► Hard luggage--panniers and topboxes

[paramaniac]

I've got the full BMW luggage on mine, good kit, if a bit pricey.
Manual suggests not doing over 100MPH with it fitted. Not an issue on the 650.
I can sit at 90 MPH two up, no untoward buffeting.
Overall, good gear.

 

[sparkplug]

Depends on what features are important to you and how much you want to spend.

Plastic, or metal?
Strength?
Security?
Ease of use?
Ease of removal?
Crash resistance?

What's the most important?

Hard luggage goes from home-made from plastic drums (I've got some from work you can have) right through to the 'Rolls Royce' of panniers - Metal Mule (I've got some you can't have )

Tell us a bit more about what you need them to do and we can maybe answer your question a bit better.

Oh, and Touratech are rubbish

 

[sniffy]

panniers

just contact Redcap on this site ARD Cases he will make you made to measure panniers and a very cheap price top quality....


Tell him sniffy sent you

 

[bradders]

Hard Cases

There's a heck of a lot of information on this site about this topic.
If you like the clean look of the bike without side mounting frames and dont want to pay the earth, SW Motech removable frames are excellent. I can get my side frames on and off in minutes.
So if you like to keep the clean look of the bike when not needing panniers the next question is which panniers ?
This is dependant upon which adaptor plates SW Motech sell and there are several. I went for the Alpos cases purely and simply from a cost perspective. I cannot justify paying BMW prices as I dont use the panniers everyday. The Alpos panniers are great, I got a 32l and 38l (kinda balanced)and me and the missus got loads of stuff in them for our short trip away.
They are akin to a land rover whereas BMW's aluminium paniers are more akin to a range rover. They both do the same job, its just one is more refined.

So, its upto you !

 

[mark-forrest]

Stahlkoffer Panniers and Plate

I had my panniers fitted by Bernie a couple of weeks ago but went on holiday straight after so didn't get to upload some pictures as promised.

Bernie also had a back plate powder coated in black for me to look at which I couldn't resist for £45.

Here's a few pictures of the panniers with and without boxes, I'll add a couple of views of the plates in another post.

Cheers

Mark

 

[mark-forrest]

Stahlkoffer Panniers and Plate

Here's a couple of pictures of the back plate fitted by Bernie at Stahlkoffer.

Mark

 

[Shimster]

Depends on what features are important to you and how much you want to spend.

Plastic, or metal?
Strength?
Security?
Ease of use?
Ease of removal?
Crash resistance?

What's the most important?

Hiya

I'd want metal ones which have good security, easy to use and can be removed without too much hassle. The ability to withstand an off would be good. Obviously, price is an issue, but I don't mind spending money if I get good quality equipment in return The capacity is something which I can't really answer as I've never used panniers before coz this is my first venture in to the world of touring.

 

[sparkplug]

I think you need to try to see a few systems 'in the flesh' to give you an idea of what works for you and what doesn't.

Don't be tempted to buy 'bigger panniers' as you will end up filling the space with things you don't need.

For what it's worth - my experience of a five week camping trip on my own - carrying cooker, tent, sleeping bag, food and water, tools, spares (air filter, oil filter etc), medical kit, clothes etc (i.e. could have carried on travelling pretty much as long as I wanted) I found two 38lit panniers plenty big enough and had a metal top box just for locking my helmet and gloves in (also had some paper maps and 'easy access' snacks)

For a similar trip two up I was grateful of one 45 lit pannier for the extra clothing (the other pannier was 38lit).

If you end up with one of the cheaper end of the metal box market, you might want to consider a waterproof liner bag (such as the Exped ones). Even if the pannier is waterproof, some of the designs are such that if you do have and off and the pannier distorts (or needs to be knocked back into shape) you've lost the waterproofing.

This also helps if you have one of the 'Touratech' style mounting systems which have two flywheels inside the pannier for removal. Having everything in a liner bag means you can just lift the lot out in one go rather than needing to unpack the whole pannier just to remove a it.

