Joined
·
2,730 Posts
Seems like what you MUST CARRY on your motorcycle depends on how far you're going.
Cross country, ya gotta have tools, tire kit, etc.
Cross town ya GOTTA carry yer leather jacket.
Somewhere imbetween you need rain gear.
So with my Concours, it's always....bags on? bags off?
I prefer riding, and swinging my leg over WITHOUT the saddlebags cause realistically I'm an inch or so shorter than a rider of this bike SHOULD be.
So bags off, I always carry a cargo net for groceries, thrift store finds, fold the jacket under if it gets too hot...
And the tools, mini-compressor, rain gear generally get left at home.
The Vespa, with it's top box and big underseat storage, I always have room for rain gear. I even carry a bottle of real maple syrup for those stops at Waffle House, lol.
The glovebox on the Concours is worthless, someone on a Kawasaki forum measured it at over 125 degrees which will quickly shut down an Iphone. In fact, the only KNOWN use for the Concours "hot box" is to pick up a flank steak, marinate it or apply a rub, wrap in foil, and put it in the Connie's glovebox for two tanks of gas and then you've got a good lunch.
(They moved it away from engine heat in 2010+ models)
But it would be nice to have a glovebox that could actually accommodate a set of gloves, sunglasses, have a charging/USB port, put your cellie in there to charge while headed down the road.
The old Honda Elite 250 scooter I rode for over a decade, with the rectangular (not square) milk crate FIRMLY BOLTED on the back, well, I could haul ANYTHING on it, up to and including TWO 12packs of Dr. Pepper AND a gallon of milk...with bags of groceries stacked on top. it was the pickup truck of scooters. Mule.
But it was so doggone reliable I never hauled tools, and only ran around town, kept a thin rain shell in her "glove box."
Motorcycle AND scooter manufacturers, aside from baggers/panniers, just seem to ignore the fact that when we ride we haul stuff with us. (Vespa DOES include a convenient hook for plastic or recyclable grocery bags)
Is adding some simple storage space, maybe a fold-out wire-rack, decent hooks for a cargo net (like on the older Ninjas), so much to ask?
With the saddlebags in place the Concours offers next to ZERO usable places to put cargo hooks.
IMHO bike mfr's are too worried about making their bikes"look cool" and not nearly enough about practicality.
Cross country, ya gotta have tools, tire kit, etc.
Cross town ya GOTTA carry yer leather jacket.
Somewhere imbetween you need rain gear.
So with my Concours, it's always....bags on? bags off?
I prefer riding, and swinging my leg over WITHOUT the saddlebags cause realistically I'm an inch or so shorter than a rider of this bike SHOULD be.
So bags off, I always carry a cargo net for groceries, thrift store finds, fold the jacket under if it gets too hot...
And the tools, mini-compressor, rain gear generally get left at home.
The Vespa, with it's top box and big underseat storage, I always have room for rain gear. I even carry a bottle of real maple syrup for those stops at Waffle House, lol.
The glovebox on the Concours is worthless, someone on a Kawasaki forum measured it at over 125 degrees which will quickly shut down an Iphone. In fact, the only KNOWN use for the Concours "hot box" is to pick up a flank steak, marinate it or apply a rub, wrap in foil, and put it in the Connie's glovebox for two tanks of gas and then you've got a good lunch.
(They moved it away from engine heat in 2010+ models)
But it would be nice to have a glovebox that could actually accommodate a set of gloves, sunglasses, have a charging/USB port, put your cellie in there to charge while headed down the road.
The old Honda Elite 250 scooter I rode for over a decade, with the rectangular (not square) milk crate FIRMLY BOLTED on the back, well, I could haul ANYTHING on it, up to and including TWO 12packs of Dr. Pepper AND a gallon of milk...with bags of groceries stacked on top. it was the pickup truck of scooters. Mule.
But it was so doggone reliable I never hauled tools, and only ran around town, kept a thin rain shell in her "glove box."
Motorcycle AND scooter manufacturers, aside from baggers/panniers, just seem to ignore the fact that when we ride we haul stuff with us. (Vespa DOES include a convenient hook for plastic or recyclable grocery bags)
Is adding some simple storage space, maybe a fold-out wire-rack, decent hooks for a cargo net (like on the older Ninjas), so much to ask?
With the saddlebags in place the Concours offers next to ZERO usable places to put cargo hooks.
IMHO bike mfr's are too worried about making their bikes"look cool" and not nearly enough about practicality.
.
