I can recommend the Ortlieb saddle bags! They are absolutely waterproof, easy to mount, hold on tight to the bike and they are lightweights!

Last year I used those on a trip round the baltic sea and I think they´re good equipment. Only thing is that it takes a little fumbling to open them up. My brother used Gobi panniers, weighed 18kg´s (panniers and rack).

This year we´re both with the Ortliebs.

Prevents you from taking to much stuff on the way, too :)

I bought one of these....very easy to attach, remove..and throw over your shoulder when carrying from bike to tent etc...

A few thoughts....
- I left it on the bike over night in some Cornwall rain and woke up to 2 pools of water in the basins. Perhaps it was because the tail of the bike was facing the direction the rain was coming from and this was directly into the zipper. I'd imagine that while riding the bags would not take in water.

- The tapering effect of the basins restricts the volume of goods you can pack, squared off would imo be better.

- Not sure if the inner packing bags are necessary. I packed my goods in my old Oxford soft pannier waterproof covers which would take on any shape I needed by a squeeze and a shove.

Besides that, I was impressed...makes a good back rest too. Dropped the bike once, rode through a bush :blushing:....bags were unharmed.

I have a mate doing a dirt lap of Aussie at the moment. I've been a soft bag covert for a while now and he knew it before he left with his lovely custom made heavyweight alloy boxes. He must have hated telling me, but a month after he left that he was sick of bashing his boxes back into shape, and the boxes bashing his legs OUT of shape and now has a set of Andy Strapz bags on!

I've got Andy Strapz bags and they are good, but have worn thru in a couple of places. I'm going to get another layer sewn on to them.

Cheers

Nigel in NZ

For you guys who are soft luggage convets, do you ever worry about your stuff being stolen when ur not near the bike? Or are you with ur machines most the time?

Id love soft luggage but id be paranoid that all my belongings would be stolen, and hence will prob use hard luggage. The security is the only reason i want hard panniers tho.

The idea of soft luggage is that you mainly put "Soft" or non valuable things in them..

I pack mine with clothes, plate , mug , toiletries etc etc ! Stuff no one would really want to steal. And if they did steal them, their need is obviously much greater than mine .. It would hardly be a big deal if my favourite Spiderman y-fronts were stolen anyway !

For valuables, keep them in your tank bag which comes with you and any other things in a "pacsafed" roll bag.

In all the places and years iv've used soft bags, I've never even had anyone try to steal anything...

Ted's right, that's how I do it, except I also sometimes use a topbox and lock stuff in there. However, I have never seen a topbox that someone with intent could not open with a large screwdriver.

Cheers bloke

Nigel in The Shakey Isles......

Indeed, motorcycle "locked" luggage is very much a false sense of security although no doubt a deterrant to the oppurtunist..

Here's what I use. For my upcoming Aussie trip, I've ditched the green sleeping mat on the top (replaced with a much smaller Exped downmat) and the rear rack (replaced with nothing!). I think I can keep the Wolfman luggage and dry bag secured without needing a rack.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_guF3w-1XHdk/TF...0/PICT0188.JPG

I've spoken to Ortlieb. They answered as they don't have side bags in Dortmund/Köln are but in Berlin.

Will try to organise at my next visit to Germany :) Hope I find...

pannier
 

Here is my 2 cents.

If you a lot off road and travel 1 up ,soft luggae can do it pretty well for a while .
If you are travelling for long time mostly on hard pack and want your gears to stay safe while visiting cities then hard luggage plastic or metal are better.
when you are 2 up they are much better due to the fact that you can carry more stuff. For tough off road I love the ortlieb sof pannier

?c?

oxford bags
 

Oxford bags, the cheap ones 40quid a pair, yup there crap!!! they aint waterproof!!! BUTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!
my wife has had hers for 60,000km on our RTW, weve repaired them in Africa ,Asia, South america and they are still working.
The only reason I dont have mine is mine went up in smoke when I lost the little rubber bung that keeps the side panel off the exhaust in Tanzania last year, an interesting experiance.
They fit really well on our XT600,s
Most bags are crap, these are as bad as most but they do the job very cheaply and are easy to repair, the zips have lasted well, they just rip the seams occasionaly.
Works for us,
a bonus is when you arrive at a border you look like a tramp, our nickname is team skint and we rarely get asked for a bribe
Pete