995 and even being taken out by a pick-up truck on the KKH failed to kill them. One was slightly deformed with some deep grazing is all. That is as much a testament to the rack as the boxes.
My GS now has Tesch panniers from 2007 that are equally well built and have the added feature that the lids are hinge-less:thumbup1:

You got a bargain.


John

I must say, quite a bargain indeed. I am going to sell the leftover rack and my old Krauser K1 boxes, which I bought for my old bike (XJ600) and always considered to be a temporary solution for this bike in the first place, and will probably end up paying ~50 bucks for the Tesch panniers.

Took'em out for a first spin to Slovenia with my wife last weekend. Worked brilliantly, no trouble whatsoever, they even survived a decent amount of offroading.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qMEz22OgmU0/So...0/HPIM3515.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qMEz22OgmU0/So...2/HPIM3516.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qMEz22OgmU0/So...0/_8093146.jpg

More pics can be found here

your panniers
 

hi there,

you bought very good panniers.

but this are not Tesch made, this are made by a German friend of mine, his name is Guido Schmitz.

Guido made also the panniers (same as yours) and the rack that I used on my rtw trip from 1999 to 2005 with an 1VJ Tenere. The best pieces of equipment that I had on my trip. Have a look at the photos ...

Mika's Motorrad Weltreise - Oktober 2004, Nairobi / Kenia

200 Euros is very cheap.

Greetings from Berne Switzerland

Mika

Dunno.. while they do look a bit similar to yours there are also noticeable differences. But then again it really doesn't matter. They're very solid, 2mm Aluminium and seem very sturdy, so it doesn't really matter who built them, be that Tesch or Schmitz ;)