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Best tank bag for Op storm ride
Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 10:21 am
by bazza696
I need a tank bag for the operation storm meeting and also for the mayday ride out to Hastings. I have been looking at the Oxford X30 or X40, I need provision for my sat nav and these have an updated feature to include this.
Does anyone have suggestions from experience of tank bags?
Re: Best tank bag for Op storm ride
Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 2:32 pm
by RAINMAKER
I have a plain jane oxford tank bag which has plastic window, but problems were:
difficult line of vision to sat nav and the window mists up real bad so you can't see the sat nav anyway. (probably engine heat)
best option for me was to use a 'Ram mount' puts it in line of sight and if rains, well a thin plastic sandwich bag works.
Paul
Re: Best tank bag for Op storm ride
Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 2:48 pm
by tony.mon
You ain't gonna need a sat nav for the Mayday!
Just follow the 10,000 bikes in front, and stay on the roads lined with waving families and kids.
When your wheels get wet, you're there.
Re: Best tank bag for Op storm ride
Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 3:04 pm
by bazza696
i will need a sat nav to get to your house, I will be happy to follow you from there.
Re: Best tank bag for Op storm ride
Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 3:16 pm
by tony.mon
OK, I'll be more sensible, then.
Any bag with a plastic pocket is fine, and a magnetic one goes onto your Storm's metal tank ok.
I use a large Oxford, it's not entirely waterproof and when fully packed you can't see the speedo.
Now, that's not too bad, but you also can't see the resettable trip for keeping an eye on fuel, and that was a pain last time I toured down to Valencia.
I've noticed with trying to fold maps and read them through the plastic windows that reflections mean you really can't read them well enough while riding, so personally I tend to write very basic directions (just road numbers and which way, i.e. M25 J28 R onto A127, for instance) onto a piece of cardboard and tuck it into my glove.
It's easy to pick out and read whenever you pull over.
I'd expect the reflections to also be a problem with SatNav units inside a plastic pocket.
But then I haven't got Sat Nav, so I suppose you have to decide if you can just use the earpieces and hear directions or want to mount the unit so that you can see the screen as well.
Re: Best tank bag for Op storm ride
Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 4:59 pm
by Strappy
tony.mon wrote:I've noticed with trying to fold maps and read them through the plastic windows that reflections mean you really can't read them well enough while riding, so personally I tend to write very basic directions (just road numbers and which way, i.e. M25 J28 R onto A127, for instance) onto a piece of cardboard and tuck it into my glove.
Why not just put the cardboard in the tank bag and read it through the window to save stopping? I can't read maps in a tank bag, too much detail to take in. Maybe Mummy was right and it really does make you go blind...
Anyway, I got from Edinburgh to Croatia and back with directions written on slips of paper put in a freezer bag I'd duct-taped to the tank. My tw@-Nav worked perfectly right up until I stopped at a mate's place in France and one of his cats tore it to shreds overnight. It only took another freezer bag to fix it though.
Re: Best tank bag for Op storm ride
Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 5:48 pm
by Wicky
I'm sticking to baglux tankbag and tank harness after a magnetic tank bag scarily blew off at 110 - sadly losing 2kg of liquorice allsorts to be never seen again!
http://www.baglux.co.uk/
Re: Best tank bag for Op storm ride
Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 6:32 pm
by Jonesey
+1 on the baglux, can't fault them!
Re: Best tank bag for Op storm ride
Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 8:16 pm
by tony.mon
Strappy wrote:tony.mon wrote:I've noticed with trying to fold maps and read them through the plastic windows that reflections mean you really can't read them well enough while riding, so personally I tend to write very basic directions (just road numbers and which way, i.e. M25 J28 R onto A127, for instance) onto a piece of cardboard and tuck it into my glove.
Why not just put the cardboard in the tank bag and read it through the window to save stopping? .
It's the reflections I was talking about.
I found I couldn't read anything well through the plastic; the sun shone off it when it was dry, and rain steams it up wet it isn't.
Maybe it's because I also wear glasses.
Mind you, I can't see much with my old eyes (cue violins) at the best of times. I use "Road Braille" to get about, as long as I can hear cat's eyes drumming a little tune under me front wheel I know I'm still in the middle of the road.
Those keep left signs on islands are a pain, though.
And re: a magnetic tankbag, mine came with a headstock strap which is good enough for speeds up to quite a lot, and also a strap which clips under the tank for additional security at silly speeds.
Just make sure you don't snag the carb connector gubbins.
Re: Best tank bag for Op storm ride
Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 8:34 pm
by Anotherbikerbabe
Wicky wrote:I'm sticking to baglux tankbag and tank harness after a magnetic tank bag scarily blew off at 110 - sadly losing 2kg of liquorice allsorts
(howling now!!!!!) to be never seen again!
I love liquorice allsorts, what a waste!http://www.baglux.co.uk/
Re: Best tank bag for Op storm ride
Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 11:05 am
by VTR Marmite
Perhaps the headstock strap would have prevented loss of allsorts in this case
Re: Best tank bag for Op storm ride
Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 12:27 pm
by bazza696
Jonesey wrote:+1 on the baglux, can't fault them!
have you seen the price
Re: Best tank bag for Op storm ride
Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 1:10 pm
by storminateacup
I got one from Aldi £20 headstock strap under tank strap and magnets had it 2 years. Also got RAM mounts for the Sat nav.