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

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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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

I have used the Great Basin fully loaded with dry bag on my Bonnie T100 and I barely knew it was there. Hardly off road riding though.

Just got back from 2 weeks in Laos using it on an XR 250 on all sorts of surfaces. Again hardly knew it was there, doesn't move an inch and didn't find it top heavy at all, but I didn't take as much gear and I simply left space on top. Have not used a coyote but would certainly not go smaller than a great basin for any trip more than a week or so. Seems like a perfect size as is.

Personally I feel 60l is a bit to inviting to fill up beyond essentials. A better volume for remote long distance riding would be closer to 40-45l which might be achieved when using that space behind the legs. Similar to conventional saddle bags.

Either way, it's still using something in a way that it's not designed for.

Sorry but not sure what you mean by using something its not designed for?

When the coyote was first released as the giant loop is was to suit small-mid bore trail and enduro bikes. Giving enough capacity for a few nights out, but in a way that wouldn't, or only marginally, affect the weight distribution and therefore the riding performance/ experience of a lightweight bike. Achieved by not needing racks and only providing 30l of space located close to the rider body.

My understanding is that the big bore crowd wanted something like that, but bigger with a similar capacity to conventional bags. Thus the basin was made.

This is not the type of use that I'm eluding to. I've used the coyote on week trips (no camping) fully packed on a DRZ full of beach, sand tracks and single trail mountain rides and, when used to the different feel of the added weight, if did feel like it was part of the bike. So much that you forget it's there when you try to dismount.

If you look at the suggested packing list on the GL blog though you notice a few items missing, which you would take on a big trip. Like a clothes bag with spare clothes for around town, or a few litres of camping water, etc.

The basin would work, but it's not designed for small-mid bore bikes with narrow seats so it's a compromise. There is also too much capacity up high. On a big heavy bike you probably won't notice. But on a small one you are more likely to tell the difference similar to comparing moving from a coyote to a duffle bag on the seat with equal weight.

Sure, you can get by and get used to it. But why be satisfied with that. GL wouldn't have developed the coyote if they took that approach.

MORE PICS HERE

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Giant Loop Moto