So I had been toying with the idea of getting another bike for 1 or 2 day trips. I visit my son in CO, and I'm moving to TN or NC next summer. So I wanted something like a 1200GS, 800GS, or Tiger that I could explore the dirt and canyon roads in those areas. Cant really do that on my Harley. But now I'm thinking if I add some side bags to my Terra, it will work just about as good. I have a tail box already. Now, I know nothing about how I would go about this. Do I need racks and bags from the same company? I'm thinking soft bags because of the cost, and also in case the bike goes over. Any info is appreciated. Better yet, if anyone is selling a used setup.
You have 3 options. Buy Luggage Racks to use with Hard Panniers SW Motech Happy Trails Moose Racing If you want to carry hard panniers then you have to have luggage racks. Hard luggage is the most expensive option. While there are many adapter kits so that a brand of rack can carry a different brand of pannier. It is less of a headache to stick with one brand for both rack and hard pannier. As an example if you buy sw motech racks, it will be easiest to buy sw motech boxes. If you like a different brand hard pannier and are willing to spend the time and effort you can mount any box to any rack. It's all about how much effort you want to put into it. Hard panniers are easy to load, usually easy to remove from the bike, usually waterproof, and do a good job protecting their contents. There are safety concerns off road due to trapped legs, they generally take more damage when the bike falls on them compared to soft luggage, and they can be heavier than soft luggage. Buy Luggage Racks to use with Soft Panniers Wolfman Luggage Mosko Moto If you want to carry most soft panniers then you have to have luggage racks. Soft Pannier/racks is probably the medium expense option. Soft luggage cost less but there are many options to choose from. The above list is only an example of what you can find. With a luggage rack almost all soft panniers are universal in their mounting to the racks. Wolfman and mosko even have videos to show you how it is done on youtube if you search for it. Soft panniers are lighter, easy to annoying to load, easy to annoying to remove from the bike, come in waterproof or non-waterproof options, and protect their contents from abrasion damage, but not impact damage like a hard pannier. Soft panniers are generally considered safer than hard panniers offroad. They are generally very durable and can take some serious off road abuse and are lightweight except for the weight of the luggage rack they are attached to. Buy soft luggage that doesn't need racks Giant Loop Altrider Hemisphere Mosko Moto (Reckless 80 or Reckless 40) This option allows you to skip the racks and go with a larger bag that is attached to the frame and tail rack of the bike. This is a price and weight benefit being generally the lowest cost and lowest weight option. It shares a lot of similarities with the soft panniers above but the trade off is in how the bags pack and annoyance of installation and removal from the bike. Some designs have features incorporated to overcome these issues like the altrider hemisphere or the mosko moto bags. Each type of system has tons of pros and cons, and there are tons of opinions about that all over advrider and here. I would just google about some of the particular products that interest you with a "vs" added after it and start reading. For what it is worth, my Terra has BRMoto (no longer made) luggage racks and I use Wolfman expedition soft panniers. I don't own hard panniers but if I ever decide I want them I will figure out how to mount them to my current racks. I like options and I feel that the racks give me the most options possible. I have multiple types of soft bags depending on the riding I do and just swap them before I ride. If I don't need any bags the racks provide another "crash bar".
Rook, thank you for that most informative post, it is just the info I was looking for. The winter is starting here in CT so I will probably start looking for a used set-up. When I did that before I never knew what I was looking at. And I agree with you about the rack being extra crash protection. Tom
FWIW Touratech also make a rack. And other brands with options for soft panniers are Kriega OS 32 - https://kriega.com/adventure/os-32 Adventure Spec Magadan - https://www.adventure-spec.com/default/adventure-spec-magadan-panniers-mk2-10745.html Enduristan Monsoon - https://www.enduristan.us/panniers-and-saddlebags/enduristan-monsoon-3-soft-panniers Bumot Xtremada - http://shop.bumot.eu/en/catalog/cid/69.html Motonaut - https://motonaut.com/
Tomboyjr- No problem, glad I could help. duibhcek- great info on the other bag options. Is the tourattech rack still available? I looked for it to link to before i posted but couldn't find it.
Although I don't think they have any international resellers, Andy Strapz in Australia make tough canvas panniers and lightweight pannier racks which fit the Terra. (The racks are light because they don't bear the weight of the panniers, the straps over the seat do that, they just keep the panniers sitting away from the bodywork and stop them from sagging. They're not cheap, but the quality is excellent. At the current exchange rate, shipped to the USA you'd probably be looking at around $US625. I have his racks on both my bikes and a set of panniers that i swap from bike to bike depending on which one i'm riding. www.andystrapz.com.au
That's a warning because the website owner has misconfigured their security certificates. "This server could not prove that it is www.andystrapz.com.au; its security certificate is from www.andystrapz.com. This may be caused by a misconfiguration or an attacker intercepting your connection." You can click advanced and then proceed to the .com.au domain but that redirects you to the .com domain so try that instead. www.andystrapz.com
I didn't look before I posted Indeed, they don't seem to sell them anymore. But it's a nice and decent luggage rack. Works well on my wife's bike. I run the SW Motech one on my bike as I had their Trax panniers lying around from previous bikes and wanted the option of using those. In the end I never did, used the soft panniers all the time.
