The Bags-Connection Speedpack Bag

We're really shooting for low quality blogging tonight.  Bad pictures and an uninteresting topic! Before you start to ask yourself, "What am I doing with my life?" and "Maybe I should get back to balancing my checkbook." lets just throw a image on the screen to help distract you.

That didn't help did it?  Ok, if you have no interest in motorcycle luggage you're allowed to leave.  I promise I've got some good shots for my next post..check back soon.  For those of you who are easily entertained lets move on.  I've got my first large multi-state ride planned for next month.  I'll be meeting up with some of my fellow riding club members in Arches, Utah.  From there we'll head east through Colorado, south through Kansas and Texas, and back home through New Mexico.  I'm pretty excited!!!

Task number one was to find some good luggage to transport my gear. I didn't want anything permanent or with lots of ugly mounting hardware.  Quick on, quick off. I'd like to maintain the overall look of the bike when I'm not touring.

When in doubt turn to the web.  One of the first blogs I stumbled upon, and still my favorite, is MyBonnie.  If you click on his "gear" page you'll notice he uses the Speedpack from twistedthrottle.com.  It appeared to have everything I wanted and of course MyBonnie swears by it.  The only problem..it's only sold by one company, twistedthrottle.com, and it's super expensive.  It was a big gamble but what the hell, lets give it a shot.  I ordered online and a week later this little package arrived via UPS.

One of the main things I like about this bag is that it rests entirely on the rear portion of the Bonneville seat.  And lets face it there is a lot of real estate back there.  It's nice to be able to put it to good use.  A bonus that I didn't plan on was that the side bars of my Renntec rear rack help support the side bags.  So no saddlebag supports needed.

As far as I can tell the quality of the bag is quite good.  Heavy duty stitching and serious looking zippers.  The two side bags are connected via straps that lay across the seat.  You then place the larger bag over the seat straps and velcro all three bags bags together.  That may not sound secure, but I can tell you nothing is separating those bags unless you unzip them yourself.  You attach the bag to the passenger foot peg support bars, in the front, and to the license plate mounting bracket in the rear.

I don't have it strapped down in these pictures..but I found another post where you can see how the straps work.  When you're done it looks like you've pitched a tent on the back of your bike.  I think it looks pretty unique and I'm betting it will be a conversation starter every time I stop for gas.