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".

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 ??

Made 2 sets and the bike rack, took 80 hours though. used stainless rivits, alloy bonding agent, and stainless hinges. the main problem is bending the 2 mm sheet alloy. used a 7 ton magnetic bender that worked fine for the main bends but the corner edges i had to clamp to a bench and bend with a metal clamp. if you hunt around they can be made very cheaply. hinges, latches etc from trade me (e-bay) the total cost for 4 side boxes and 2 top boxes and a frame for my XF 650 was $600 newzealand dollars. you must spend the time planning everything though as out of 2 alloy sheets 2400mm x 1200mm i had almost nothing left. good luck

Have anyone tried these : RMS - Reinhard Guhr Rennsporttechnik - RMS Koffersystem KTM LC8

I've found some threads about RMS cases on a few Italian and Dutch moto forums, but didn't quite get a word of what was written.
On the pics it seems that they are incredibly well made, and I've read that the owner worked for the formula one team some time ago

Very interesting Frgich. Thanks for the link.

Looking through the site there are a series of photos of close-up detail, including joints, locks, seals, various options of edges/corners, colours (powder coating?), etc. All workmanship looks very good.

Sadly my German is NIL but for BMW F650GS (Dakar shown?) a Babel Fish translation (reinterpreted by me) is:-
The RMS - Luggage system for the small cylinder BMW fully developed and under the design criterion of the smallest overall width!
The aluminum cases are widened underneath the exhaust mufflers to get optimum of use this otherwise dead space. The volume is approx. 38.0 litres for each case, the overall width of everything amounts to 880 mm, this is narrower than the handlebars.
Each case had 4 strap-down brackets for light luggage.
The mounting frame is of machine adapted precision steel tube that with the cases are removed are not visually disturbing and actually not recognizable.
TIG welding only - since 1987.
The frames are silver plastic-coated. A cross connection of the cases and all mounting elements are provided.
For customers who bring their motorcycle we assembly free, otherwise approx. 20 €uro forwarding expenses.
Price-899 Euro.
£715 - fitted! Seems very good to me. I will be looking further into these and make a trip over there.
No mention of the guage of metal used. Security is unclear. A key/lock for the lid, but I cannot see how the case is attached (or locked) to its frame. Seeing 'Wing-nuts' attaching them to the rear frame cross-link (or each other) is worrying if that is a security mounting rather than just the bracing (the cross connection?).
Much as I liked MMs, particularly after I went to visit them last autumn and spoke with the actual fabricator, there are limits. And the recent price hikes must be turning many potential customers away from them - including myself.
Thanks again Frgich.

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

No problem Tony glad that I helped in someway. Try to e-mail Roger, and ask exactly what would you like to know. I've send an e-mail and they answered the next day, which I like very much. I also plan for the next year to buy these cases, and will go to Germany and make a small trip-the place is near the Frakfurt just for the info.

The thickness of the alu used to make the cases is 2 mm, so they must be very tough. The way the cases are attached and secured to the mounting frame is a question though, so it's best to e-mail them directly and ask them to send you some detailed pics of the set-up.

Maybe I should open a thread for these cases alone so some more people can see them, and maybe someone on the HUBB have used them already,

regards

Eight months ago I invested in Metal Mule panniers and top box as opposed to bike-specific luggage so that I could move the luggage from bike to bike. Metal Mule were considerably more expensive than Zega and other alternatives at the time but I was prepared to pay a premium for powder coated luggage and it helped that Metal Mule is local to me.

I now want to mount my Metal Mule topbox and panniers on my new F650GS, but the prices have gone through the roof in the last four months:

- top box rack was £91.99, now £118.99 an increase of £27.00 (30%)
- pannier rails were £229.99, now £299.99, an increase of £70 (30%)

I told Paul today that I was really aggrieved about this but he refuses to move on price and I feel like I'm over the barrel.

So I started looking at alternatives. The list price of the BMW vario panniers, pannier rails and key-coded locks is £543 and most people will be able to get 10% off this making the price £488. So why on earth should I pay Metal Mule £300 for a set of pannier rails when I can get the whole caboodle from BMW for £488?

I won't make the decision whilst I'm still fuming, I'll sleep on it first.

Tim

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)