Product- Tough Tail Pack-Bag

[Phoenix]

I discovered you can spend forever looking at tail packs to fit on a rear motorcycle carrier. They come in all sizes, shapes and all sorts of material. Some are stupidly expensive - paying for the brand name - and some are of dubious origin. It’s hard to trust the reviews one reads. I decided to take the plunge and go for something different - a tool bag! First I Measured the width of the mirrors and the length of the rack. I didn’t want one sticking out too far when filtering. A cartoon image came to mind of me being thrown off or stuck between two vehicles - lol.

I thought out of the box and eventually found this tool bag at a relatively cheap price. It is really well made and waterproof and hold lots of things. The bonus is it has a hard base. A few screw holes and clamps and it is strongly secured. Alternatively one could use straps.

I must have saved myself at least £100 + on the designer gear.

Old school it may be but it does the job and it has a lifetime guarantee! Mine cost £20.00

https://www.silverlinetools.com/en-GB/P ... ame=263598

Keep Safe & Be Kind

[Cousin Jack]

I am surprised it is waterproof, but I'm another fan of cheap non-motorcycle luggage. Twenty five years ago we did a long road trip in the USA, ending in San Francisco with a bit more gear than we started out with. Bought a cheap bag, designed for packing on mules, with attachments for straps etc and waterproof

Basic spec for purchase was about 30 litres, cheap as possible, and strong enough to survive one trip home.

Still using it on the bike, it has done 5 long trips in Europe and still going strong.

[Phoenix]

Nice to know there’s another fan of make do and mend. What I like about this is the solid base. It doesn’t flex. Also handy for carrying tools and whatever about the house.

I always use a large plastic bag as a liner just in case. I once had a BMW with factory fitted top box that leaked like I don’t know what.

[G.P]

It doesn't seem to say its waterproof and with that many pockets, there's lots of potential points of failure. seems pretty durable though so hopefully you'll get good use from it.
I've got a Givi Top box that I''ve used for around 10 years, it takes 2 FF helmets, its lockable and totally waterproof. Not withstanding accidents that would potentially kill off any luggage, I reckon its easily got another 10 years in it. I paid over £200 for it and I consider it owes me nothing.
Different strokes...

[The Spin Doctor]

It doesn't seem to say its waterproof and with that many pockets, there's lots of potential points of failure. seems pretty durable though so hopefully you'll get good use from it.
I've got a Givi Top box that I''ve used for around 10 years, it takes 2 FF helmets, its lockable and totally waterproof. Not withstanding accidents that would potentially kill off any luggage, I reckon its easily got another 10 years in it. I paid over £200 for it and I consider it owes me nothing.
Different strokes...

How much have you had to pay for bike specific fitting kits when you swap it from bike to bike? With two bikes in regular training use, I'd need to fitting kits and two racks - and they're not cheap! That's what always catches my eye.

I got hold of one of these...

Photo_111311_001.jpg (312.32 KiB) Viewed 662 times

£40, it takes a couple of minutes to fit it to whichever bike I'm riding or to remove it completely if I'm two-up. It must be at least 15 years old now, and I've replaced the two straps that secure it to the bike - that cost me a fiver on eBay.

[Rockburner]

I discovered you can spend forever looking at tail packs to fit on a rear motorcycle carrier. They come in all sizes, shapes and all sorts of material. Some are stupidly expensive - paying for the brand name - and some are of dubious origin. It’s hard to trust the reviews one reads. I decided to take the plunge and go for something different - a tool bag! First I Measured the width of the mirrors and the length of the rack. I didn’t want one sticking out too far when filtering. A cartoon image came to mind of me being thrown off or stuck between two vehicles - lol.

I thought out of the box and eventually found this tool bag at a relatively cheap price. It is really well made and waterproof and hold lots of things. The bonus is it has a hard base. A few screw holes and clamps and it is strongly secured. Alternatively one could use straps.

I must have saved myself at least £100 + on the designer gear.

Old school it may be but it does the job and it has a lifetime guarantee! Mine cost £20.00

https://www.silverlinetools.com/en-GB/P ... ame=263598

Keep Safe & Be Kind

Link has stopped working (some issue at their end).

I agree that bike-specific kit can sometimes be way over priced for what you get, but depending on how and what you source, it can be worth it. Sometimes it is actually designed with biking in mind, where non biking stuff isn't.

I bought a topbox from Viffer for (IIRC) a tenner, when he was still on VD, an older E45 Givi: it was old and knackered then. I never had a key for it, but felt quite safe leaving non-valuable stuff in it, even in London because it looked so battered.



Bolted it down to the BMW OE tail rack and it was there for over 10 years, never leaked, survived a couple of minor tip overs and I only replaced it last year (with another of exactly the same vintage, for about £40), because I wanted to get a lock and key for it and ended up needing to buy a complete box because the locks aren't available. (I only need a lock for it because it's not just my stuff I'm leaving in it now).

(Don't seem to have many pics of the box itself, just how I mounted it.)



If you want the latest and greatest you'll always pay full whack, that's life, but you don't always need the latest and greatest.

[G.P]

How much have you had to pay for bike specific fitting kits when you swap it from bike to bike? With two bikes in regular training use, I'd need to fitting kits and two racks - and they're not cheap! That's what always catches my eye.

I got hold of one of these... Photo_111311_001.jpg £40, it takes a couple of minutes to fit it to whichever bike I'm riding or to remove it completely if I'm two-up. It must be at least 15 years old now, and I've replaced the two straps that secure it to the bike - that cost me a fiver on eBay.
[/quote]

I already had a Givi compatible rack on a VFR800 I bought and then bought a rack for the Triumph in the pick, it was an ally plate to put through the std Triumph plastic rack. think it was around £60. it also fits on the rrack on my sons bike which isn't givi, I think the securing mechansim is more generic.

[Yorick]

I just strap any old bag to the rack. Doesn't need to be waterproof here

[wheelnut]

As someone who’s s goes camping on a bike a lot, I’ve always beeen a fan of roll top dry bags. Marine bags seem to offer the best value and I tend to go for Lomo kit, fastened to the bike with Rok straps.

[Bigyin]

I have used an assortment of bags as well as hard luggage and my last recent purchase was my best with an Aquapac roll top bag i got at a large discount from a former VD member who has a lot to do with the company. Bungees onto the rear seat and is 100% waterproof. It takes my tent, sleeping bag and sleeping mat plus a few other bits and doesnt stick out past my top box width.

It unfortunately was also on the bike when i lobbed my first Multistrada at 75-80 ish mph and bounced down the road as the bungees snapped but the bag survived that intact unlike the top box which ripped the lid off and spilled the contents all over the dual carriageway

This the same bag on the replacement bike

[Dodgy69]

A picture of good times. Hope they return soon.