Locking your luggage?

[geetarhero]

This spring will be my first season of riding and my brand new FZ is currently sitting next to my toolbox at the shop waiting for snow to melt.

Im trying to figure out a plan for luggage but cant come up with any solid ideas. I Dont need huge amounts of space, more for when I bomb to the movie theatre to meet some friends but dont want to wear ALL of my gear into the theatre.

Soft bags I think would be far too easy to unzip and steal my stuff, but the look of hard top cases look terrible for all the time driving IMO (not to mention the sail factor)
is there any other option? Ideally chucking on a set of cheap thin hard side cases and figureing out an effective way to lock them would be best but i want to know what everyone else has set up without dishing $500+ on a rack and topcase :wav:

 

[bcityroller]

Well - this obviously isn't want you want to hear but I went back and forth about the looks of a topcase for about 6 months before I decided to try one. I'd never go back now even though I still think they're not very attractive - the function is just way too awesome to worry about the aesthetics. Of course, since the cases are removable if you didn't need on a ride you can leave it home and all that's left is the flat mounting plate which is pretty unobtrusive IMO.

I spent $250-275 US to buy a shad rack and Givi E450 case including shipping. I can't tell it's there (read no sail effect), I never have to wonder if someone is going to walk off with my helmet when I'm at lunch, I can stop and get a small grocery order including a gallon of milk and not agonize over how to pack it up to get home, etc. At the end of the day I can't imagine you could get two decent quality, attractive side cases and racks for less money than one top case and rack setup.

 

[cv_rider]

I finally succumbed to the total convenience/security of a top case (Shad 46), but prior to that, I locked all my riding gear and helmet with a cable and padlock to the front wheel, put boots/gloves into a CoreTech tailbag with the zipper locked closed (but the whole tailbag wasn't secured to the bike so this only deterred the most casual of thiefs). It was too much of a hassle after a while, so the top case is the way to go.

 

[necrotimus]

I have two soft bags run the cable lock through the helmet and drop that in one side. The other side I put my jacket and pants in and lock the zipper shut. If I am in a 'bad' area I will run a cable lock through the jacket and pants as well before putting them in the bag.

 

[616ah]

I try to stay away from the "eye candy" stuff - I like to think that if it doesn't look impressive then nobody will want it - although if it as a bad enough area I am more concerned about the whole bike disappearing... My 2c.

In light of that I prefer soft lugage and laeving nothing of interest... :thumbup:

 

[mstewar1]

What it's like in your area -- is it really shady? lots of crime? super safe suburbia? To my mind, that's the most pressing question to answer. From there, it's mostly a matter of taste.

I live in an urban setting where you just can't leave anything out in plain sight in your car and you wouldn't want to leave soft luggage on a moto. If the scumbags didn't just walk away with the soft luggage, they'd slice it up just for kicks.

If getting the bag straight-up ripped off or messed up isn't an issue, then soft bags may work just fine for you. If such vandalism is a potential issue, then you may want to consider a hard case solution.

I bit the bullet and bought a givi hard case and a givi rack. As has been mentioned, the bare rack isn't the greatest looking thing but it doesn't bug me. If I'm riding without my case on there, I don't even think about the empty rack -- I can't see it. And when I've got the case on there I have never noticed it causing any kind of a "sail effect." I bought my case used off of ebay for cheap.

I also bought the givi side case racks and a couple of smaller side cases. When I put them all on I've got a fair amount of storage. And they're all keyed alike, too.

The folks who've bought the Shad brand seem to have done so because they thought that they look better than the givi. Maybe so. I haven't really seen one in place so can't comment. Understand that when you buy that brand of rack, you'll also have to buy an adapter plate to fit your case of choice to it. Not a big deal, just a detail. And you don't have to guy a givi case for a shad rack, either. You can get other brands of cases as long as you get the respective adapter plate.

There's another option that you have available to you, since you live in Canada. Yamaha offers a rack set-up that attaches to the passenger grab rails. I think it's a pretty sweet set-up. You might/should check that out. But, as with most stuff that is purchased from the stealership, it's probably rather pricey...

 

[steveindenmark]

I live in Denmark and feel totally safe.

I have a top box and hard side cases on all the time. All my gear goes in them and my shorts and trainers come out.

Can you leave soft bags on your bike? What you want and what you need is not the same thing.

Steve

 

[MCFC21]

I'm with most of the guys here , I have Yamaha hard top case and it does the job great and gives me peace of me......damn though it aint the:cheer: prettiest for sure

 

[geetarhero]

thanks for the replies guys. I realized with one of the upper posts that I could run a cable lock through the sleeve of my jacket/pants making it impossible to take off without cutting the leather (original idea was locking the zippers together which would be very easy to break) and shove it all in either a soft tail bag or some sides
Does anyone use the OEM helmet lock?

the type of saddlebags I was thinking of was much like this

which are very cheap and dont look like they need a rack to hang on.

Either way this has helped me decide I should be fine even with a soft tail bag... Freakin love this forum!

Edit: I live in a fairly safe city. not a whole lot of crime, even downtown. For Canada its pretty bad but its still good. Bike is stored in a garage anyways so its more for if I go to meet friends at a pub or something

 

[Deleted member 2349]

My 05 doesn't even have an OEM helmet lock...but I am looking for a way to mod something under the seat to be able to lock a helmet at least...I do have a Python lock but its damn heavy and unless I have my backpack, theres no where to put it?

I am thinking of getting a tank bag to that I can keep the lock in then it will be ready to lock my helmet and jacket...when its called for.

 

[cv_rider]

One of the things I like about a top case (replacing the soft saddlebags I did use previously) is that the saddlebag is no longer covering the helmet lock. So now I use it frequently (on my 07).

 

[craig007]

this is what I did for the last 2 years:

Basically, a home made cable with a smaller cable to secure the zippers shut. It worked OK to secure my tank bag, jacket and pants.

This year I stepped up to a Givi E52. This thing is great. I haven't taken a trip with it yet, but commuting to work or going to the store is great.