Agree. Anything you do is to try and keep honest people honest. A bit like not leaving your phone on a table and going for a piss. Best is to keep it in sight.
Keeping things looking worn and dirty may help but in some countries they look at things differently. Worn and dirt may not look without value.

I have been kick this around for some time and while I ride 2up the security is abit different than solo as keeping an eye out is much easier or in a group but solo it is something to really ponder .I would probably go with an hard box .
the other thing to not discard is an alarm with at least 2 other levels of restraint,this would keep the coyotes away.thinking of pacsafe ,locks and the ball socket chain or similar. I think around this while looking at packing lighter.

Never had a problem in 10 years with soft luggage
 

It helps if there are two of you! We virtually never leave the bikes unattended with luggage on and every night take everything into the room with us (including the bikes on occasion!) We have crappy old soft bags tied on with bungees and never had a problem. On the rare occasions we abandon the bikes with luggage on we take all valuables with us.

We also have a wire mesh security bag we put valuables into, which we padlock to something metal somewhere unobtrusive in the room, so we can leave computers etc when we go out. Not so useful when camping!

I tend to have camping gear (which in total can be expensive) in roll bag. No security. If it gets stolen then I'm tramping or sleeping in hotels I guess.

Valuables usually in a tank bag that always comes with me if I'm off the bike, but if you're hijacked that's gone and there's no going to be any more travel photos.

I did take a pacsafe with me to Morocco and used it Spain. It was a pain since they are designed for backpacks and open on the long side. I guess they work well in roll bags, but I found that it worse holes in my drybag.

If using a pacsafe always get the next size up from what you need.

If leaving your bike gear as happens if you say go to explore something whilst on the between towns, then never leave your helmet/riding gear unless it's locked. You need it more that most of your other stuff.

our 1st long trip, years ago, with our BMWs, we had Alu boxes... way too heavy and pointless. Locks can be opened in 10 seconds.

Our latest trip, last year, across Northern and central Asia, we decided to go "light"!
I had Andy'z soft panniers, just "secured" with additional Rok Straps, to stop them moving too much round the luggage frame.

The camping gear was on a roll back on my husband's bike, this had a Packsafe mesh as we used it rarely.

For everyday bags the packsafe are a PITA, and to be fair, outside of Europe, no one will touch your luggage. My panniers, covered in dust, scraggy and on a 10 year old Honda XR125 did not make us look like rich! Even the cops in Kazakhstan, never bothered to stop us when driving along side us, after having a good look at our sorry state! :rofl:

You can see pictures on my website and blog (links below I think).
Passports, money and valuables are either on us, or on our backpacks, while my pocket camera and my iPad were in my tankbag (hidden under toilet paper, water and food!:D) .

We left the bikes abandoned many times (including tank bag) at border crossings, or for coffee, at patrol station, and no one ever touched anything.

Cheers,

Nice site

From 10/09/13 to 15/09/14 I rode a little Honda c90 from England to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All I had was some Ortileb bicycle panniers clipped onto the back rack, a cheap waterproof sack on the backseat and a shopping basket on the front. I did have a rickman topbox too, but I had to just store my clothes in there is it unbalanced the bike to much if I put anything heavy in there!

I couldn't find a fault at all with the plastic panniers (aside from un-clipping occasionally when I was going a bit 'bumpy') and would happily sing their praises. I was a pretty inexperienced rider (only been riding for 6 months before I left home) and with the thin wheels, I came off quite a lot when going off road. The panniers would take the 'full force' of the bike and would only show minor scuffles. Sometimes I even had my laptop in them and, well I'm writing on it now :) They took everything I threw at them in Africa; crashes, being submerged in swamped out jungle roads, monsoons, the lot.

But practicalities aside, I think in some circumstances, travelling with luggage that doesn't look so brash can really go a long way. When I rode through Nigeria I was travelling with a Swiss guy I met in Togo on a Yamaha Tenre, and he had some huge, metal cases on each side of his bike. Nigeria was quite sketchy - those 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko Harem a month before we went and tensions in the country were rife. There was one instance where we were attacked by a crowd (because they thought we were carrying bombs in our bags) and the police had to shoot there automatic machines guns into the air to disperse them. On average we were arrested through suspicion around three times a day. They wasn't bothered with my bags, but they were really interested in the huge metal cases. Everything was searched meticulously, but they never wanted to search mine. That probably saved us a couple of hours each day.

I loved those panniers. They've long since been retired though and replaced with some 20 year throw over ones I got off ebay for £15 for my next South America trip.

The Routes of Earth

Some one a friend new told me he had a tent that attaches to the bike, to keep the tent tight he kept all his gear with at all time inside even his bike was safe, one night it rained and the side stand sank and the bike fell on top of him, so much for been safe