Just wanted to catch up with the posts from our blog while we are online.


After a whirlwind of activity at home over the last few days, we're finally hitting the road. WhooHoo! I think we're just as excited to finally begin the trip as we are to not have so much to do.We got up just before 6am, we had a couple of stops on the way to Ottawa today and wanted to get an early start. We loaded the bike and were ready to go right on schedule. Lori tried to get on the back and we discovered a little hitch in our luggage set up.

Now everything we've read about the Giant Loop Fort Rock top case (GLFR) that we bought was positive. It's super comfortable for passengers, 85L of storage space, two pockets on the outside accessible by the pillion, even a separate section on one side that can be accessed more easily when stopped for a break. Horseshoe design so it sits on the back rack and wraps around and over top of the side cases. In theory this thing was the bomb.Our first discovery before we even moved an inch was that once loaded up and strapped down, there was no way Lori had enough room to even sit. At least two inches of the pillion seat was taken up by this thing. If you know how small the pillion seats typically are on motorcycles, you'll know that's a lot of real estate to give up. We adjusted the entire set up and tried to slide it back those two inches and re-fastened everything. At least Lori could now sit.


What we looked like at 8AM.

Now you might think that setting out on a big trip like this, we would have made sure our gear worked as we expected and had set everything up before. Well we did. We had filled the GLFR and the 40L Triumph dry bag along with the side cases. We knew it all fit together and we could both sit on the bike. At the time we had everything sitting a bit further back and everything did seem to fit, just as it did now. About the biggest mistake we made was in not loading everything up and heading out for a day or two ride. I guess today would be that ride. So we hit the road.

Our first stop was about an hour away in Toronto at our friends house. Once on the highway, Lori was able to slide herself back a bit which also slid everything behind her back. Much more comfortable though. About half hour later, we discovered the case slid back a bit too far and the Silver Triumph dry bag (along with the bike cover that was on top of that) was no longer on top of the GLFR, but hanging off behind it.

Having it back those 2 inches pushed everything back far enough that all of the weight was not being supported by the rear rack on the bike and between the momentum of accelerating and gravity, everything just kept sliding off the back. So we pulled off at the side of the highway to re-adjust everything. Only way to make this safer was to move everything forward a bit so the weight was centred over the rear rack on the bike, which of course led us back to square one in terms of enough room for Lori on the back.

Back on the road Lori was basically using all her leg muscles to try and keep herself from sliding right into me. “This is not going to work”, we both agreed. If we make it so it's comfortable-ish for Lori, the weight is too far back and everything on the top slides off bike. Not even an hour into our trip and we were having a significant problem.

Something else that bothered me was having the GLFR strapped down over the side cases, made the side cases completely inaccessible without unstrapping everything and removing the GLFR. Need rain gear or a sweater, we essentially have to remove most of this system to get at anything. UGH! I dismissed this impracticality initially because I thought Lori would be uber comfy on the back, so I was willing to work around it.

Another issue that became apparent and the final nail in the Giant Loop Fort Rock case coffin was one of safety aspect. The sides of the GLFR completely covered the pillion grab bars. If we ever had to make an emergency stop, she would have nothing to grab on to and slide right into me. In the event of a panic stop, Lori could also reach around me and push off the tank, but the only thing Lori could reach was the very end of the tank bag and barely with her finger tips. Not quite sure how this little detail managed to slip past us, but it did.

Well "that's that" we agreed. Now what? Since our destination that day was our friends place in Ottawa, where we would be staying indoors, we decided to drop off the GLFR (which had all our camping gear) with our other friends in Toronto and carry on without our camping gear for the day.

While on the road we decided the solution to our dilemma was a regular top case (which incidentally was our original plan). It's locked down to the rear rack of the bike, lockable, Lori can easily reach the rear grab bars (not to mention the heated wraps I put on the grab bars for her) and we would also strap down a dry bag onto each side case, giving us full access to everything, at anytime. It also gives us about the same volume for packing. While we both love the idea of the Giant Loop Fort Rock top case, it's just not going to work for us like we thought.


Getting help from Otto unloading the bike.

It was nice to catch up with our friends Jeff & Karen over brekky at the Bad Dog Cafe - excellent food by the way, and drop off our gear. We were soon back on the road to Ottawa - our shakedown ride!


What the bike looked like by the time we got to Ottawa later that day.

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