Wilsons Sandbox

Whitehorse press is having a sale on aluminum panniers. Check them out at www.WhitehorsePress.com No affiliation yada yada Eric Mercer Ukiah, CA _________________________________________________________________ Get MSN 8 and help protect your children with advanced parental controls. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/parental

At 10:33 AM 5/26/04 -0600, Randy Phillips wrote:

>Has anyone purchased some panniers that you are really impressed with?

I really like the GIVI bags. Course I switch them between the VFR & KLR, so they do double duty! Great bags! Ride safe, Don Kime - VFR750F, GL1500SE, GL1100, KLR 650 OH - M/C Safety Instructor/RiderCoach dkime@... http://forums.delphiforums.com/MCTourer/

On Wed, 26 May 2004, Randy Phillips wrote:

> I've been looking at the Happy Trails panniers - extremely > well made.... I am leaning that direction.

I would strongly suggest getting the plastic paniers rather than the metal ones. The metal ones look stronger to the unwashed, but in actuality plastic top and side boxes like the Givis will take far more abuse before giving up the ghost. The usual failure mode for the metal panniers is that they take a big blow to one of the panels (such as might happen in a fall), and the seams split and the whole thing fails. At the very least you end up with a big dent that doesn't come out (metal stretches when bashed, that's why body shops use big shrinking hammers and Bondo to handle dents, but metal paniers aren't a good application for this). The plastic luggage, on the other hand, not only is more streamlined and lighter (helps gas mileage and handling), but they rebound from most abuse with little more than scuff marks. My Givis have taken so much abuse that they look slightly hairy from all the times they've taken falls or rolled around on the pavement after I dropped them while trying to remove them (whoops!), but I expect them to outlast my KLR, like they outlasted the KLR before me (I got them used). -E

You may want to search the group for previous discussions on this topic. I've had Givis on my KLR as well as Touratech Zega aluminum panniers. The Zega panniers were far superior for my purposes, chiefly because they're top-loading, which makes them *much* easier to fill with groceries and miscellaneous other crap. Their shape also makes it easier to use the full volume of each pannier, since you can just pile stuff in until the pannier is full, which is something you can't do with the Givis (and other similar side-opening luggage). If you're planning on carrying mostly clothes and packing in motels or at home, then Givis are clearly superior, since they're easy to take off without unpacking. I think Givis may be a bit more robust than aluminum panniers, though it's a close call. I like that the plastic luggage tends to jump off the side racks in a crash, usually keeping all the mount points intact. Then again, a tipover and a low-speed (say 20mph) off-road fall didn't even dent my Zega panniers, even though in the off-road fall my bike more-or-less flipped and landed on a pannier hard enough that the rack needed straightening. I once also tagged a curb with a Givi box while going 5-10 mph and knocked a chunk out of the box. If I were buying panniers again, I might try the Hepco-Becker Gobi bags (can be bought from [url=http://adventurersworkshop.com;]http://adventurersworkshop.com;[/url] I've had good experiences with them). The Gobi bags should have most of the good qualities of both plastic luggage and top-loading panniers. -Lujo

> I would strongly suggest getting the plastic paniers rather than the metal > ones. The metal ones look stronger to the unwashed, but in actuality > plastic top and side boxes like the Givis will take far more abuse before > giving up the ghost. The usual failure mode for the metal panniers is that > they take a big blow to one of the panels (such as might happen in a > fall), and the seams split and the whole thing fails. At the very least > you end up with a big dent that doesn't come out (metal stretches when > bashed, that's why body shops use big shrinking hammers and Bondo to > handle dents, but metal paniers aren't a good application for this). > > The plastic luggage, on the other hand, not only is more streamlined and > lighter (helps gas mileage and handling), but they rebound from most abuse > with little more than scuff marks. My Givis have taken so much abuse that > they look slightly hairy from all the times they've taken falls or rolled > around on the pavement after I dropped them while trying to remove them > (whoops!), but I expect them to outlast my KLR, like they outlasted the > KLR before me (I got them used). > > -E

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Those Gobi bags look ideal, but man, does anyone know, is that $550 for a pair or for one bag?

On Wed, May 26, 2004 at 02:22:10PM -0400, Lujo Bauer wrote: > If I were buying panniers again, I might try the Hepco-Becker Gobi bags > (can be bought from [url=http://adventurersworkshop.com;]http://adventurersworkshop.com;[/url] I've had good > experiences with them). The Gobi bags should have most of the good > qualities of both plastic luggage and top-loading panniers. > > -Lujo -- ___ ______ _____ __ ________ ___ / _ |< < / == / ___/__ / /_ /_ __/ / __ ____ _ ___ /__ \ / __ |/ // / ****/ (_ / _ \/ __/ / / / _ \/ // / ' \/ _ \ /__/ /_/ |_/_//_/ == \___/\___/\__/ /_/ /_//_/\_,_/_/_/_/ .__/ (_) 8600 miles*Russel Lines*Supertrapp Race* /_/ http://www.kingsqueak.org/klr650/

Pair. Which isn't to say that they should cost more than $50 each. -Lujo Chris wrote:

> Those Gobi bags look ideal, but man, does anyone know, is that $550 > for a pair or for one bag?

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If you want to go the primo route the answer is: jesse bags for quality and carrying capacity but at a price..but you wont have to replace. www.jesseluggage,com --- In DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, "Randy Phillips" wrote:

> I need to purchase a nice set of panniers for work/travel. > > I know there are "many" options. Has anyone purchased some > panniers that you are really impressed with? > > I've been looking at the Happy Trails panniers - extremely > well made.... I am leaning that direction. > > All comments are greatly appreciated. > > Thanks! > Randy > A17 - Idaho > > :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: > > Randy Phillips > Technology Specialist > > Logical Systems, Inc. > 208.321.2626 PHONE > 208.321.2626 FAX > randy@l... > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, "Eric L. Green" wrote:

> On Wed, 26 May 2004, Randy Phillips wrote: > > I've been looking at the Happy Trails panniers - extremely > > well made.... I am leaning that direction. > > I would strongly suggest getting the plastic paniers rather than the metal > ones. The metal ones look stronger to the unwashed, but in actuality > plastic top and side boxes like the Givis will take far more abuse before > giving up the ghost. The usual failure mode for the metal panniers is that > they take a big blow to one of the panels (such as might happen in a > fall), and the seams split and the whole thing fails. At the very least > you end up with a big dent that doesn't come out (metal stretches when > bashed, that's why body shops use big shrinking hammers and Bondo to > handle dents, but metal paniers aren't a good application for this). > > The plastic luggage, on the other hand, not only is more streamlined and > lighter (helps gas mileage and handling), but they rebound from most

abuse

> with little more than scuff marks. My Givis have taken so much abuse that > they look slightly hairy from all the times they've taken falls or rolled > around on the pavement after I dropped them while trying to remove them > (whoops!), but I expect them to outlast my KLR, like they outlasted the > KLR before me (I got them used).

A qualified ditto on the Givis. The E21s are tough as hell. If you land on one it will deform enough to pop the lid open, then regain its original shape when you get the bike off it. They are large enough to be useful, but small enough to discourage overloading. For road use I think they are great. Off road, however, the bags have jumped off the rack a couple of times on bumpy trails. Some kind of retaining strap is in order, not a novel concept if you have ever used Krauser bags.