At a very beginning, i had no idea what’s best for me or what I’ll pack for my trip so i thought it would be a bit pointless to spend a bunch of cash for normal motorcycle saddlebags, so i went the cheapest route possible and picked up old, made from canvas, military motorcycle saddlebags!
The fact that canvas saddle bags are not waterproof didn’t bother me at all as most stuff can be packed into separate waterproof bags or even bin bags if going even cheaper way.
Once I received the package with the saddlebags, i was quite surprised. Material looked very strong, a bunch of straps to fit the bags on the bike, and even more straps to squash the content to the minimum. At that time i had pannier racks on my bike that helped a lot to keep my old/new bags in place, and to be honest, i can’t imagine hanging them on the bike without some sort of support.
Before the trip i sprayed the bags with water repellent, that I think helped a bit, as after the first 2 days of nonstop rain, bags held just fine, and most of the stuff was dry too.
However, there was one thing I did not like about them at all – the number of the straps… yes, there were plenty of them to keep bags secure, but the buckles were super painful to undo, and so packing and unpacking was a bit pain in the rear end, honestly…. After first few days I was already day dreaming about me riding instead of un-doing silly buckles…Oh and I was never beating myself so hard before for forgetting to put something in the pannier….
Overall, well… those bags were military grade, so yes, maybe not made for comfort but made to last – and so they did!
If I had to use them again, I would probably fit a heatshield to protect from the exhaust, definitely would rub them with wax or something to protect from moisture (and possibly rot) and for the ease of use I would swap old buckles with some quick release buckles…
…other than that – good stuff!
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