Updated Report
OK, so how have the panniers performed on tour?
850 miles in a glorious weekend with Bill Roughton of Bike Tours UK. Peak District, Yorkshire Dales and Lake District in 3 days. Bill runs a fantastic tour, and a lifetimes experience of the areas involved means that he know some really quiet roads, and some great places to ride.
Have to say that the report is mixed. I love the capacity. The fact that I can finally not worry about whether or not I can fit that extra jumper in, or whether SWMBO can pack a standard washbag, or will have to decant what seems like 30 or 40 seperate lotions and potions in to smaller vessels to be able to be accomodated.
The panniers fixings went straight on to the bike - sure they needed a little teasing to get everything to lineup exactly, but more just logic than brute force and ignorance.
The panniers attach first time and lock on in a way that feels secure. I've always got concerns about the security of any panniers, and so would be reluctant to leave anything in any panniers for any length of time. However the ability to remove then quickly and easily make this disappear as an issue.
MAIN CRITICISM - FAT ASS!!! We had to travel through Bradford to transition between the Peaks and the Dales, and this was deeply unpleasant. When you're trying to keep up with a selection of narrower bikes - mostly Triumphs and a spattering of sports bikes - when you feel about 5 feet wide makes filtering on the motorway a real stressful experience. If however I was touring alone I would have taken a longer route, and avoided the whole thing, so not a major issue.
The handling seemed largely unaffected. I spent some time preparing in advance, setting up the suspension to accomodate the additional weight - thanks to all those on this forum who provided advice - to see what I've done look here -
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71857
I also took a quick trip to Devon just to test out the setup. In high wind on the M5 it felt deeply unpleasant - but I find motorways deeply unpleasant at the best of times so maybe that's not the most objective of comments.
I'm really not convinced of their strength in the event of dropping the bike, but I like to try and avoid this wherever possible anyway.
I still believe they're superior to the OE kit. Anyone who prefers form over function then OE is probably for you - anyone who prefers looking at their bike rather than riding it will certainly prefer the OE kit, but I'm not one of those.
Nutter - Have to say that the reason I ruled out the OE luggage was because I'd tried loading my lid at the dealer, and just thought they where shit. I don't think the quality of construction holds up to the price. Lending would certainly be an option, but I'd really not want to remove the whole mounting kit so you'd have to source that.
So, I'm generally happy with the setup, but even more convinced to stay away from cities and motorways as much as possible.
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