I started motorcycle touring not long after I started riding. From memory, my first big tour was in 1980, 4 days up to the north coast and back from Canberra on my 500/4.
Here she is on the Wiseman’s Ferry on our way home.
I’d carried lots of stuff on my bike before this (including a complete camera gadget bag in a backpack on my back all the way to Amaroo Park and home again – what was I thinking?) But I realised that I’d need to carry more to tackle 4 days on the road. With that in mind I purchased a set of canvas throw-over panniers (seen here) and secured them with a bungee cord. These, combined with my little top box, would suffice and it did.
It only takes one good tour for you to be hooked and hooked I was. For the next few years I trundled around and found that I had more than enough storage. When I swapped the 500 out for the CBX550 I kept them and the top box and they continued to do the job well. But then the canvas panniers, only cheapies to begin with, started to fall apart from the flogging that I had given them and eventually became unuseable.
I then went through a series of bikes and toured on all of them, especially the 850G. It was big and the little plastic top box was showing its age so I bought a bigger, fibreglass one.
But the 850 was TOO big, I liked my middleweight bikes so, eventually I bought the third CBX550. It was set up for touring with a set of genuine Krauser panniers!
I still liked my top box as a good day-to-day luggage proposition and to augment the panniers when I went touring Top boxes were, by now, becoming quite expensive as more and more riders went touring. My income was limited at that stage so I devised a clever wheeze. A $29.95 took box from Bunnings made an excellent top box and the tray insert went into my workshop to house my socket collection, win-win.
When I sold the CBX in 2002 I was still running this setup but I sold the panniers with the bike and I was back to just the top box. I purchased a new set of throw-over panniers and they did me well for quite a few years on the VFRs.
Somehow, though, the tool box just didn’t look right so I took it off and brought it back into the garage to finally be used for its original use (I still have it) and I bought a proper top box. This was a proper touring setup.
When I had the accident in 2010 I sold all my gear including the panniers (wish I hadn’t) though it had cost me a bit to have a bracket made to keep the right hand pannier clear of the high-mount Staintune. As you can see from the photo, I’d also continued my love affair with tank bags as well.
When I started riding again I bought a new top box and also the bike that I bought had a full Ventura setup as well so it was used for long tours and the top box and tank bag used for smaller trips. And that’s pretty much where I am today. A mix and match combination of tank bags (large and small), top boxes, (large and small) and the Ventura bag for the big trips.
So, a few words about luggage itself. A very wise motorcyclist said to me many years ago that there is a formula for determining how much stuff you should take with you when you tour. It’s this. Collect all the things that you plan on taking, lay them all out on the lounge room floor and then put half of what is there back into the wardrobe! It sounds silly, I know, but it has worked for me ever since I started using it. And even then I still find sometimes that I come home with stuff that I haven’t used. The bottom line is that, if your bike is so loaded down with stuff, it isn’t going to handle as well and be as pleasant to ride, especially through the twisties. I remember on one of my north coast jaunts I was heading out of Port Macquarie to do a day on the Oxley. I had my tank bag and my Ventura and I was thinking that the big bag was going to be a bit of a pain on the mountain.
I stopped in at the bike shop in Wauchope and explained my dilemma to the guys and they were happy to store the Ventura bag for me for the day so that the bike wouldn’t be weighed down so much. What cool guys. I played on the Oxley all day then came back late in the afternoon and collected my bag. Another win-win situation.
You can spend a fortune on luggage or you can play it smart and travel so you don’t need to carry so much stuff. The latter is better for you and the bike in so many ways. After 40 years of touring I think I’ve pretty much got it figured out.