Preparing for a trip to Mexico I've been comtemplating the interesting hard vs. soft luggage decision for a Kawasaki ZR7-S. For this model Givi is essentially the only hard brand easily available to me. However, when I located a photgraph of this particular motorcycle with the luggage installed (see www.wemoto.com/wem/pic/tempkawa.jpg)I was taken aback by the apparent mounted height of this stuff.

Half of each pannier is above seat level in order to clear the muffler and the top box looks sky high. When fully loaded I have to wonder if the luggage will raise the center of gravity of bike unreasonably.

Anyone have any experience with or comments about this type of set-up? Thanks.

Norm



[This message has been edited by normw (edited 28 January 2006).]

I would guess that this setup would feel about the same as riding with a passanger on the back, would it not? How much luggage do you need to carry? I use a set of Oxford humpback on my Yamaha R-6, combined with a tankbag, works great!

Fashion! They put mufflers sky-high these days. I lowered mine on the DR650, it's level with the axle now. Not much you can do about the top box, the tail of your bike is very high.

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Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

Norm
Can you please get the top box off your bike. First they are so naff. Second they couldn't be worse placed for load distribution. Third they're so naff and people will laugh at you behind your back.

Please Norm?

That set up will serve you just fine. I take it for granted that you will not be doing any offroading with that bike, hence balance and strength is not as great of an issue as if you were. I rode with a similar setup on a 2000 CBR 600 F, though with soft side bags instead of hard.



I also had the top box and a large tank bag + my wife as a passenger. The soft saddle bags were extended (width) and packed full. Although this set up was a bit lower than the one you are looking at, we were quite heavy with the passenger and all. Balance was only an issue when she leaned back against the top case, and then not even very severe. I could offcourse feel that the setup was not ideal, but it was really no big deal. Keep all the heavy stuff low and front, and your light stuff such as sleeping bags in the top case.

As for the looks, I wouldn't worry to much what others think. Go with whats practical and affordable to you... and with your own personal tastes. If you are really concerned about cred, then you "must" get a different bike all together, a real enduro or adventure bike with all the zillion dollar upgrades and gadgets. You "need" the biker's equivalent of going duck hunting with an RPG7 Bazooka... silly ofcourse.

On my next trip this June I will be riding a Vespa PX200E through Africa. It will look something like this:

How stupid looking is that???

Although this scooter looks like it is poorly balanced, it really isn't. Great care has been taken to locate the top box so it is centered above the rear axle. Most of the heavy weight is located really low on the foot board, between the two axles. All the light stuff such as sleeping bags annd mats are kept high. Even the front rack is modified to be as close to the leg shield as possible, with most of its carrying weight behind centre of the front axle. But it looks horrible!

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Well, thanks for the interesting comments. In the end I opted for hard bags with no top box and a waterproof duffel bag on the rear seat, all of which served nicely for the Vancouver B.C. to Baja trip from which I've just returned.

Wheelie, your ingeniously loaded Vespas bring back fond memories of my 1952 NSU 150 scooter (essentially a German built Lambretta) which I occasionally rode (during the sixties) carrying four young and crazy people; two in the usual spots, one on the rear luggage rack (which also housed a full spare tire) and one squeezed onto the floorboards at my feet. The extraordinary thing is that the little beast actually handled quite well under this preposterous load. Of course, this stunt may have had someting to do with the front tire developing an aneurism the size of an orange. Good luck with your expedition.

Norm

[This message has been edited by normw (edited 29 March 2006).]