so i think we should all sell the bike and get a car because it's much safer than on two wheels ,only joking

I built this luggage for these three Tenere's, they have just finished a trip from south Africa to Ireland, they worked fine for them, kept everything dry and held up to crashing about 100 times.There about 36lt and two different styles a angled bottom style and a straight side pannier built with a solid rivet construction, the rivet construction is super strong. One pannier had to be repaired after he was hit from behind by a car in Namibia the left pannier took the full force of the crash and that guy said that pannier saved his leg, sometimes they help, sometimes they dont. Locky.

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great pictures,looks like lots changed on these bikes before the big trip.are the basic tenere not upto it as standard?:confused1:

Forgot about that. Having something on the bike wider out of your vision is just plain dangerous. It ended one of our trips when an oncoming car decided to overtake at the last minute flattening the pannier out of view and launch my wife and her bike into a tree lined ditch. Luckily didn't hit a tree.

I also admire people's confidence in padlocks. Like Ted said, they're not hard to break into. The wide ones do keep the bike off the ground but also fling the bike around on tough terrain increasing the risk of a tank slapper and high siding. The narrower ones tend to trap the leg under it. Try lifting that thing off your leg when you're on your own.

With some rack-less soft luggage you would have been able to punch through that feet on the pegs. :Beach: Just kidding.

You got a ride report somewhere?

When i fitted up the luggage the bikes were pretty much standard, a few bolt on's, crash bars racks, different hand guards, duck tape here and there. I dont have a RR, im just the luggage builder, i have a DR in the shed now fitting up for a long way round style trip, i build a lot of 1200GS luggage.
I build my pannier frames with atachment points so i can also fit a alloy support plate for soft luggage and they have extra tie down points that will take the 2 inch wise stretch straps that Andy makes, i get customers that have both soft and hard luggage because there are people out there that like to use either, the F800GS has both fitted, he uses the soft bags for weekend more off road and the hard bags if he and the misses are going a bit softer. I only build hard luggage but i dont bag the soft bags, i work in with them.
Cheers Locky.


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Hard or Soft - 10 cents
 

This is my experience and I am sure it will not suit everybody.

On the road I went with givi style. 2 x 44ltr panniers 1 x 50 top box. That was for two up 3 months camping. We ended up mounting a frame on the top on the top box for the tent with a pacsafe mesh around it. You have to put as much weight in the panniers as possible and do it evenly. Leaving the top box for light stuff that you want access to more regularly. This set was reasonably secure as all boxes lock on to the mounting frame. If we had to leave the bike somewhere for a long period a 10mm stainless cable was threaded thru the boxes, the bike frame and a power pole and then covered. It turned out that we could have gone a fair bit smaller on the sizes...

Attachment 4772

Off road I used all soft luggage. The top bag's slot for the hoop tore in one stack but was then strapped on. Other than they no probs. I also find that when riding off road standing up on the pegs keeps you away from the bike in crashes and even helps avoid some..

Attachment 4773

The security side of it, all you can do is make it hard for the thieves. Make it take too long or not worth the effort. If they really want it they will take it.

I've done long trips with a wide array of luggage from two-up and everything strapped to the rear packrack, to topbox and hard panniers, to soft panniers and to underseat storage with a large topbox.

I find the last option best but you only get it if you ride a maxiscooter.

For me, hard vs. soft isn't really an issue, the each have their strengths/weaknesses but the additional weight of a hard pannier is frankly very little in the overall scheme of things. I think the options can be summarised as follows:

Hard - expensive, more secure and waterproof, easy to remove to take into a hotel room.
Soft - cheap, less secure, things will get when it rains, harder to remove/strap on.
Topbox - moderate pricing, secure, waterproof, but watch out when riding on corrugations as they can snap your subframe.

just wondered how big the panniers are in your photos,they look a perfect fit not to wide as i think that is important cheers

I use plastic luggage all the time... Why they're rare on overlanders bikes must be down to an image thing. They don't look cool but, for me they are a great compromise between weight and security/ease of use.. You can usually pick up a second hand set of panniers for £100 on ebay.

Have you ever tried to break into a givi box ???? VERY difficult. Much harder than an aluminium one. I remember trying to get into one that came in on a PX bike with no key in the dealership.. We had to remove it to fit another one. The plastic just flexes and you can't get a good purchase on it with a crowbar etc..Took us ages to get it off and required drilling in the end. Depends on the design of the box though. The cheap plastic boxes are CRAP.

I can open any metal box (no matter what lock is on it) within 10 seconds with a crowbar/tyre lever/screw driver. The locks are held on with soft pop rivits or 6mm soft bolts.. It's like they were built by thieves for thieves lol....

Sounds like you have crap soft bags... There are loads of very water proof soft bags available. Ortliebs to name one. My old army panniers just flung over my rack and had four clips to hold them on. Took no time at all. I could carry all my gear into a hotel in one go rather than two-three journeys with the heavier boxes I had.
:thumbup1:

i've decided a trailer has got to be the best but soft top or hard top? ha ha

... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :lol2:

""
I can open any metal box (no matter what lock is on it) within 10 seconds with a crowbar/tyre lever/screw driver. The locks are held on with soft pop rivits or 6mm soft bolts.. It's like they were built by thieves for thieves lol....
""

I can slash open any soft bag within 2 seconds with a pocket knife ,plus I can smash open any plastic case with a sledgehammer .
Plus plus I can fart and blow your bike over !
:rofl::mchappy:

do you think the gs could cleanes my weak riding skills?

haha exactly... NO luggage is secure at all.... It's all an illusion.

No, but it will definitely increase you mechanic's skills and empty your bank account at the same time :D

Of course it does! It sure cleansed my weak riding skills. Short of riding on water, I can do it all now... :innocent: