We were so happy with the Ventura Rack system we dedicated an entire page to its performance. Its similar to the ZenRail (Except you can still buy them) in that they are a hard mounting system designed to hold soft luggage up and away from the bike bodywork. One of the great things is that the Ventura stows the luggage over the back seat or behind the back seat (in order to accommodate a passenger). This makes good sense in a world of high-mount exhaust systems and easily scratchable paint. Users of the Ventura system just need to try to keep heavier luggage items within the MSF load triangle for optimum safety. For more information, simply click on over to the full Ventura Rack Review
Go straight to the source and view Ventura Bike products at cycleventure.com/
Part of the "Adventure Touring" allure is certainly the variety of cool stuff that you can bolt on to these bikes. If you've seen "Long Way Round," you're probably familiar with these aluminum boxes that look like they belong bolted to the side of an artillery piece more so than a motorcycle. They are the essence of utilitarian. Rectangular, with unhinged lids, they clamp on to a sturdy metal tube frame with steel "tongues" and are tougher than Chuck Norris. At a rural campsite in Southern Utah, you may find a boulder with a nice gouge in it from a run in with these panniers. The corner of the box barely shows a mark. With the Zega Bag liners, you can pack your luggage in the hotel room or tent and carry the box shaped bags to the bike and drop them right in. In the evening, they double as highly useful (if not all together thermodynamically efficient) coolers, holding a case or more of your favorite beverage on ice. With a bottle opener tied to the mounting frame you will be a hero. The lids sport four tie-down brackets each. Strapping down sleeping pads, camp chairs, bungee nets, dogs, cats and lightweight hitchhikers is a breeze and gives you a luggage platform that will have you carrying more stuff that you could possibly need on a motorcycle trip. Crank up that preload! Add an Ortlieb dry bag (also available from Touratech) and your sleeping bag and tent will stay bone dry in a downpour. With all this storage space, and rugged usability you won't mind that you look like a flying fry cooker on the road. This setup is a stellar product. It will haul your stuff around the world, and it will haul the groceries back from the market. And it really does look cool on film.
Touratech has a groovy website at, creatively enough, Touratech-USA.com
They are big, black and hard. Givi offeres hard luggage kits for a myriad of bikes, but seems to leave a larger portion of sportier bikes off their list. Just as one would assume they require bike specific mounting hardware that cannot easily be modified for other bikes. So just like trying to get into your favorite night club, you can only hope that you are on “the list”. We’ve been around two versions of these bags. The E45 Monokey, a black, textured plastic clamshell design and the fancier and much larger E52. The clamshell is much more utilitarian, both in appearance and function, while the larger E52 is color matched and has a more convenient top access door allowing you to reach in for small items without having to open the clamshell and spill your dainties all over the parking lot. The simple black plastic finish also dirties up quickly and is difficult to clean. The biggest upside to the Givi hard luggage is the lockability. You can lock them to the bike, and you can lock them closed protecting valuables and your helmet when its not on your head. The biggest downside of the Givi’s is that they are not near as flexible as other options. The Touratech’s have the option of strapping stuff on top, the Givi’s do not. Eric had to retrofit an ATV bag to one just to give Dawn the ability to stow commonly used items within reach. Another big problem with the Givi’s, and hardbags in general, is that you cannot pack in “Just one more item”. Softbags will expand and stretch just a bit more, while the Givi’s will pop the piano hinge or clasp if over filled.
In the same vein as Touratech, Givi can be found at GiviUsa.com
It's quite hard to beat soft luggage for versatility and affordability. This setup from Nelson Rigg offers roomy saddlebags with exterior side pockets and a tail bag with a center compartment and 3 expandable pockets for keeping your stuff organized and at hand. The saddlebags mount securely via 4 adjustable straps, while the tailbag can trade out its own mounting hardware for clips that allow it to attach directly to the saddlebags. With this setup, a couple of buckle clicks and you have a 3 bag luggage system that you can carry with one handle. While the tailbag comes with a raincover for those drippy days on the road, the saddlebags use a bag liner system. Pack your unmentionables in these waterproof drybags and stuff the liners into the saddle bags. They make packing easy and keep the rain out. Solutions for the outside pockets aren't as clever. With the porous nylon construction of these bags, water will go where it wants and even with a cover on the tailbag, you'll be well served to put water sensitive items in solid zip lock type baggies. One of the more clever features of the saddlebags are mesh bottle holders on the forward facing panels of each bag. Enough to hold bottles the diameter of a 12 oz can or so, you can keep your sport drink, water or if safely at your destination and just going from the campsite office to your cabin, a beer handy. Like most soft-bags there is some “heat resistant” material on the bottom of the bags that should never come in contact with the exhaust pipe, but does give some piece of mind. Of course, with soft bags you need to be mindful of things like hot exhaust, friction points on paint, persistent precipitation and the like, but soft luggage is a great way to make sure your necessities arrive with you when you're miles from home...and this Nelson Rigg setup will take your skivvies to Saskatchewan and back in style.