Don't know if that helps answer any questions, or just raise some more

Hope it helps

 

[smaytum]

i bought the aluminium touratech zega cases. They are OK i guess, easy to remove. Negative comments;
- get aluminium stains on my hands every time i touch them
- key locks cost extra and are next to useless - one hard pull and they are open (you can add small padlocks which will do the trick though).
- dropped my bike in a water splash and one of the cases let a small amount of water in
- rode off with one of the clips open, only to see the lid bounching down the road in my rear view mirror

I dropped the bike a few times and the frame/case have kept their shape.



A couple of not so obvious things to consider..
- using them as a table and chair really works when camping
- a discreet frame when they are off is also useful

 

[Gipsy]

Elvie has Skinny Mules on her 658. As has been said before, not the cheapest, but the quality is outstanding. She went for the balanced system with a scorpion can and IMHO it looks the dogs bollo____.

 

[Bryn]

Elvie has Skinny Mules on her 658. As has been said before, not the cheapest, but the quality is outstanding. She went for the balanced system with a scorpion can and IMHO it looks the dogs bollo____.

 

[David Nimrod]

just contact Redcap on this site ARD Cases he will make you made to measure panniers and a very cheap price top quality....

I'd agree; you can have any combination of left and right sizes, they're excellent quality, not raw ally and very strong & well made... oh, and great value

 

[Gipsy]

Not very good at the picture thing, but check out post 23 on the long established luggage thread to see what they look like.

 

[Bryn]

Not very good at the picture thing, but check out post 23 on the long established luggage thread to see what they look like.

[/IMG]

 

[smaytum]

Touratech Zega Cases and Rack

 

[Sooty09]

SW Motech

SW Motech removable frames are very well made and available for £165.00. We use them with throw over bags (any make will do). The SW rack is there only to keep the bags off the exhaust and tank trims. Our Buffalo throw over bags are adjustable in width so the profile can be kept equal despite the daft silencer location. As we only use the bags for 3 weeks a year its the most cost effective way of fitting luggage.

 

[The Moo]

Hiya all

I've spent several hours reading and then attempting to digest all the info and opinions about hard luggage for the 650GS that's located all over the interweb (and on this forum) and my brain really hurts

and yer brain was hurting an awful lot yesterday too me matey!! until you flaunted yer bike today I would have had sympathy

good luck with finding panniers .... ali ones are brill ...get liners for them tho' to stop the wet gettin' in!

Moo x

did you cool down in the end? wind rushin' through yer hair an' all that? BASTARD!!!

 

[santrix]

Stahlkoffer panniers and frames, seriously cant go wrong for 400 quid all in.... As tested by moi and a few others..

and this one cus i like puppies..

 

[Shimster]

Thanks for the all the advice guys and gals

I was down at my local BMW dealer the other day booking my 650 in for it's annual service and the 1200 they had on show seemed to be calling to me in some strange way! Anyhoo, I've got the dealer to lend me the 1200 while my 650 is in for a service, so rather than spend any well earned greenback on the 650 I think I'm gonna hangfire and wait to see how the 1200 feels.

That said, I'm sure that all the good advice you've posted would apply to the 1200 as well?

Cheese

Jason

 

[Bernt56]

Stahlkoffer Pannier Systems

I Know this guy personally and his product is good. He used my bike to make the F650 (single) frames. Good value panniers, made in the UK. Tested these over a wet weekend and they were great. Clever mouting mechanism too, quick release doesnt need going into the box to release it.

Hopefully he will getting the 800 frames sorted soon (i think he may use my bike for this), so will post pics....

Probably over the winter...

I cant see them costing more than the TT lot, infact Bernie, if you're reading this, post the price of the 1200 ADV kit for comparison.

The cost of panniers & frames for the R1200GSA is £399.00 plus VAT
Regards
Bernie.
P.S. I have posted some photos of Stahlkoffer panniers on the Vendors of Innovations page.