Soft panniers with backing on racks

38L=10 gallons,
45L=12 gallons

Any idea on max gear weight in each in plates attached to racks?

BMW Vario cases are rated for 22# of gear in each pannier, as an example. I'm thinking I can take the soft bags to 28#'s of gear safely in each bag, but what's the consensus opinion from our esteemed members here?

thanks

36 views and no one cares to answer or doesn't know approximate weight limits for soft panniers on backers attached to racks?

Woah - not sure getting shitty is the way to go here!

I suspect your answer is going to be ‘it depends’. In my experience quoted weight limits are often v low but you should clarify for your specific chosen pannier.

I use SW motech soft panniers on hard mounts, in conjunction with a dry bag and this was fine for 3 months on the road with the usual camping gear, clothes, spares etc. Bags held up fine in themselves but the plastic mounting clips that held the bag to the rail were not up to the job (need to be secured with cable ties) and the strap rings gave way pretty fast. I just took some ratchet straps to keep things secure.

Couldn’t give you a specific weight (suspect this is why others have not replied) but i’d guess i was running 10-12 kgs per side bag max.


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No idea what my stuff weighs. Its less than the pillion Honda rate the bikes subframe for but could well be more than SW Motechs lawyers use to reject claims. The Givi top box and ex-MOD panniers are fine. Stopped lugging tents and stoves and tyres and spare drive shafts that sort of stuff about.

BTW, what's 22#? Pounds, Kilos? I was struggling to understand the question.

I'm surprised weight might be a limit though. When you see bikes like loaded to insane levels, it's always extra stuff sacks and rolls strapped to the mud guards, suggesting volume is the limit.

Andy

The pound symbol is # on the keyboards. So Varios are rated at 22 pounds [ #'s ] of gear max in each.

If I was trying to get shitty, I'd have used something like this to make the point.

12Kkg's is 26 pounds [ #'s ]. That gives me an idea what other bags are holding and holding up well to for weight. That gives me 50#'s or thereabouts for gear in both bags.

Normal kit in the panniers carried every day is 26#'s [ 13#'s each side ], so I'll plan on maybe another 12#'s per side, the rest getting strapped in dry bags on top of the panniers. I know from the LR site, they've been tested and will hold up to 100+#'s on top of both, though I'd only be placing perhaps 15#'s on either.

Thanks for the reply, 26#'s [ 12 kg's ] is a starting point. That helps give one a starting point.

I appreciate the responses, but no success on several sites including here on weight limits of soft panniers.

It's amazing none of the makers list that for their gear IMO. It shouldn't be so difficult to find weight limits of gear in panniers.

Sw Motech stated 11lbs for each bag for their generic strap mounted Dakar bags - see page 1 of the attached. (I had the klr650 specific bags/frames rather than the generic ones but the same limit was stated).

https://d1l4i7f87txqmq.cloudfront.ne...41_11000_b.pdf





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That helps, I did not see that listed on their page when looking, thanks. I noticed they are attached to frames with webbing, unlike the bags that are on a backer plate that attaches to the rack. Hence the 11# limit IMO. 32 liters on the dakar bags, but this still gives me an idea of weight limits.

Where you've run as much as 12kg in yours without noticing weight issues/strength issues with the racks/bags, that's a better idea of what might be feasible rather than what they recommend [ which I would guess to be in the low side for liability reasons

The post that was referred to as shitty, was an observation made [ that 38 people had viewed the question/thread topic and no one had bothered to reply ].

And that second "shitty" post brought several responses, a few that were helpful. I suppose I could have posted something like BTTT, instead of making an observation about how many people viewed and didn't respond.

In general, when I find myself tempted to complain about a lack of responses, I try to remember that this says more about me than it does about my viewing audience.

I got curious, so I checked the five or six threads which follow this one on my feed. Ignoring multi-page threads (because I want to make it easy on myself), all have about 40 times as many views as responses. In counting, I ignored responses from the originators of each thread.

At the moment this one has 166 views and 4 responses not the OP, one of which doesn't relate at all to the original query. So the response rate has actually gone DOWN since OP's complaint, which perhaps means something about perceptions vs. realities. Interesting? Well, maybe only to me. In any case, this thread is pretty normal, and it has been from the start.

Again in general, I figure that if I post something which doesn't elicit responses it means that either no one but me is interested (often true), or people are interested but don't know the answer. Personally, I fall into the latter category on this topic, so I've been viewing without posting. I'd find a 5 kilo/11 lb maximum very limiting, since I carry far more than that in my hard cases; I can only assume that these stated maximums don't really correspond to the inherent limits of the gear itself. I can't imagine the circumstances under which I'd set off on a long trip with only 10 kilos/22 lbs. in my panniers. Nor can I imagine actually paying the listed prices for most soft panniers in order to carry so little weight.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

Just an update on the issue of weight sustainable in soft panniers on racks attached to bike [ vs soft panniers without racks laid across the seat ]. On another site, one stated he's put up to 45#'s in each and had no problems tar riding/touring for 10's of 1k's of miles. The other said he didn't know how much weight he'd put in his, but it was about 35#'s each side without issues, same, on roads neither rides non graded fire roads/dirt.

I believe 30#'s in each of mine will be plenty, but that's another 16#'s total in the bags over the Varios [ 8#'s to a side ]. My daily load out of tools, extra gear in the panniers is 26#'s. The traveling gear is put aside in one place, and weighs 14#'s. After all that gear is distributed, it will still leave me with 10# more in each bag, so I'll be good with putting clothes and incidentals in the new bags. That saves the second dry bag on top of the seat/rear rack.

What a question.

There a thousands of bag and rack combinations of varying quality so how do you judge it ?

And 10kg of clothes aren't going to hurt your bags like 10kg of loose spanners are.

So many variables. So there is no answer.

Just don't put heavy or hard things in your soft bags. They only get broken if you drop the bike anyway.

I only put clothes, waterproofs, sleeping bags, books and food in my soft bags. That way the bike is cushioned in a fall and nothing gets broken in the bag. Apart from instant noodles

Heavy and hard things go in a backbox, tank bag or Ortlieb type roll pack on the pillion seat.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Chris Scott on this forum has some interesting insights on weight/volume of soft luggage, plus reviews of most of the soft luggage available


https://adventure-motorcycling.com/2...-soft-baggage/

I have 4 motorcycles, they all handle the same load differently. It also depends if you have a top case or duffy bags or carry anything else.

I don't think that weight capacity matters that much, what matters the most is how to pack. and then go out to see how the motorcycle handles the load off road, on road highway speed and even in the city.