A bit of advice, if you please

[Flying banana]

Ladies and Gents.......'tis I, Mr Banana.

Guess what????????????????????????

I am back.

Things have changed somewhat in the Banana household, and I find myself coming back to riding the GS again, somewhat sooner than I thought I would be. About two years sooner, TBH!!! Its a long story, which I will details elsewhere.

Thing is, is there anyone out there who has to regularly carry a laptop and a briefcase or similar on the bike? I was thinking of getting some alu panniers which are a more regular shape than the System panniers i already have. I thought they may be more suitable for purpose, if you see what I mean.

I have considered getting the biggest top box I can, but I am a bit unhappy with the thought of the weight hanging over the back. That said, I am not sure yet.

Any thoughts?

Oh yes, I cannot afford to pay top money for such delights as Al Jesses, or similar. I was thinking along the lines of the Alpos ones.

CHeers chaps

 

[STUBBS]

welcome back have you thought about a laptop waterproof rucksack im sure i saw an article in ride/bike a few months back.

 

[Iain Hogg]

I regularly carry mine in my Metal Mule panniers and have had no problems, however, a friend who carries his in his topbox is getting a bit of a reputation from his IT department as the hard drives fail every few months

My suspicion is that the vibration with the laptop vertical in the pannier would be less severe than horizontal in the topbox.

Also worth taking a good look at the locking mechanism!

Iain

 

[Blackal]

I did carry my laptop on two occasions in my panniers, but then got to thinking that the vibration wasn't too clever.

The topbox might be better (but I would wrap the laptop in towels or bubblewrap) but I really think that a rucsac is the best method.

At least there are no really dangerous bits in a laptop that might do you in if you come off with the rucsac on??

At the very least - clone (Norton Ghost - that's not a bike, or similar) so that an HDD failure doesn't add to your worries.

Al

 

[Flying banana]

Thanks chaps. I recall some time ago, I am sure I saw a photo of a laptop carried in alu panniers, and the guy had lined teh pannier with egg box type foam, so it was pretty well insulated, as it were.

As far as the rucsac idea is concerned, its a non-starter with me. I know a laptop is relatively flat and large, in the sense of its surface area, but I can forsee problems in the event of an 'off'. I know of a lad who was taken off by a car, hit the deck, sanwich box in his rucsac, and now cannot walk. He landed on his back, which was broken by the box on the rucsac. I am really not happy to take that risk.

Decisions, decisions....mind you, there is an upside to this, and that is at least I can now justify getting some HUGE rufty tufty, take me around the world, the Long Way Round, feck-off, get-out-of-my-way-yer-git-'cos-this-bike's-the size-of-a-house, set of shiny panniers, to the wife!!

 

[LiquidLAN]

I used to carry a laptop happily in a topbox on my old ZZR1100, I had a huge bit of foam that I'd place under the case, never had a problem with that.

I've carried mine in the right side BMW own brand pannier once or twice and its been ok, but I wouldnt like to carry it regularly.

Out of curiosity,what is the laptop? Panasonic used to do a range called the toughbook, basically everthing was gel mounted inside and they are supposed to be completely indistructable... or at least that was how the story went...

I heard a bit of an urban legend that some salesman to prove how tough they were, closed the screen on the one he had been demoing, put it on the floor and proceeded to jump up and down on it with his full weight... apparently once he'd finished his demo, he opened up the lid to find his pen had been shut inside the laptop for the duration of the demo and as a result had totally smashed the insided of the machine...

shame cos it sounded like a very good demo if he had removed the pen first.

Joking aside, it might be worth looking into a tougher laptop or more durable hard drive... sods law says these things only ever break when you most need them.

totally with you on the rucksack, I've got to carry so much cack around when I'm onsite that my laptop bag weight a ton, personally it would be too distracting if nothing else on the bike.

 

[turbine_2]

I carry my latop too and from work every day (50 mile each way commute on a mix of London roads and motorway) in my backpack which is in a caja-sahel top box. Yes, the top box does affect the handling a bit but once you've got used to it the problem goes away. Not had any problems with failures of the laptop although the casing does look a little battered. My old laptop must have put up with this for at least 2 years before it was replaced (end of life at work).
I think the secret is keeping sufficient padding.

 

[BigAlMacMac]

Some laptops are better than others. I work for a very large computer company. The largest one actually and well known for its rugged laptops. A laptop was in use during one of the nasty London railcrashes a few years back, I can't remember which, and was in one of the worst damaged carriages. When recovered the laptop was powered up and worked fine.

As much as all the marketing guys wanted to use this story for obvious reasons it was never used.

The hard disks automatically go into protect mode when powered down and I think I read can withstand a 10G drop.

Not sure if this helps.

 

[Spikehammer]

Peli do a special laptop case that is 'shockproof', it's lined, waterproof and very, very strong.

 

[Jaq]

Welcome back to the Dark Side, Phil.....

Hugs......Jaq....x

 

[Packer]

Welcome back Mr Banana!

I can fit my Acer TravelMate 3200, still in its padded shoulder bag, into the BM pannier with a large lid. It's done lots of 8 mile commutes and seems to really enjoy travelling by GS. Obviously a very discerning laptop.

This does make the bike quite wide for filtering but this seems to be a benefit as drivers who are awake enough to actually use their door mirrors seem to think Oh f.... what is that? and move over rapidly. Of course HID lights help gain their attention in the first place!

 

[bustupbiker]

***Panasonic still do a range called the toughbook, basically everthing was gel mounted inside and they are almost completely indistructable... ***

I can confirm this:: as a demo to the guys i used to train i would remove the HD and chuck it across the [ very long ] workshop. Never had one fail, but it is only the HD that is gel mounted the rest is protected by the MagAli case.
Cf29 is a good un put they costalot.
Lyn.

 

[Ogmios]

if a load of the "eggbox" type foam that p.c's and laptops are packaged in is any use to you - drop me a p.m.
i take in deliveries of computers every week and can snaffle a bit for ya.

believe me - if a p.c. or laptop can cope with the abuse some delivery people give it in transit (Ford Transit? sic! ) - it'll do grand wrapped in this stuff in a pannier / topbox.

let me know.
~~
Og

 

[Flying banana]

Ogmios, I will bear you in mind mate. That type of packaging was exactly what I was thinking of.

Packer, Have you got the Global lids for the BMW panniers? I was thinking of trying to get hold of some of them as a possible option.

I dunno if BM still adtually make them, tho.

Cheers

 

[Big Lee]

How about? http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88936&highlight=pelican+cases

 

[riderbob]

I have carried my laptop (normal Dell) in a standard laptop bag to work everyday for the last four years in the topbox. Since this GS is new I've just purchased a topbox from the Civil One (link below) and will continue to do the same. Reasonably priced to.

http://www.cajasahel.com/

50 mile commute each day and never had a problem.