economist

I thought I was the only one who kept the stock exhaust!

I put on a set of Road 5s on my 8th gen a few months ago. They are much more planted in the dry than the factory tires, and they are spectacular in the wet. A thousand or so miles of commuting haven’t worn them at all as far as I can tell.

I have a few hundred miles on mine now, after replacing the factory tires on my 8th gen. The Road 5s have been very confidence-inspiring, especially in the wet. I had to make a freeway run in the pouring rain immediately after they were mounted, and I was astonished by how much better they felt than the factory tires.

Mine don’t close evenly, either. They seem to close a little differently each time you close them. Don’t worry about it. They are completely watertight, both sitting still and at highway speed. That gasket seals up well.

You only need the key cylinder inner set, x2 because you are building two locks. The body part is a flange that comes pre-installed in the panniers. I ordered one and ended up not needing it. The seamless integration is a great feature. Taking the cases on and off takes seconds.

It would have to be a very small helmet to fit in the side cases. My Shoei GT -Air in L and my Qwest in XL don’t fit no matter how i turn them. The top box will hold one helmet, though.

The centerstand parts are cheap - but the labor will be very expensive. They have to drop the exhaust to install it. The oem heated grips aren’t very expensive and they plug right into the existing harness, and you even get the indicator on the dash.

My 31l just barely fits my Shoei GT-Air (size L) or my Qwest (size XL). If you plan on using it to store your helmet when you are off the bike, you only have a few cubic inches of space left to store stuff. Otherwise, it looks great, locks up solidly, and functions flawlessly like factory luggage should.