Makes Sense to Me

Fearing I didn’t have enough space on my DR650 to carry all my junk plus more junk on top of that in my Mosko Reckless 80 bags I started looking into other options, of which there were effectively four:

1. Backpack
2. Tank bag
3. Fender bag
4. Handlebar bag
5. Gas tank saddlebags

You probably counted five instead of four there but that’s on purpose.  First, I thought of the backpack option at the last minute ruining my four-count, but also because while it’s an option, it’s not an option for me.  Outside of water and maybe a snack, I find riding with a pack of any weight becomes problematic due to the weight and shifting.  Also, and the bigger deal, is that I have large, broad shoulders which are made all the more so with a motorcycle jacket and the combination of the two makes my Camelbak dig into my shoulders.  Simply not an option for the humble ubermensch.

Tank bags:

Way too many different options to list here but suffice it to say if you want tank bags you’re covered and it’s pretty hard to go wrong.  Heck, my brother went with the Giant Loop tank bag (Fandango, I think) and generally liked it.

I had several reasons for not going with the tank bag.  First, you have to take it off every time you get gas, which, as we found out, can mean that the gas fumes vent directly into your tank bag and all of your gear inside. I guess second would be the fumes, so third, the cost.  I already owned a street going Cortech Super 2 bag and didn’t want to spend $100-300 on yet another bag or ruin the one I had.

Fender bags:

Again, my brother went this route and in the future, I think I will too, after a fashion.  His Wolfman Enduro didn’t move too much during the ride or anytime he dropped the bike even though the design is perfect for making one cringe.  It clips to the edges of the fender – that’s it.  Note that you can barely fit a tube in there much less anything else.  Which is basically what I’d use it for and that’s fine.  Note that some fenders will require strengthening, which I believe is the case with the DR650.  Another $100 in total costs I didn’t want to spend but will in the future.  Also, don’t add too much weight as that’s a bad place to put it.

Handlebar bag:

This was never really a viable option with my set-up and basically would have consisted of whatever I could fab up.  Quite a few brands make them, including the aforementioned Giant Loop and Wolfman.  But again, I didn’t want to pay the price and frankly I had too much going on in the handlebars as it was.

Gas tank saddlebag:

This is what I went with, the ATV Logic tank saddle bags (see what I did with the title there?  A fool and his puns are not easily parted) partially because I thought they looked cool, partially because they were dirt cheap and partially because I didn’t know any better.

For only $20, what can go wrong?  To be honest, not much, really, other than what I’d expected from the beginning.  I honestly have only one complaint and that’s how much they interfered with my knees.  What happens is they come with double-sided tape which holds well for a few days and then falls off the plastic fuel tank, causing the bags to either hit my knees or splay my legs out a bit.

The folded piece of velcro is supposed to be attached to the tank…

The glue from the velcro became gummy and never quite came off. It’s that black smudge area (plus dirt)

For instance, in this picture,

The jacket makes the gut look bigger, honestly.

look how my knees connect with the bags and then imagine trying to use those same knees to ride through technical terrain.  Such as the terrain where we took this picture.  Being in the way wouldn’t be a big deal except for the fact that they also flop about when the bike flops about or when you dump it.

Now, if I’d only put in some basic supplies it wouldn’t be a big deal, but I had to go and bring both a front and rear tube, and at one point a way-too-large fuel canister.  That put each side of the bag at least 4” beyond the tank meaning I had to account for an additional 8” of moving support.  I was able to work around if for the most part but I had some sketchy situations here and there.

I never got a chance to fix it on the trail, but I was planning on tying the front of the bags off to the wings of the gas tank and possibly under it as well.  If that works in the future I’ll keep using these bags.  Or, put a crazy tough magnet inside the tank and inside the bags.  Big magnet in the tank won’t hurt any more than the dirt already there, but it probably wouldn’t work with the tubes on both sides.  (pro tip according to real professionals who aren’t me:  Bring a patch kit and a front tube only.  The front tube can fill the rear tire far enough to get you home if the patch doesn’t work.  This is advice I should have taken).

Okay, so if you can get past all that, what can you carry?  Pretty much everything you want and too much at that.  On one side I stuffed a rear tube and a few spare items and on the other I had the front tube, plus most of my basic tools, some spare spokes, a fuel canister and on the outside pocket a crushed can for my kickstand plate.  I can’t help it if I’m boogie with my brand name Dr. Pepper Can-Stand.

After 4,500 miles of riding I did wear some holes into the bags, with the right side coming from inside lip of the fuel canister and the left, well, I really don’t know.  Didn’t know they were there ‘til I wrote this review.

Oh, almost forgot:  No, these aren’t waterproof but they may as well be.  While I wouldn’t normally trust them for anything special like a phone, I have had to trust them with something special like a phone in the rain and they did fine.  Oh, right, I just remembered.  I stored my Yi cam batteries, charger, USB cords and extra headlamp batteries in these things through some torrential rains and I never really had any problems.  Of course, I had them wrapped in Zip Lock bags but they weren’t always closed or not full of holes.  If you NEED waterproof, buy the Giant Loop bags or incorporate dry bags into your packing but if not really that wet or better is okay, then these work for ya.

Last little nothing, but I found it interesting.  I never realized quite how much fuel vapor escapes from the tank when you’re just filling it.  Spills all over the place and get on everything within a few inches of it.  As proof, I give you this neat little fuel circle, created by the dirt sticking to the fuel vapors (and yeah, liquid fuel because everyone’s a butterfingers after a long day off road).  This probably weakens the bag a bit in some chemical interaction but by the time that happens the rest of the bags will be left on the trail.

I have a hard time reviewing these bags because at $20 delivered any flaws I call out are trivial at best and if they’re deal breakers, you’re what, only 10% of the cost of fancy bags so no real loss.  They did what I needed for the entire trip with no service failures.  I despise how they flop into my knees but that could be bike/tank dependent and is likely something I’ll jury-rig like I mentioned above.  So yeah, um, 5 stars for these crappy little bags.