Nelson Riggs products, along with information about their limited lifetime warranty can be viewed in more detail at NelsonRigg.com
Being such fans of soft luggage, and an even bigger fan of the saddlebag/top-bag system we were quickly drawn to the Cortech Tri-Bag powerhouse. Two systems were purchased in 2000 and are still in use seven years later! The top bag attaches securely to the saddlebags, but can be removed when not needed. The rain-covers threw us for a loop for longer than we care to admit; the “covers” are supposed to go inside the bags, not on the outside. Who knew? The bags do a good job of keeping water out even without the rain covers installed, so no need to fret when you’re riding through a brief sprinkle. The neoprene protective pads that come in direct contact with the paint have done a great job of keeping the shiny colors a shiny color, but care must be made to ensure the surface is clean before throwing the bags on the bike. The neoprene will collect dirt over the course of a days riding requiring a little bit of extra attention if you want to keep you paint nice. Additionally, if the four mounting straps are overly tight, it will deform the saddlebags causing the neoprene to slip out from underneath the bags allowing harsh nylon ribs to rub directly on the bodywork. The heat resistant panels on the bottom of the bags appear to be thicker and more robust than average, but it doesn’t appear that they were intended to rest on hot mufflers. We did had one set of bags come to an early demise through no fault of its own after fitting them to the Ducati Monster for 3000 miles. Because the Monster has no real tail section to speak of, the bags ended up flopping around and rubbing on the rear tire. Overall, however, these have been our favorite soft luggage system we've tried yet!
Find out more about Tourmasters Cortech line of products at tourmaster.com
One thing that drew us to Oxford was their unconditional lifetime guarantee. We immediately asked “Is that for real?” We were informed by our dealer that indeed it is, and that Oxford had replaced other customer’s luggage without question. Cool. Upon initial inspection the bags are extremely heavy and solidly constructed. They are the only saddlebags we’ve used that are expandable, expanding to a full 55 liters of usable storage, enough potential capacity to exceed the bikes load limits. The backing material to protect the paint is a neoprene mesh not attached to the saddlebags and intended to be draped over the bodywork. The myriad of attaching straps are extremely robust, but are complex enough that it took us several tries to find the best way to mount the bags to the bike without risking damage to the finish. Unfortunately, the saddlebags lack the option to affix a third top bag, which we feel to be their largest detriment. One of the features we really like about the bags, however, is the easy access top opening. A firm panel with zippers on either end allows easy one-handed access, and makes it a lot easier to fill the bags to capacity than the traditional single zipper systems. Another nice feature that seems exclusive to Oxford is the inclusion of several additional straps, allowing the user to turn them into makeshift carrying totes. This makes it easier to haul the bags to and from the hotel room or campsite for when you can’t take the bike with you to your sleeping spot. The heat resistant panels on the bottoms of the bag are a subtle black color, as opposed to the more traditional silver shade, but looks to be the least heat resistant of any bag we’ve used.
Not to be confused with Oxford University, Oxford Products can be seen at oxprod.co.uk
These are the best Sport Touring accessory that you can’t buy. They came out in the early 2000’s and never caught on, much to our chagrin. So brilliant is the design that Mike devised two home-made versions with the same intention, but they weren’t near as pretty. Used sets can be found occasionally, and diligence can sometimes find aging overstocks still floating about and available for purchase. Basically, these finely crafted polished metal bars bolt up to the passenger peg mounts on the subframe and provide a resting place for soft luggage, relocating the bags a good one to two inches away from the plastic tail section of the bike. Large black panels bolt to the metal bars and provide a secure resting spot for the bags and more anchor points for additional straps for that added security. This product works so well that it makes any soft luggage you happen to have more stable than the hard-luggage that comes with many bikes. During a high-speed testing run between a Honda ST1100 and an FZ-1, it was noted that the ZenRails and Soft luggage moved around far less than the Honda’s OEM hard-bags. Whats really nice about the Zens is that they can be removed with only a few bolts, but are so well crafted that they look just fine on the bike even when they are not being used. We don’t think Dale has removed his ZenRails from his Yamaha in five years. We only wish the company was still around producing these things.
Sadly, there is no ZenRails websits. But we have these two photos to make it easier to understand. Zenrail-01 and Zenrail-02
This just in! The manufacturer of Zen-Rails saw this page and contacted us. If you would be interested in a pair of these, let us know. They only have a limited stock left, but they are offering them to us for a very discounted price. Send dave an email for more information.
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