Cortech Sport Tail Bag

Hello fellow FZ6ers,
After commuting on the motorcycle for about 5 months with a packback full of stuff, I decided to purchase some nice luggage for the FZ6. After seeing many nice pictures and reading good reviews, I purchased the black Cortech Sport Tail Bag from New Enough for $63 with free shipping.

First of all the bag seems to be very well made and has reflective material on the handle side. The bag comes with a rain cover and a shoulder strap. Underneath the bag is a neoprene protective cover which is velcroed on and is easy to remove.




The bungee chords are nicely hidden away when not in use.




Installing the bag on the FZ6 was very simple. I used the metal flanges of the license plate holder frame towards the front of the muffler for the front bungees and used the rear reflector brackets for the rear bungees. These bungee points seems ok, but I am considering a different mounting point for the rear because I have noticed that the plastic for the rear turn signals are starting to deform a bit.






The main storage compartment has a nice lil organizer on the flap. The main compartment can be expanded by unzipping the sides, this expands each side by about 2 inches. The side compartments are small, but they can fit a wallet, spare change, a glove, etc.

Now what can I fit in the main compartment? According to the Cortech instructions, the bag can hold a maximum of 15 Lbs. Well, with the sides fully expanded, I was able to fit my medium Tourmaster Intake Jacket and this filled up the entire bag pretty good, but I could probably squeeze more smaller, flatter items into the bag if I really needed to. I could also fit my 15.4'' screen HP laptop with the sides fully expanded, the power chord and still have enough room for more. To be honest, I was expecting the bag to be a little bit bigger, maybe even possiby be big enough to carry another helmet, but I may be asking too much. I think with the bag fully extended, it is a little bit bigger than my Jansport backpack that I am using now, which is enough for me at the moment.

In the end, I really like the tail bag. It is really nice to be able to carry stuff with me without wearing a backpack. Having the tail bag is almost like having a small lil trunk on the FZ6 (the Givi top case is a REAL trunk ), but I can also easily remove it and carry it around, using the included shoulder straps of course. Sometime in the future I would also like to get the matching saddle bags. Cortech makes very good products and will probably continue to buy from them.

Nice review and photos. :thumbup:

I use this one every day! Love it! I don't pull the bungies under though. I take the front two and pull them through the grab rails, up over the seat and attach them to each other. The rear hooks, I put under the grab rails and pull them back and up to clip to the D rings on the bag. :thumbup:

I've put a LOT in this bag! I will tonight too along with the Sport Saddle bags as I pack for a 500 mile weekend!

Great review. I'll have to add this to the shopping list. :thumbup:

Nice review. I own the Sport Saddle Bags and have frequently contemplated buying the matching tail bag to go with them. They are supposed to be able to clip together as a 3-bag system.

As for the saddle bags, does anyone else have any trouble with them rubbing on the painted side-pods of the bike? Mine is rubbing away the blue paint on my ride side-pod.:spank:

rsw81 said:

Nice review. I own the Sport Saddle Bags and have frequently contemplated buying the matching tail bag to go with them. They are supposed to be able to clip together as a 3-bag system.

As for the saddle bags, does anyone else have any trouble with them rubbing on the painted side-pods of the bike? Mine is rubbing away the blue paint on my ride side-pod.:spank:

Click to expand...

I have them and have no trouble with the pods. Make sure they are very tight before pulling away.

And yes, the tail bag not only has the bungies but also the buckles to clip into the saddle bags. You see those front and rear pockets with the clips? The tail bag snaps right on! :thumbup:

Great review and photos, THANKS! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Nice Review!!! Thanks a lot!!:thumbup:

FZ6inNH said:

I have them and have no trouble with the pods. Make sure they are very tight before pulling away.

And yes, the tail bag not only has the bungies but also the buckles to clip into the saddle bags. You see those front and rear pockets with the clips? The tail bag snaps right on! :thumbup:

Click to expand...

Mine are definitely strapped in pretty darn tight. Can you post some pics of where/how you strap yours in? I have mine with the velcro straps over the seat and over the grab bars. Then the clip-straps grabbing the frame under the seat and the rear of the grab bar.

Thanks bro.

Thanks for the pic's and review.......I just got one on e-bay!!! Cant wait to get it on the bike!!! :rockon:

rsw81 said:

Mine are definitely strapped in pretty darn tight. Can you post some pics of where/how you strap yours in? I have mine with the velcro straps over the seat and over the grab bars. Then the clip-straps grabbing the frame under the seat and the rear of the grab bar.

Thanks bro.

Click to expand...

