GRiSO Luggage - Best Solution for long distance touring?

Hey,

I've got a wonderful 2013 GRiSO.... its beautiful and a wonderful street ride in the city...

HOWEVER, I love going on long tours... i used to go on cross country trips on my '80 1000 sp, with large side saddle bags and some camping equipment strapped to the back. I would love to be able to take my GRiSO out on longer trips....

I only have a GIVI trunk, however the smaller aluminum trunk has a habit of breaking the mounting bolts... its happened 3 times with hardly any weight! I was wondering what the best luggage solutions existed for the GRiSO?

How is this one?

eBay Link



Any other options? I'm looking for super reliable and robust, yet hopefully somewhat streamlined...


Thanks!
Richard

They look good, but crikey, they're expensive!

Or am I out of touch with luggage prices?

I like Hepco & Backer C Bow as well,
I found them well made and convenient - but they may be too small for your needs

I had 75 litres of carry space for £687 (used my own carrier rack and can use £497 of bags on other bikes)

Hepco & Backer in UK
I used the Roysters sire bags 22 litres each side for £280
+ £190 for the brackets
with the Roysters "Rear Bag"  (27 expandable to 32) litres for £217 includes a lock-it adaptor to fit the carrier of your choice.

PS i still have my GRiSO Cbow mounts and will want a lot less than £190 for them lol

I use the C-Bow Xtravel bags.
19L each.

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I bought those from that same ebay listing, almost a year ago; Arthur. No problems, super nice guy. Easy-mounting c-bows, and the H&Bs do look tidy on the bike. I still like them. Came with the hardware, but to get the left pannier clear of the Agostini conical, I have the left side bag sticking an inch further out than the right-side bag. I used two of the original under-saddle pegs as spacers on the left side. It annoys the ocd-part of me, but I'll live. (Another Grisonaut at rustedchrome.com solved the same problem by dropping the mount on his Ago').

The panniers are too small to swallow a helmet. They have a removable liner and straps for that chic-over-the-shoulder look. They are holding their shape, but they are flexible. Zips are holding, the cordura-type fabric isn't wearing out. Won't stop a knife. I can't imagine one would survive a slide with 500+lb on top of it. Perfect for winter commutes, and weekend tours, but I did need a 35L dry-bag strapped to the pillion for the extra storage on a week-long trip to a professional conference. I'd be pressed to fit my usual down bag, mattress, ground sheet, jet-boil, pack-raft, paddle, pfd, plus tools, wet-weather gear etc. But I like the H&Bs enough that I would find a way.

This is something I'm putting the final touches to on my Red Bike as it is being set up as a GRiSO Turismo.

The problem I saw with the C-bow bags is that they are rather small. I also have a set of the original 'Factory' racks which use bags made by Tekno and use the 'Clik-fit' mounting system. The racks have been modified slightly to accommodate the Mistral Hi-Pipe I run but it wasn't a big deal and the actual design of the racks is very simple and should be easy enough for any half way decent welder to fabricate facsimiles of with little effort.

Now I'm not a fan of either 'Soft' luggage or the 'Semi-rigid' Tekno bags so my answer was to buy a couple of no-name Chinese hard bags off the bay of fleas for the princely sum of $200AU. They aren't the prettiest and are only rated as 20 litres as opposed to the 35 litres of the Givi bags I have on my Mana although they look bigger than half the size! Closer to 30 I would think. They also have flat inner sides which means I should be able to mount them on the Clik-Fit mounts I bought from a mob in the USA and that should enable me to mount them in a simple, quickly detachable way.

While I do have the factory tail rack fitted to this bike it won't be getting a case on it and when I got the seat built I deliberately asked for a flat squab in the pillion position. My thinking being that I can throw a duffel bag over the seat and have it resting atop the panniers thus keeping the weight lower and between the two axles of the wheels.

Finally I have the large 'Factory' tank bag. Now while it is HUGE, quite capable of carrying a severed head, it is annoying to use as you have to unzip it from its base to access the fuel cap and when turning the bars to anywhere near full lock it will blast the horn or kill the motor depending which way you turn them. The end solution to this will be another of Onur's wonderfultank rings and a larger Givi tank bag.

Let's face it. If I need more luggage than that I should take the bloody car!

Crappy Chineseum bags.

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OK, so today I fitted up my shitty panniers on the GRiSO Turismo. Because of this thread's format due to the eBay link gives me the shits I'll start another one.

