BMW F650 Expandable Panniers
 

Hi

Has anyone had any experience with these panniers? They seem to be reasonably well made and I like the idea of shrinking them for city use and expanding them for touring. Also dont seem to be quite as expensive as some of thye others.

How well would they hold out on dirt roads etc, bearing in mind that my 650 Dakar isnt exactly a motocross bike so I wont be screaming over jumps etc.

Good design,
Easy to use,
Cr*p finish.

The design is excellent - they fix easily - it only takes 15mins to fit the brackets! Well secured. Good in small mode for filtering through traffic, & takes loads of stuff when expanded - why can't more be designed like these?

BUT..... whoever put the aluminium tin foil finish on them should be shot. Flies make dents in it! It tarnishes in bad weather.
I covered the vulnerable parts with protective stick on sheets (in carbon fibre) once I realised how bad it was.

A great design, let down.....

Thanks for the reply.

Not sure if I understand you correctly, does the finish just look bad after a while? Or are they fragile ie prone to breakage and denting?

I used the expandable panniers on a recent 4000km trip around New Zealand, on a F650GS P/D.

They work well, look good, and are much more practical shape for packing than the other 1100 bags. Quality is high as you would expect. But as mentioned in post above, they are very subject to damage from minor bumps.

Peter

are you talking about the expandable saddlebags offered by bmw for the 650gs? from the pic i saw they looked like a hard black plastic

ALANB...
It's just the finish - under the tin foil is hard black plastic - & the build quality is good. Never dropped it on one though.

JRSUE....
Maybe you've seen something I haven't - the only ones I've owned & seen are hard black plastic, but the outer part (the lid) is covered in thin brushed aluminium. Could be that BMW have realised the failing & have brought out something new.

We just took as set through Mexico, and they work great if you are not riding off the normal path. We had minimal weight in each side, but still had problems. Our route allowed us to destroy a set in three weeks, broke the sub frame from bag vibrations, and had the frame and bags replaced under warranty after we returned to the US. (The design allows for the bottom mount to wear out the rubber, making enough space for the bag to move/pivot on the main pin.) If I needed to use those bags, I would change to lower mounting mechanism prior to a big trip.

They are nice on the hwy, but your money would be better spent on something more durable if you want to be ready for anything!

[This message has been edited by chuck (edited 05 May 2002).]