I'll take some either tonight or tomorrow morning. I have to load them up for the ride in the morning and get them mounted. For reference, I go over the grab rails and seat with the three bags. Nothing goes under any part of the bike other than the rear strap. :thumbup:

FZ6inNH said:

I use this one every day! Love it! I don't pull the bungies under though. I take the front two and pull them through the grab rails, up over the seat and attach them to each other. The rear hooks, I put under the grab rails and pull them back and up to clip to the D rings on the bag. :thumbup:

I've put a LOT in this bag! I will tonight too along with the Sport Saddle bags as I pack for a 500 mile weekend!

Click to expand...

FZ6inNH, I will definitely try your mounting method! It would probably look a lot cleaner too.

Thanks

FZ6inNH said:

I'll take some either tonight or tomorrow morning. I have to load them up for the ride in the morning and get them mounted. For reference, I go over the grab rails and seat with the three bags. Nothing goes under any part of the bike other than the rear strap. :thumbup:

Click to expand...

Sweet, thanks man. The rear strap that goes under the seat... you mean the thinner of the two velcro straps that goes from one side to the other right? I usually just leave both going over the seat since I don't have the tailbag yet. Looking forward to the pictures.

Ok... as promised. Late only because my sister's PC was hosed when we arrived and I've been all night fixing it. Would have taken less time to rebuild it from scratch but I had no XP cd with me... oh well. Let's just say AVG and ZoneAlarm both SUCK when they break!

So, the way I mount these bags... Here is how I hang them all:

First, here is the position of the bags before actual strapping:


Here is how I wrap the front clips around the pillion foot peg brackets:


Shown here is the front strap connected to the peg bracket:


When I mentioned rear strap, I meant the web with buckles that connects the rear of the bags from side to side. Here's a shot but it did come out dark. The rear connects and the strap goes over the top of the plate light but below the exhaust ports:


The tail bag is clipped in the rear with the buckles, but I prefer to use the bungies in the front as you see here:
Front

Rear


And finally, all three bags loaded and ready for travel:

I have this bag on my R1, I love it. I had to figure out a way to attach it to the passenger seat pad so it wouldn't move, but once I got it attached it's rock solid. with the expandable sides I was able to carry enough clothes in it for a weekend get away, plus still had room for a spare visor and a bottle of water & flip flops for when I was done riding for the day. I paid $70.00 at a dealership for the bag, and it is well worth it!!!:thumbup:

FZ6inNH said:

Ok... as promised. Late only because my sister's PC was hosed when we arrived and I've been all night fixing it. Would have taken less time to rebuild it from scratch but I had no XP cd with me... oh well. Let's just say AVG and ZoneAlarm both SUCK when they break!

So, the way I mount these bags... Here is how I hang them all:

First, here is the position of the bags before actual strapping:

Here is how I wrap the front clips around the pillion foot peg brackets:

Shown here is the front strap connected to the peg bracket:

When I mentioned rear strap, I meant the web with buckles that connects the rear of the bags from side to side. Here's a shot but it did come out dark. The rear connects and the strap goes over the top of the plate light but below the exhaust ports:

The tail bag is clipped in the rear with the buckles, but I prefer to use the bungies in the front as you see here:
Front

Rear

And finally, all three bags loaded and ready for travel:

Click to expand...

Interesting, I strap mine identically to yours in the font, but I didn't realize the rear strap was meant to go across the bike and connect the two bags. I've just been strapping each side individually to the back of the grab rail. I'll try this way out and see how it works today for my trip home from Santa Barbara. Thanks for posting the pics!:cheer:

rsw81 said:

Interesting, I strap mine identically to yours in the font, but I didn't realize the rear strap was meant to go across the bike and connect the two bags. I've just been strapping each side individually to the back of the grab rail. I'll try this way out and see how it works today for my trip home from Santa Barbara. Thanks for posting the pics!:cheer:

Click to expand...

NP! I like how the bungies tend to pull everything a little tighter together too!

FZ6inNH said:

NP! I like how the bungies tend to pull everything a little tighter together too!

Click to expand...

So I tried your way today and still ran into the same problem. I think the problem is that little foam-pad that goes between the bag and the bike. At the front of my right bag, the pad slowly wiggles its way out from under that leading edge of the bag, leaving the textile material directly in contact with the blue plastic pod. As the bag wiggles a little during riding, the textile material is rubbing down the paint. I'll try to get a picture later for some suggestions on how to fix this problem. I am contemplating getting a new plastic for their, and the just putting this worn one on for when I use the bags.

thanks for the nice pictures and everything, I am considering some luggage and actually your pictures help me lots with the desicion, I think I'll be doing long trips with my wife so I need that space, did you check the hard sidecase??? I think one of the brands is givi.

thanks