photo: returning from HU CA Traveler's meeting with my son, who celebrated his 13th birthday there in 2011.


photo: 2012 HU CA Traveler's meeting.

Dear Horizons Unlimited Riders –

I have had the great fun and privilege of attending the Horizons Unlimited California Traveler's Meeting for the past couple of years, and of all the various events we participate in, this is at the top of my personal list of favorites. My friend Flora Lloyd (Curbsyde Productions) once described the Horizons group as "travelers who ride motorcycles" - emphasizing that the bike is more a means to the ends of exploration and adventure rather than the end in itself. This is definitely my perspective, having backpacked and bicycle toured for years before adding horsepower to the equation.

Now celebrating our fifth year, Giant Loop has evolved from two adventure motorcycle riders with a single saddlebag available only online, into one of the world’s most innovative soft luggage makers. Our 2013 line includes four completely new products, as well as updates across the entire Giant Loop collection.

Riders worldwide energize and inspire us to continually improve, and each design is prototyped and tested in some of the most demanding off-road conditions.

Some of the very best riders in the world use Giant Loop gear, including Baja 1000 winners Quinn Cody and Kendall Norman, off-road racing legend Malcolm Smith, world-record setting Husaberg Adventure Team, London-to-Sydney riders from Continental Drift, as well as many others.

Giant Loop has also received positive reviews in virtually every major US motorcycling publication, as well as Australian, European and South African media.

We began in 2008 with a hope of opening up new possibilities for riders to explore this magnificent planet, and today we stand proud to have expanded horizons for a worldwide community of riders.

We invite you to ask questions, share feedback, stories and photos.

Ride while you can!
Harold Olaf Cecil
owner, co-founder
Giant Loop
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Designed in Bend, Oregon
Made in USA
Ridden Worldwide

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Giant Loop Moto

Heading off next week for 2 weeks riding in Laos.
Looking forward to testing out my Great basin

Fantastic! Post up some pics and feedback when you get the chance. Go light, go fast, go far, Harold

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Giant Loop Moto

Steve Smith at Giant Loop's Australian distributor Adventure Moto just passed along the first pic and feedback about the Fandango Tank Bag's fitment on the much anticipated KTM 1190 Adventure R, available in Europe now, arriving in Oz soon - hopefully coming to USA before the year is over?! Here's what Trailzone magazine editor Clubby had to say after the Australian press launch:

"Boys: just returned from a two-day haul out the back of Barrington Tops for the Aussie media launch of the new KTM 1190 Adventure R ... the thing is a weapon ... in Street or Sport mode she barks out a whopping 150hp ... say good-bye to your rear tyre!
Check out the pic attached of yours truly ... I ran the white GL Fandango on the new Austrian weapon and can report she fits like a glove!
Fire the pic across to Harold and let him know.
And thanks for all your support!
Clubbman,
TZ Inc."

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Giant Loop Moto

Saturday & Sunday, June 1 & 2
Pre-pay to RSVP and reserve your spot before Monday, May 27
Join Giant Loop for off-road adventure in Oregon's beautiful high desert.

$50 includes:
• Hosted scenic dirt and gravel road ride from Giant Loop’s shop to Summer Lake Hot Springs Resort (off-road riding experience and properly equipped bike required, but only medium technical difficulty, with three routes to choose from)
• GPS routes/maps
• Camping and soaking at Summer Lake Hot Springs
• Plus breakfast and dinner Saturday and breakfast Sunday.

Cabins and house available for additional charge. Call Summer Lake Hot Springs for availability and reservations 541-943-3931.

Get all the details and sign up here!

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Giant Loop Moto

We often get questions about the security of Giant Loop soft luggage. Here's a recent email reply I sent to a customer:

Security is a matter of perception. A professional thief will simply take the whole bike, gear and all, and be gone before you know what happened. As my grandfather used to say, "locks keep honest people honest." Even traveling in the US I try to park where I can see my bike - and I take everything off and put it in my room or tent if I'm not going to be around. It takes just a couple of minutes to mount/dismount our bags, which is what I did every night for three weeks in Australia and on every US trip I've ever made, long before starting Giant Loop.

In nearly five years of selling our bags now - and having riders take the most extreme overland trips on every continent - we have never heard of a single customer who has had a bag slashed. And the only theft we've ever heard about was a customer who left his fully loaded bike in the parking lot at a music festival (in Montana), got stumble drunk and found his gear scattered around the parking lot. He picked up most of it and called us about getting a couple of replacement stuff sacks.

Personally, I think the best security is to park your bike in a visible, high traffic location, befriend the locals and ask them to keep an eye on your bike and not to let anyone touch it - or roll the bike into a room or courtyard where the whole thing can be locked up.

One of the simplest, most effective ways to keep people from tampering with your bike is to throw a cover over it. Far easier than wrestling with a Pacsafe metal mesh net.

