Hi guys!

First of all, let me say that this is my first post. I discovered this site as I started looking for info for a trip I plan to do this summer and so far it has proved to be the best source. Congrats to everyone!

I plan to ride from Barcelona to Ulaanbaatar in three months this summer, and I have started preparing the bike. I currently have a pair of plastic Givi E41 panniers, which I intend to replace with something more sturdy, since I know I will probably drop the bike more than once. After checking lots of options I had decided to go for a pair of Touratech Zegas, but today I saw that Givi has just launched a pair of aluminum panniers (Givi Trekker Outback). No info on prices yet, but they would fit the mounts that I already have on my bike, so I'd probably save some money over a complete Touratech system.

My doubts are the following:

I do not intend to go off road anymore than I need to. I am aware that the state of most roads in Kazakhstan and Mongolia ranges from poor to nonexistent, but I'm not going to deliberately head down narrow tracks or race across the desert. I know that Tourach gear has been proven by a lot of people on a lot of trips, but I'm worried about my Givi mounts. Will they be sturdy enough to withstand such a trip? Does anyone have any experience with Givi luggage systems on long trips?

Any advice would be most welcome.

Thank you very much!

have a look ate the Turkish made GlobeScout system based in Istanbul, have seen them in Turkey this year on the Bursa-Enduro meeting (the biggest overland bike meeting in Turkey) where almost everyone is running them over there and laughing about flimsy Turatech Zega boxes, the GlobeScout superseding them big times, are made very solid, thicker aluminium, very secure with stainless steel secure locks tick-welded and watertight... most important they are way cheaper than anything else from the high-street or one of the big player's around.
This cases are hand made to the highest standard, designed by top engineers without compromise... but not very known in the west of Europe. Our Turkish riding friends do swear on this system which is very affordable.
Had a long chat with the owner of GolbeScout, he speaks very good English and German, is what you would call one of the small inventor, trying to get in to the market with a top product that do not compromise on materials like the big player's do... you even got the changes to talk to the guy and ask for customisation of the cases if needed. Yeah you can have this boxes in anodized silver or black too... the sealing edge profile is made from stainless steel and not from aluminium with a easy replaceable rubber lip... just in short.. this boxes are made and designed for offroad use and not for show in front of the Cafe around town.

by the look at the pictures of the Givi stuff it looks very similar indent... wonder if Givi selling the GlobeScout under there own name...

GlobeScout
GlobeScout Adventure Equipment
the guy is working together with the Turkish Dakar rally team...

I was tempted to buy a top-box right away on the show, but now rather stick to my soft language style, using the new Kriga Overlander-30 throw over pannier bags, add on a US-30 with two US-20 of this bags now for light weight travelling... suites my needs..

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The trouble is that he was talking in philosophy, but they were listening in gibberish.

zenoverland.com do some rather nice panniers and top boxes at a very good price.
Might be worth a look.
Dave.