Long term tests: Prepping the R1250GS for adventure, plus CBR650R gets protected
Should you go hard or soft for your luggage-hauling?
With the rampant rise of adventure bike popularity over the last 15 years, there’s also been an explosion of accessory businesses seeking to serve every whim and stylistic predilection for your serious, or magpielike, overlander.
One of the biggest debates we see raging is between the relative merits of hard or soft for fitted luggage. The style that has become the go-to solution mirrors the iconic look of Charley and Ewan’s Long Way Round GSs (p34), a full three-piece suite of aluminium panniers and top-box that make your bike look like you’ve accidentally reversed into a box factory whilst covered in glue.
But there is another way. The increasing wisdom from those who actually ride off into the wilds and consider tarmac’s only value as the conduit between stretches of unpaved nirvana, is that unforgiving metal luggage is a recipe for disaster.
The result is a burgeoning number of soft options. Lead amongst them for anyone who considers themselves a luggage lover is probably Kriega’s Overlander-S pannier system, which can be supported by any of their OS or US tailpacks to give you the same three-piece silhouette.
So, 2000 miles ago I fitted the OS32 and OS-22 panniers to the GSA. The imbalance in sizes (the numbers denote litre-age) allows a more balanced backend working around the exhaust pipe (do your own jokes). The system is sold for the GS as OS-Combo 54, complete with all the fitting faffery required, for £622. Fitting the carrier plates to the GSA’s pannier frames takes a matter of minutes, at which point the bags slot into place with similar ease. Then it’s just a case of stuffing them with pants and T-shirts and heading off into the unrelenting wilderness of your choosing. So, what’s the big benefit? Those in the know will tell you that rubbing against the landscape is more forgiving with soft luggage, and crashes might displace, scuff or damage the bags, but 99% of the time you can refit them and carry on. And if you can’t, at least you can usually find a way of lashing them to your bike. Snap a solid pannier mount, and you might as well be trying to hold a suitcase without a handle while you ride. They also offer a slimmer profile, can be carried as satchels or rucksacks with ease, and these Kriega items are entirely self-contained, so you need no additional straps or bungees – and they’re completely secure in use on your bike.
So, a win all round then? Well, no. I was expecting to love the OS-Combo, but the bags are a faff in every day use; pulling compression straps open and shut, rolling and clipping the top relentlessly, suffering the bagginess when they’re not full, and it takes days for them to fully dry each time they’re soaked. They collect dirt like it’s a hobby and, when you take them off the plates, you’re left with two ugly black slabs that look like flat-track number boards for the short-sighted. When fitted, there’s something really displeasing about the shape, too. They just look wrong on the GSA. Then there’s the inherent lack of security (they do have security loops for cable locks) both in terms of them being on the bike, and your stuff being secure inside them.
I can see the benefits when crossing Africa on a genuine adventure – and they’re superbly designed and constructed – but for the everyday, weekends away, or a few week’s snaking through Europe, I’d pick the more effortless hard option every time.