Review Of First Gear Luggage

[TimC]

I recently purchased a set of First Gear "nylon expandable" saddlebags and matching tailbag from NewEnough.com for my trip to southern Virginia and back. While I'd love to have a set of matching hard bags I would never get enough use out of them to justify their expense. Plus, when I buy a new bike (someday) my soft bags will fit on the new bike easily enough. Anyway, here's my review of these bags.

Quality is very good and they look great, and they look good on the bike. I did have to trim one of the plastic shape reinforcers to get it to fit in one saddlebag, otherwise no problems getting them set up for initial use. Zippers all work great and seal up fairly well. I would recommend stuffing brand new soft bags overnight to get them to fill out to their normal shape prior to using them for the first time. Makes it easier to pack them when you need to, otherwise they're very wrinkled.

The matching tailbag does not hook into the saddlebags the way some other manufacturers' bags do. A drawback when using the set, but I made it work. Just more of a pain in finding places to bungee the tailbag really.

Finding places to bungee the 3 bags to my '04 VFR (w/stock exhaust and rear fender) was a bit of a challenge, but I made it work. I did end up using couple extra bungee cords to keep the bags more secure. I could probably have found a better way to mount the bags without having to use my extra bungees, but I didn't mind using the extras and they didn't look too bad on there either. Once properly secured the bags behaved well during freeway speeds of up to 90 mph. They'd probably be fine even faster but I didn't need to try.

The bike handled nicely with the fully loaded bags mounted on my bike. I took it a little easier around corners - better safe than sorry - plus I noticed the front end was a bit lighter. Always be aware that bags change the handling characteristics of your machine.

These saddlebags and tailbag expand easily and will hold a lot of stuff. I overpacked for my 4-day/3-night trip (a learning experience) but had no problems fitting everything into these 3 bags. The tailbag was actually quite a bit larger than I expected it to be, even in it's unexpanded state. It's really large enough to be used alone for overnight trips instead of having to use the saddlebags.

The backside of the saddlebags rested against the heat shields of my stock exhaust and did not melt or burn. I don't know how they'd be with after-market exhausts, but with the stockers they were fine.

I did not ride through any rain during my trip, so I can't say how well the rain covers work, nor how securely they fasten to the bags. I'll always keep them with the bags but hope I don't have to use them. I know it's inevitable but for now they'll stay in the plastic bag they came in.

Hope other VFRD members find this review useful. Please feel free to ask me questions about these if you'd like more info.

[Synaptic Misfire]

The first time I used my softbags they were cinched down tighter than Kirstie Ally's jeans. I figured out from experience with them that four well placed bungees did just as good of a job and made it a helluva lot easier to remove and remount each day.

One trick I use is to route the rear two bungees inside the cans on VTEC to the LP bracket (stripped of the snow shovel) to protect them from heat I slid a couple of fiberglass spark plug boot covers on to them. Works like a charm multiple 14 hours days with no damage.

For reference I use the Motopak GTS-90's and tailbag combo.

[TimC]

Well, I had an unfortunate incident with my bags a couple weeks ago during a trip. The bags slipped backward while I was riding and consequently melted one of the across-the-seat Velcro straps. My underseat exhaust melted the rear-most straps on both bags. I carry extra bungees with me just in case, so I was able to successfully rig the bags for the rest of the trip.

So here's my question: Can straps be replaced on these things? Can they be sent to the manufacturer for repairs like this? Anyone ever try? I'll probably try to get it done locally, esp. if the mfr. can't help me, but I'm really just hoping to save this set of bags.

[Jon28]

Nice write up. I've enjoyed my motopak GTS90's even though I only use them from time to time. They work great and keep most of the rain out.......I did ride through a downpour from Atlanta to Deals Gap and only a minimal amount of water penetrated inside.

IMHO: Buy those zip lock big bags for your gear.....keeps them dry.......see aforementioned reason! I wish I had the $$ for the hard bags/