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Risk of injury with hardcases ? Risk of injury with hardcases ?
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Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Old 24 Feb 2010
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Originally Posted by tedmagnum View Post
I was told over and over to get Metal Mules or equivalent as they were surely "The only way" etc etc etc and I would be a fool to take anything less.
Fine. You were told the same story over and over again, and time has told that it was not right for you. But the way you say it implies that hard luggage is simply not the way to go, full stop. And that just is not arbitrarily the case....

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Originally Posted by tedmagnum View Post
I only rant on so much about it because there are a lot of new riders who will potentially blow a large chunk of their travel funds on something that is maybe inappropiate and also and more importantly, adding to the danger and weight to a probable "novice" offroad rider.
Again, you can feel entitled to rant given you spent money you later found that did not provide you with what you needed.

However, again, it is a stretch to say buying hard luggage is adding to danger, even if it does add to weight. You had a bad experience, so did someone else you spoke to. That only proves that in your "off" you got caught by a pannier. Not that panniers are an inherent danger....

As I suggested earlier, it is just as feasible that someone could crash without panniers, get injured by part of their bike, which would not have touched them had they had hard luggage... Like me.... I reckon I'd have a footpeg shaped scar on my left calf muscle were it not for hard luggage...

Additionally, as pointed out earlier, there are plenty of people with lots of experience of off-roading, fully loaded, that have had no such issues such as you described.

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Originally Posted by tedmagnum View Post
I just hope most are more savy than I was when it comes to spending money on luggage and prep.
The only savvy one can wish on others is that, once they have the information they can choose the best kit for them hard or soft, rather than what peer pressure demands....
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Old 24 Feb 2010
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Originally Posted by Warthog View Post
Fine. You were told the same story over and over again, and time has told that it was not right for you. But the way you say it implies that hard luggage is simply not the way to go, full stop. And that just is not arbitrarily the case....

If you read my earlier posts, I said the contrary. My argument was for offroad riding only.

Again, you can feel entitled to rant given you spent money you later found that did not provide you with what you needed.

However, again, it is a stretch to say buying hard luggage is adding to danger, even if it does add to weight. You had a bad experience, so did someone else you spoke to. That only proves that in your "off" you got caught by a pannier. Not that panniers are an inherent danger....

As I suggested earlier, it is just as feasible that someone could crash without panniers, get injured by part of their bike, which would not have touched them had they had hard luggage... Like me.... I reckon I'd have a footpeg shaped scar on my left calf muscle were it not for hard luggage...

Additionally, as pointed out earlier, there are plenty of people with lots of experience of off-roading, fully loaded, that have had no such issues such as you described.

Very true and good points and I do agree to a point... It's still a whole lot of sharp metal to add to the equasion though.

But.. the more weight DOES mean instability and more handling issues. Especially with weight balance and suspension. That DOES makes it more risky and dangerous. I don't know how anyone could deny that ??? How can having a lighter, more balanced, easier to handle bike NOT be safer and easier to handle as it's designers intended ?? Maybe i'm missing your point ??


The only savvy one can wish on others is that, once they have the information they can choose the best kit for them hard or soft, rather than what peer pressure demands....
Aye men !!!
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Old 25 Feb 2010
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OK, but it's important to remember that "more dangerous" does not equal "dangerous", the same way "taller" does not mean "tall"....and it felt to me that this was where the general message was headed.

After all it's all relative: Had my old GS had soft luggage, it still would have been heavier than a DR650 with hard cases.
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