I'm looking to buy a set of panniers in time for some trips in the summer and i was thinking of a nice set of MM's. i saw them at the NEC show in novemeber and was really impressed with them. they were substantially more expensive than TT and the rest, but they were much better as well. i was quite happy to pay £750-800 for them and when they put their prices up in the new year, i would have also paid the £900 they were asking. but i've just been on their website and a set of two panniers and a rack is now a breathtaking £1211.99.

sorry MM, but i'm not paying that. i don't care how good your panniers are.

i could just be being a tad cynical, but i can't get over the feeling that they are now taking advantage of the excellent reputation they have and are fleecing overlanders for as much as they can get away with. i know they're the best out there, but at the end of the day, they are essentially still a big aluminium box. if i had a set of panniers custom built as one offs i'd expect to pay this, but all the MM parts will be batch produced at least, and i can't believe that the production costs for a pannier can be more than £100-150 at most. £500 for one aluminium box, even with a fancy locking system is just a plain rip-off.

The iron rule of supply and demand should sort that out: if no one demands them the price will reduce.
But yes, you could go through a few sets of other products for that price, probably with a bit of spare cash in your pocket for the ever-rising cost of fuel, for instance.

You could also get a half decent second bike for that money!

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Dave

well quite. Mrs UTS is looking to do her DAS before october and the £700 difference in cost between MM and most others would just nicely cover that.

as far as supply and demand goes, unfortunately i think there will be still be plenty of people who will buy the best whatever the cost. i'd be very interested to know what MM's overheads were on each set...

It's supply and demand. I'm guessing MM have now reached a point where they can sell all they make. You either take the responsibility of hiring more people/buying new equipment, or raise the price. Metal stock prices are also insane right now and petrol prices/economy issues might well kill the travel market, so I can understand the MM business decision.

I fitted the ultimate metal pannier for not much more than that though. I think it's something like 200 litres (Ural sidecar)!

Having used soft luggage briefly a few years back while waiting for MM to complete the Bonneville rack design, I'd go this route again on a solo, probably with a cheap metal/plastic top box for a bit of security.

Andy

I have been looking at getting some metal panniers for my upcoming trip to egypt later this year , and i have just checked out the metal mule site . for a left and a right pannier plus mounting racks for my 650 v strom . £1348.98 !!!!!!! i have bought decent bikes for less than that ! . call me a tight git , but there is no way i would pay that for a set of metal boxes . i will probably end up spending about £500.00 for a set of panniers , no more . i truly think that they are in real danger of pricing themselves right out of the market .

Hi All,

Ive priced up a set for my 12GSA and the reply they got off me for a pair and mounting kit was "you cheeky *@?"!$&*'s . In English £1546 including vat , i think id be shopping in south wales for my panniers plus a few other gadgets for that sort of money.

R.n B.

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R.n.B. Caves Beach, NSW.

Live life to the MAX!! "one knows that one can, if one wants too".

So, how much you´re looking at paying, if you get some other manufacturer´s set of panniers and racks? And I mean ones that can be compared to MM in any way.

The Mules are tough as hell, easy to take off / fit securely into the bike, and even the racks seem to be of the same quality. Not all aluminium panniers work as well as these.

Yeah, it felt like a xxxxload of money, when I bought them, but they do the job so flawlessly, everything just works well, and they seem practically indestructible, too, so in general I´ve just enjoyed using them, and havent really worried about the money.

I know the £ is down the pan, but take a look at Bernd Tesch's stuff. Outstanding and you will NOT find a stronger rack system

Globetrott Zentrale Bernd Tesch

46 liter are quoted at €185 each and the rack is about €350.

Mine survived being sideswiped, caving in the car door with the L/H box and the bike landing on the R/H box from about 70kph. Its a bit dented and scraped, but still servicable.

Just a sugestion... MM & TT are NOT the only things out there.

John

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Nostradamus Ate My Hamster

I was interested in a set of these for my new KTM990. Was thinking along the lines of selling the new racks and panniers that came with the bike on ebay, adding a few hundred quid and getting the MM's.
Just checked their website and the cheeky feckers are now asking £1200 for a pair of panniers and racks.
A set of TT's and racks go for just over £500, so I reckon maybe £800 tops is a realistic price. Are people really willing to pay the sort of prices they're asking??

I bought a set of mules in jan 07 for my ktm640 the cost then was 775 sterling. the cost on mules website is now 1279 sterling.

I looked at the price of the individual boxes and a pair of boxes with all the handles, tie down points and rubber feet cost just over 500
so how do they get the other 800 am i missing something?

The boxes are good and i am very happy with them, but they are not worth twice the amount as the competition.

I used to worry about people getting into my boxes and stealing things now i am worried about them pinching my boxes.

IAIN

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When I live the life I please, then I’ll be a free man

www.sidecar-vagabonds.blogspot.com

You are right. MM seem to have decided to charge what they can get away with. My mate bought his for less than £800 a few years ago. Has alu suddenly gone up in price? Surely the price should go DOWN as they sell more units. If they follow the usual trend, in five years time their boxes will be £2000 and a pile of cr*p. As they are clearly aiming their boxes at the "1200GS, loadsamoney, never go further than my own backyard" market (a distinct group from the "1200GS and ride round the world" market, before anyone gets uppity! ) it is only a matter of time before they lose the plot and start adding blackberry brackets and making them out of 'aluminium effect' plastic.

I wouldn't buy 'em on principal, even if I did have the money. My Alpos boxes and Touratech racks came to less than £400. OK, so maybe they aren't as good, but they've done around 30,000 hard km and are still going strong. If they last another 30,000 then you'd have to do 180,000 km with a set of Metal Mules to get the same value. Hmm.

Shame, but that's the price of the commercialisation of adventure biking.

Matt

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http://adventure-writing.blogspot.com

http://scotlandnepal.blogspot.com/

*Disclaimer* - I am not saying my bike is better than your bike. I am not saying my way is better than your way. I am not mocking your religion/politics/other belief system. When reading my post imagine me sitting behind a frothing pint of ale, smiling and offering you a bag of peanuts. This is the sentiment in which my post is made. Please accept it as such!

You could always try getting a set of seconds off of MM, not sure if it will reduce the cost that much but it might be something. Bit of a shock on price though, I bought mine just before Christmas and thought they were a bit steep even then.

The other thing to do is try to build your own, found this link on this site somewhere and if I had seen it before I had bought my MMs I would have certainly built my own instead.

rtw.xtz660 - Home made aluminium boxes

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The Wonderful Wander To Oz

Maybe folk will pay whatever is the asking price, but that price has no direct relationship to the cost of production - the latter is but one factor in setting the asking price.
Similarly, the "overheads" are only of some relevance to the cost of production.

Anyway, as my great grand pappy used to say, never buy the most expensive wine on the restaurants' wine menu.

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Dave

Maybe the greatly increased prices is to support the advert that often appears at the head of this same thread !

Great co-ordination.

(Just leg pulling, Grant)

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Vitim Bridge Clubwww.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=533442
www.sibirskyextreme.com

Spoke to MM at NEC as they were upgrading the boxes from Series 1 to Series 2. Small changes like the way the Brackets are fitted, New Lid Seal and Improved Locking Mechanism.
The old Series 1 were about £800 for a full system, I was informed it would only be an increase of 20%.
50% + is crazy. Have they replaced the anodising with Gold Plate ??