Basics of Motorcycle Luggage

Today we are going to talk about motorcycle luggage.

When it comes to motorcycle luggage you got luggage from the front fork bag to the tank bag to the seat bag to the saddle bag and probably the most traditional or common type of luggage on a cruiser type motorcycle is going to be a saddle bag. It comes from the old days when they threw saddle bags over horses and now today with our iron horses there are many many options as to what you can do with the saddle bag, you got hard and soft, locking and unlocking, you got bolt-on verses quick release. We have fabric verses leather or synthetic leather.

When it comes to saddle bags there are a couple of key points that we are going to look at. We are going to talk about the mounting of the saddle bag and how to make that work. It depends on how much money you want to spend and what kind of bike you have and also what kind of luggage you are going to put on. The simple throw over zip-on to the built in brackets that can lock-on and are easy to take on and off, and you might think about liners for luggage that is not detachable. In any saddle bag you can have liners, like the easy liner you can pack the luggage inside the liner get to where you are going open the saddle bag and walk it right into your hotel room. This is a great way to keep multiple items concealed in one place so that it is easy to get access to. It’s really a problem to physically remove everything from your saddle bag and to carry it up to your room especially if they put you on the second floor.

When it comes to the saddle bags some sort of security is always a question what we get from our customers and members when we talk about security we talk about two things. Number one: removability from the motorcycle, so with a zip on the saddle bag how easy or difficult it is for a thief or for somebody who has mal intention to zip a saddle bag off and run with it. Second type of security, we often get questions about is, is a saddle bag lockable? For example, some particular saddle bags lock onto the motorcycle with easy brackets and the saddle bags themselves on the back have a locking mechanism as well. The hard locking saddle bag is going to be the safest method to carry your goods if you are looking for a bag that has got a lock both for your contents inside of it and it to the motorcycle.

Another question asked is if the manufacturers generally make the same key for the latch on the bag and the latch that holds on to the bike? Usually easy bracket has its own key and the saddle bag manufacturers have a secondary key in order to lock your valuables inside the bag. Now the throw over the saddle bag come with a quick release buckle that allows locking with a plastic key. This really is a neat function in order to keep somebody from walking up and opening your buckles. But since it is a soft bag he could take a knife cut the top and take your contents anyway. So when it comes to security make sure that you get the type of locking mechanisms that are secure enough to meet the security you are looking for.

So saddle bags are the most common luggage that most people put on their motorcycles. Now if you don’t care for saddle bags and you don’t want to go through the hassle of brackets and throw-overs and bolt-ons you can always go for some sort of back seat bag or sissy bar bag. Not all saddle bags are going to be perfect for everybody actually sometimes you might not need or might need one or two sets, for example on my 690 I have hard luggage generally for camping and stuff like going out with wife and things like that but when I go off road they are a little bulky so I have a soft luggage which stays across the back secure and is a lot lighter. If you are running a sissy bar or something of that nature, the pro bag is a great option too. This simply slit slips over the back of your sissy bar and is held on with just a couple of straps, a great way to carry a minimal amount of goods. You can put a pair of gloves in here may be a jacket liner, six pack of bear. Another popular bag among the bikers is the front fork pouch, now back in the easy rider days they had to put in their tools in here because bikes were notorious for losing power to breaking down and this was really necessary but today a lot of the folks out there are using this to store gloves and wallets and things of that nature.

So if you have any questions about motorcycle saddlebags or sissy bar bags or any type of motorcycle luggage and options that you are considering go ahead and use the comment and we will respond to you with our most appropriate answer