Promised someone ages ago that I'd post a "living with Civil's cases" post to this thread, so here it is. It's based on a response to a PM I got expanded a bit.
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Well still got them on the bike after however long it is, and they're on all day every day so something must be working. Then again, they don't come off without an allen key (and spanner the way I've fixed them) so that's understandable. I do commute in and out of London happily with them on the bike.
a) The black paint finish, how durable have you found it to be?
It has been great - they really are coated and not painted and the adhesion is excellent. I made a couple of attempts to test it to destruction. On the M6 I got blown sideways in the outside lane
and rubbed one corner of the pannier along the barrier for a bit till I got it under control - chewed a little section out of the aluminium but it didn't hole. The edges of the black coat are fine and no more has come off as a consequence of breaking the surface. I also had a twat in a 4x4 unhappy at me filtering past (at walking pace thank goodness) who decided to "frighten" me by pulling up close. Unfortunately he hadn't seen the boxes and almost tipped the bike over. He trapped the side of the left hand case under his bumper and I was holding the bike up on my right leg when he got out to see why I wasn't pulling forward to let him go - he moved quickly to reverse when he saw why - bumped into the guy behind him - but the only consequence was a bit of paint off the colour co-ordinated bumper on the case. I did manage to take some colour off the inside by chuckling four brass padlocks into an empty case and letting them rattle around for a few weeks...
b) That awful looking exhaust extension pipe. any running issues?
None at all. Worried me a bit before I bought it but since I put it on I haven't had a problem. I did notice that it wasn't properly seated last time I took the cases off but a bit of judiciously applied BFI put it back in place.
A couple of weeks ago I took off the ADV topbox permanently and replaced it with a Touratech rack extension as the cases do everything I need and the topbox wasn't worth the effort.
What would I change?
Get the "adventure" version mounts - the cases can be a bugger to put on and off as you have to hold the case while putting in a couple of bolts. Having a little lip will make that easier. I keep meaning to get in touch with Civil to ask how much a set would cost to replace my standard ones.
I've got domed lids, they all appear to be flat now. Much better. I stuck a couple of anti-skid tiles on the top of each of mine to make luggage a bit more secure. I also added a spare tie down point to the front and back of the lids (I bought the high price Touratech versions because I have more money than sense) to give a six point tie down. There was lots of space in the lids to do that.
You need to shorten the indicators and they do become less visible outside a 45 degree angle behind you - because I'm in town and on busy A-roads a lot I stuck on a couple of LED repeaters which meant drilling holes in the boxes. A couple of grommits and epoxy resin means no leaks, even at motorway speeds in heavy rain. I got a pointer from a post on here - search, if my memory serves me, for "Kisan Signal Minder" to see Fanum's posh solution and a less posh option which I took.
Touratech bags for their 41/43 litre cases fit very nicely into the boxes with a bit of spare space if you don't want to use Civil's shopping bags. On a similar thread I can carry half a dozen carrier bags of shopping in each case when the need arises.
I did a John O'Groats and back round trip with them on and a load of camping gear on top last year. Pissed on us a lot of the time but not a problem in three days 1500 miles. Here we are on the way back.
I'd buy them again.
