Pannier Wars - Attack of the Bungie Straps

[Obzy]

Just fitted a set of Oxford Sport Lifetime Scotchlite Humpback Heatguard Reflecto Expander Stormcover Super Slick Panniers

Ye gads, it took forever. The back of a Z750 looks nice, but is a weird place to try and strap things. It's an odd shape. Had to move the indicators and was lucky, as the wiring looms were just long enough.

There are about 65000 ways that you can set the straps and bungies and after about two hours of fiddling, I managed to get them on there ok.

Anyways, if anyone is thinking of fitting soft luggage, feel free to give me a shout for some advice or a hand.

Aw my back aches and I'm chilled to the bone from sitting on my garage floor for hours, but it's worth it. I'll have somewhere to put the pet food when we do the run on Dec 1st now - (see events).

[igbell]

A good while ago I bought a set of soft pannier's on my little CB500 at a show, you should of seen me sat on the grass trying to fit these silly things.
In the end I had sat them right for one person but 2 meant I should have lifted them a tad, as they got slighty burnt when my wife got on the back and we went over bumps or dug into corners.
Then I got myself a Givi top box off of a mate and a top rack and this meant I could lift the softies higher.
On the VFR I went the full hog and got off of flea bay a wing rack and a set of hard pannier's so that when my wife and I went to the south west of france on the VFR we had somewhere to keep stuff safe and dry.

[Ghost]

I have always used soft luggage and haven't really had any problems over the years slinging them on to whatever bike I have had - although I am having a good think at the moment as my latest bike has high level pipes on one side so could well melt the panniers! Am thinking of getting Ventura luggage although not keen on having stuff permanantly fixed to the bike.

[Obzy]

Kriega do some really nice, good quality tail packs and rucksacks, but no panniers unfortunately.

Good idea about getting the Givi rack, as am sure that one of those would make them one hell of a lot easier to fix.

Just had a quick look in the garage and they aren't on the floor, so must've done something right, lol.

[igbell]

I leave the top box on 90% of the time as this saves with trying to carry about a skid lid, I just slap it in the back and walk away.
Also this way I can carry my wets and a lock or 2 with me all the time.
The Pans are for long haul trips or shopping trips, as I will always try and go into Swindon town centre on the bike as it is anlways a nightmare on a weekend getting in with a car.

[Obzy]

Here's one use for a tailpack



And here's the favourite part of my weekend (apart from being with my other half and daughter o'course!

[Ghost]

Nice pics Obzy, she gonna be a biker too? 8-)

[igbell]

Cool one, I wanted to cut a hole in my top box and put Josh in it, but the wife wouldnt let me.

[Obzy]

lol, maybe - I can't stop her doing what she wants to do eh

She seems at her quietest and happiest when she's in the garage with me, watching me work on the bike and stuff like that.

As for taking her on the back - that's some way in the future yet, but I look forward to taking her to watch the GP and stuff like that.

[Obzy]

I've been for a couple of decent runs with the panniers on the back now and they're great.

Going to just leave them on all the time, as it takes a while to remove them and put them back again. A pillion still fits with them in place, so no reason to remove them unless it's going to be parked overnight somewhere.

What I really like about them is that I can get on and off the bike normally, ie: just swing leg over the back. When I was using my tail pack, my legs weren't long enough to do that. I had to do that awkward looking thing where you hold on to the back of your right knee and hoist up your leg high enough to kind of step over the seat - whilst trying not to pull the bike over, lose balance or fall backwards onto arse, lol. Blasted short legs!

Only bad thing about these panniers is the printing on the storm covers - if you want the drawstring toggles at the top, the bloody writing printed on the covers is upside-down! And there's a couple of little fake vent things on the sides, from which the fake vents came unstuck and fell off. Not taking them back for the sake of two square cm's of fake vent though.