29, 35 or 41 litre panniers ?
 

Hi People

The bike is a TTR600RE that’s about 42hp and I’m going to be on the road for about 6 months. The panniers I’m looking at are available in 29, 35 or 41 litre and not a big price difference in any of the sizes.

All the advice says travel light and for survival.

My trip is in two parts.

Part 1 – UK to Dakar and back to Spain – time 8 weeks
Part 2 – Spain to Mongolia and back to the UK – Time 16 weeks

I’ll have a 23 litre tank, be carrying extra water + a bag on the rear seat holding the kitchen and bedroom; also I’ll have an extra tyre.

My Question: The bikes only 42hp so i don’t want to load it to much, BUT I’m on the road for 6 months! I’d like to hear from people with these size panniers.

What kindda stuff have you loaded in your panniers?

Do you wish you had a bigger set?
or
Do you wish you had a smaller set?

Thanks
Shaun

If you had asked this question 2 years ago I'd have probably said the medium or large ones, but having read numerous trip reports and these forums, you have to respect the comments of fellow travellers that use those 2 magic words 'Travel light'. My latest panniers are 30L and I think they will be used half empty or is that half full?.
How many times have you returned from a trip and upon unloading your bike realised that you had carried things you never even gave a second glance to during the trip?. Only take what you really believe will be used, with the exception of tools and spares, which we all carry and hope not to use.

I've got 35 litre panniers.

Its a bit of a challenge when girlie wants to bring her entire shoe & hairdryer collection but for solo trips theres plenty of space.

I changed from BMW to MetalMule and went for a 38-litre pannier on the exhaust side and 45-litre on the other. These must have been ever so slightly wider than the BMW panniers as I twice clouted rock outcrops when riding challenging pistes in the Atlas Mountains last September.

I've since bought an additional 31-litre pannier and on my recent trip I used the 31-litre on the exhaust side and the 38-litre on the other.

Going off topic somewhat, I've just returned from a six-week trip to Dakar and unless you have an overwhelming reason for going there, I would recommend you concentrate on Morocco and Western Sahara. Quite happy to chat offline (tim -dot- cullis -at- infar -dot- co -dot- uk)

Tim

what they say, "less is more".
i have always respected the experiences that has gained on the road.

Tim,

Still :offtopic:,
then I guess you won't be building a database for those countries further south.
Must say, that I have enjoyed following your web blog for your most recent trip down that way.

With 42 hp, your problem is weight, not space. The weight difference between the 29 and 42 ltr panniers will not be much as they are both empty. What you need to think about is "packing light" and this is not the same as getting small panniers. Get the small ones, and don't pack light, and you'll have stuff flapping all over the place. Get big and fill them and your carrying the same as the scenario above but in an orderly fashion.

However, get big ones and don't fill them to bursting and you suddenly have space for kit you want to lock away when you park up, food, souvenirs etc.

I say get bigeger but don't take this as a green light fill them with unecessary stuff.

Only other thing to consider is rideability. If the bike will looks and feels like a caravan, then maybe go for the medium size.

HTH.

i would say go for for the mid side ones because if you really need to carry any more than this you can at least carry the extra stuff on the rear seat which should really only be a few extras.

But have you even considered the size of what 45ltr panniers look like and the amount of stuff you can get into them. My dads got 2 givi 45ltr panniers and they are huge, i once took a long weekend trip away with a mate and i could carry mine and my mates stuff + sleeping bags and inflating mats, the only thing that didnt fit was the tent, just too long. and even then i still had a few litres extra after the weekend was over.

i would also say get a box of some sort and work out the size/amount of litres it holds see what you can pack into it, then you have some sort of base to play with so you should know that that amount of stuff only takes up X amount of litres.

Fabric
 

Have you thought of using Fabric Panniers

Fabric
 

Have you thought of using Fabric Panniers
Caja Sahel :: Caja Sahel Advnenture Fabric panniers

i have
 

Yeah….. I did think about Andy Strapz - Expedition Pannierz. But I’d like to be able to lock the bike and boxes and walk off for a while and not be paranoid about people cutting them and taking my kit

thanks tim
 

i do have a few things to ask, will drop you a mail in the next couple days :)

thanks
shaun

nice one
 

Good Plan Dude :thumbup1:

I have the Touratech 41lts but would gladly swap for a set of the 35's

They are just too big it's nice to have the room, but you loose the ability to filter effectivly through traffic.

Like I said the 35 look better suited for bike.