I have factory bags, they are small. But good.
I used a 60ltr dry bag over the rear seat tail bag rack. And a givii tank lock bag.
All in all, I can carry the kitchen sink and enough food to survive the apocalypse.
And even then I'm looking for more space.

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Sorry, I wrote a new message yesterday about this but must of previewed it and then not sent it.

Anyway here are a few pics of the cheap bags I've fitted to Red Bike.

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They aren't ready for use yet as I need to a.) Reinforce the mounting system so the screws won't pull out of the back of the case and b.) Cover up all the holes in the back of the case! The mounting system they are designed for has four circular mounts each of which has four 8mm holes in! And there is another central hole that appears to have no purpose at all! I think just cutting some sort of plate that would cover the inside of the bottom of the case and silasticing it in there would probably work with longer bolts for the Click-fit frames.

And all three of my lumps in the shed.  

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I also have the Hepco & Becker C-Bow setup with the 'Street' bags. Only used a handful of occasions, but are well-made and look good on the bike. Quick release key-lock mechanism means that they can be removed from the mounting system in seconds. When not being used, the mounting system blends into the rest of the bike such that it's barely noticeable (to me anyway).

When first fitted I had a slight issue with the left bag sitting dangerously close to my Termi. Weirdly, despite there being no "left or right" side to each bag, I swapped them around and found that one side sits ever so slightly higher than the other which allows an extra 10mm or so of clearance to the exhaust which is all that is needed. Also, if you pull the centre connecting strap (between the two bags) a bit tighter, it has the effect of stopping the bags drooping too much which helps with exhaust clearance.

Downsides? They ain't big. Best suited to overnight/weekend rides. They also come with a waterproof liner bag that you can use to pop your stuff into if rain is expected. Only issue there is that the said liner appears to be 3 times the size of the inside of the bag itself, so by the time you squish the extra unused material inside the bag, you've probably used 1/5th of its capacity, maybe more.

Oh, should mention that the Hepco mounting system utilises the same threaded holes as the OEM luggage posts which are under the wheel arch. They need to be removed to fit the Hepco system. Accordingly, if you have a tail bag that utilises the OEM posts, then you may have an issue.

Would be a good setup with a decent tail bag. The thought of a large tank bag makes me want to shoot myself in the head. No thanks.

Pete,

You are going to paint those boomerangs to match, aren't you? Yes, of course your are, you must!

Nah. They can stay fluro yellow, just adds greater visibility. The thing that scares me most riding nowadays is the oblivious "I didn't see him." brigade. That in and of itself is bad enough but often if motorcyclists end up in court seeking compensation it is implied that they were partly at fault because their vehicle was inconspicuous. The fact that the operator of the other vehicle was texting or asleep or whatever will be acknowledged but glossed over and not given sufficient weight when decisions are being made. No, it shouldn't be like that, but it is. And for that reason alone I'm willing to paint my bikes gaudy, clashing, colours! But also I LIKE gaudy, clashing, colours!

I nearly got killed the other day on the Mana when a Yummy Mummy in a people mover sailed into a roundabout in front of me imperiously holding her hand up in a 'Stop!' gesture. She'd clearly seen me, it was my right of way but she was a bigger vehicle so as far as she was concerned she had right of way! I'm not willing to give these fuckwits ANY ammunition if I end up suing them for their idiocy. It's harder to get the "I didn't see him." argument to fly if you've got a very bright LED headlight and fluro yellow panniers on your two wheeled shitbox!

Of course I see your point, Pete, it's happened to me too, but GeeZus, my eyes! After you went to all the trouble of creating such a beautiful bike!

Well, okay, it's your bike, your rules, I've said my piece.

I can fix that link affecting the screen width, if anyone wants me to?

They hideous.

Being brightly coloured makes no difference, as you are probably aware when riding the yellow GRiSO. A bright orange one with riding lights is invisible too.

What's their capacity?

I don’t deny they are hideous!

Nominally 20 litre.

Yes, please.

Done

If my separate thread can be merged without effort by the mods that would probably be good.

It shall be is done.

Here is my setup that I'm pretty happy with. The mounts are Hepco and Becker C-Bows. I had welded a joiner bar with gussets to each bracket of the side mounts for added strength.. The Pelicans are bomb proof and always have dry goods even through downpours at speed. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Add a Windjammer fairing and you"ll almost have a Goldwing lol

It handles like one when loaded up that's for sure.

This is the screen that was on it when I bought it....[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]