The Pacsafe should be plenty of protection if you get one that's large enough to fit over the whole bag and lock it to the bike. The holes in the mesh are small enough that a potential thief would have to be pretty determined and have plenty of time without interruption to wrestle your gear through the hole piece by piece.

These customers rode from London to Sydney overland last year on KTM 690s with our Great Basin Saddlebags and Fandango Tank Bags - they never had any issues with theft or security:
Go Light. Go Fast.: Giant Loop Riders: Continental Drift - China to Tibet Photos

At least one customer I know of did a Silk Road tour from Europe across Asia without incident, and without trying too hard I could come up with other examples of riders on every continent but Antarctica.

How cut-proof is our material? Not sure because no one has ever even tried to cut it that we're aware of - but I can tell you our bags have slid across two lanes of pavement and survived (a customer crashed on a Russia trip last year and showed me his Dry Bag - all scuffed up by still in tact).

If you participate in any of the online forums, please feel free to share this information. If there are any Giant Loop customers out there who have had their bags stolen or slashed, I'd like to hear about it!

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Giant Loop Moto

I'm a big fan of the concept idea behind the original bag (I've got 2 myself) but am wondering why you guys never took a few variations further. I understand the cost involved with making lots of different templates on this but I think there is certainly a market for at least one variation of the coyote, which would be more aimed on the growing minimalist overlander crowd.

A lot of people find the great basin way to big up high whilst the coyote looks like it could be optimised with more internal space down low. This could then be used carrying the additional fuel and water that a lot of people struggle width. Commonly this gets strapped up high with a bladder or other container, but this is far from ideal.

I understand that the height that the sides of the coyote finish at is so it is compatible with as many bikes as possible. Is this correct?

But I struggle to think of a bike that has something in the location directly below the bag as it is now that stops is coming down further to pillion peg height. A bit like the new panniers seem to do. The leg space that a pillion would take could be utilized I think.

Below is a real crappy photoshop attempt to explain it a bit. Ideally the bottom could be a bit squarer to allow for a few standard side bladders like a 6l dromedary to lie just above the pillion peg horizontally. It wouldn't be to hard for someone like liquid containment to make and market a bladder in the same size.

Are there any plans to make an in between bag to fit an medium sized bag for small overland bikes to sit between the big bike giant basin and siskiyou and the weekend trail ride coyote?

Hello! Thanks for sharing the feedback - the experiences of riders using our gear drives our design process. I will share your comments and ideas with our design director.

Part of the answer to your query: We're developing modular systems that serve the needs of a wide spectrum of riders and applications. It's quite easy to strap a Giant Loop Dry Bag behind the Coyote and/or to lash additional gear to the outside when you need it, while still enjoying a trim, dirt-worthy profile and position. And when you don't need to carry as much gear, then the top of the Saddlebag can be compressed and flattened.

Giant Loop exists precisely because we wanted a trim, minimalist means of carrying our camping gear on dirt bikes - without compromising our ability to ride hard and fast in the deserts and mountains of Oregon.

When riders need/want to carry more gear, the Great Basin Saddlebag doubles the volume. That doesn't mean you have to pack every last liter of space (although it seems to be human nature to fill whatever packing space is available).

Anything packed above seat height on a motorcycle should be lightweight, with all the heavier stuff packed lower - this keeps the motorcycle handling like a motorcycle!

Stay tuned for future product developments!

Go light, go fast, go far!
- Harold

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Giant Loop Moto

Pic from Giant Loop ambassador Jeff Simpson:

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Giant Loop Moto

Pic from Giant Loop ambassador Jeff Simpson:

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Giant Loop Moto

Totally understand and agree. I will definitely keep using the coyote for local trail riding. That pillion leg room is used by the rider on those occasions, so in that respect the coyote is perfect.

'Overlanding' in the way that this forum is setup to share experiences on doesn't require this at all. The worst conditions often are potholes and corrugated roads. Not nasty and eroded single trail hill climbs. The giant basin is just to bulky for small bore adventure bikes that seem to be on the rise. So I figured I'd point out this hole in the market as I see it that should only require some adjustments to an existing model rather than a newly developed product.

We've had to postpone our trip recently so you've got a bit more time.

Leaving tomorrow morning for Overland Expo in Arizona! See you there?!

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Giant Loop Moto

Coming on our Summer Lake Ride? We need a head count for food and by Monday. Spread the word and invite a friend! Click here to sign up.

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Giant Loop Moto

Posted up some pics of Overland Expo, including traveling to/from the event here.

Some highlights below

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Giant Loop Moto

Harold, happy to get back over there when I get a chance.

Like Tmotten, I love the original idea and in terms of convenience on a regular enduro bike for short trips it's hard to beat. Still running the coyote on my Husaberg, and the Fandango on both bikes.

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