Ride Safe

To start off I would like to emphasize that it is important to make sure that ANY luggage rack that you install on your motorcycle is manufactured specifically for your motorcycle. There are a couple of useful bits of luggage that go behind you. For longer trips there are backpack like bags that slip over a backrest and have nylon straps and buckles to hold them to the motorcycle. As an example T-bag puts out a Universal soft bag (www.tbags.com). This was the foundation of their business. There are a few others out there that put out a similar design. These are made of heavy nylon and are water resistant. I usually pack a heavy lawn (debris) bag in there first to make sure things don’t get wet in driving rain. I have packed a weeks of clothing for 2 in this bag. For 2 up riding it is mounted behind the backrest on the luggage rack. For one up riding it can be mounted on the passenger seat and used for a rider backrest.
There is another “trunk” out there. It is a tube shape and can be purchased in soft side or hard side. I found a soft side for less than $50 at a rally last year. They usually have hook and loop straps or buckles with nylon straps to keep them on the motorcycle.
While searching around for different kind of luggage for my Buell American Sport Motorcycle I found a trunk in a hard side, called Lazy Rider (www.hsgear.biz/ProductInfo~productid~LAZYRIDER.html). It is made out of a fiberglass/rubberized tubing covered in a leather like material. They sell it with a lumbar pad, so it is intended to be used a backrest, as well. While looking at these I also found instructions to build your own from a Rubbermaid cooler. While I was just messing around the search engines (Google,Yahoo,MSN live) I found all sorts of cool luggage. Always make sure that whatever you put on your motorcycle fits (size and weight) and is firmly attached. Tomorrow a bit about tank and tail bags.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS