Okay heres another post requesting advice. I currently own a 07 Tuono with a few minor mods like heated grips, pipes, and screen. It has 7100k on the clock. I use it for commuting as well as weekend fun. Here lately I am finding that I am not satisfied with the commuting abilities of this bike. If I am running to the grocery store after work I have no place to store my gear, nor bags to transport the gallon of milk home. I have a tank bag which I use as well as a back pack. Both are useful but lack the convenience of a top box or panniers. I know lots of folks tour on the tuono, but this is an entirely separate task from commuting. If all I did was tour, then I would buy a Ventura rack and be done with it. Now I love my bike but I constantly suffer from the "shiny and new syndrome." Ideally I would buy a bike similar to mine with hard bags but I don't think it exists. No one seems to make a holligan with hardbags IMHO. So. I have searched high and low and found you can get HB c-bow bags for the tuono. Which are tempting... but don't really seem to solve the problem. And I can modify the pillion pad and put a top box on it as well. The question is will sinking more money in the bike make me happy? I know only I can answer this, but I would love some other opinions. Does a true Holligan with Hardbags exist? Should I make one? Does anyone have a cure for the "shiney and new, grass is always greener" syndrome?
Agreed, and since you apparently only ride a little over 1000 miles a year it shouldn't be a big issue for you. About the shiny and new thing... I have the opposite problem. I like to tinker with my bikes and set them up to my preference with regard to comfort, ergos, and performance. So once I get a bike that I like sorted out for me, I find it hard to let go of it.
That is a good question. hooligans are some of the nicest looking bikes but I am an old woman when it comes to hard bags. I like them. I don't however like a top box. Ruins the looks of anything.
I have a Speed Triple, so I'm in a similar scenario. The stubby tailsections of these bikes, especially with high pipes, just aren't great for luggage, hard or soft. My commuter solution is a Kriega US20 on the pillion. This is enough for bringing lunch into work. If I need more storage (like grocery shopping) I have a Kriega R35 backpack. Between these, I can handle any realistic around-town shlepping. If you're looking to leave, say, a riding suit on the bike while you're off on foot, obviously the US20 doesn't lock and is somewhat easily stealable itself. Your only real option is a lockable hard case with a fairly secure mount. As far as hoolie bikes with hard bags, a BMW K1300R can take bags, but is a big ride. You can always try streetfightering something like a Triumph Sprint.
Probably not. You already don't put a lot of miles on it. That tells me it's not "the one." Why fight an upstream battle for a bike you don't, like, love, man? Anything can be made. Who gives a crap what the manufacturers and suppliers offer? If you have time, $, or friends with skills who work for beer, you can hardbag any bike out there. It's not that hard. As for the social component, people who do what it takes to make a bike they love work for them get a lot of respect from hardcore riders. It's always nice to see how someone resolved their incongruous wants against the limitations of the factory and market.
Carry stuff, why not get a hooligan scooter or if that not your style there is always the Buell Ulysses.
There is a definite tradeoff between "sexy" and cargo. I'm convinced a frumpy set of luggage means I get treated as a non-hooligan by local drivers and LEOs, but that might just be in my head. OTOH, for the month or so I had the f800r I felt able to actually do more hooligan things (passing over the double yellow, lanesplitting, passing over the double yellow, parking in weird places, and also passing over the double yellow). Maybe a sporty standard that has good Givi or SW-Motech luggage rack options would do the trick, and you wouldn't even need to go european: The pre-2012 or 2013 ninja1k had luggage options and similar power to your Tuono. Yamaha's fz1 is another option, and even a VFR1200 might do you, but it is a bigger bike than your Tuono (visually and in terms of weight). IMHO, it is pretty rare for any bike to still look "sexy" with luggage on. It might look "rugged", but that's something for the beasts forum. I don't expect you're going to go get lost on a muddy trail at Uwharrie I think there are topbox mounts for street/speed triples, if not hard side luggage. Luggage like that sort of makes any sporty standard look frumpy as hell, though.
A couple that come to mind: http://www.webbikeworld.com/r100rs/bmw-r100rs-photos.htm http://www.bmbikes.co.uk/photos/photophotos/1974 R90S Cyrille (3).jpg
+1 on the Ninja 1000 another option would be to make a short list of the bikes you may want, then check to see what options/accessories are available for them. For example, if you go to the Givi website, they have a "my motorcycle" option - you can use this to see what all they offer for the bike you are interested in. You can do this with SW Motech as well.
Bingo! Great hooligan bike and lots of carrying capacity. And the XB12XT version even came with a top box as well as the hard bags.
Any of these three would be great. I'd probalby lean toward the Ducati if money wasn't an issue but since it always is I'd probably end up with either a used SMT or a nice hold-over Ninja
I have a Givi rack and 45L boxes on my Naked Bandit 1200, and I consider that bike to be a hooligan. Well, it makes me feel like one anyway Here's the box (http://www.duncansbeemers.com/pimages4/Givi45N.jpg) And the Top Box (Kind of ugly but plenty of storage) (http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/givi-v46-monokey-topcase) Just came back from a 200 mile overnight trip with a pillion and it is still hooliganesque. Her: "It has room for all of our stuff AND a Go button!" -Jake
I used to ride a whole lot more before my son was born. With the weather improving I'm hoping to ride a lot more. I like the multi but way too spendy. I like the smt but wonder if I will be satisfied with the motor which is less powerful then my current. Not to mention the smt is as rare as hens teeth to find new and pretty much impossible to find used on the east coast. And why spend 14k for a smt when a new tuono v4 is now 13k? If a smt was 10k i would be all over it. Of course a new tuono has the same problems. I think I would be happy with a used capo but again a very rare bike. I like the vfr1200 but I really need to test ride it to see if I like it....very heavy. The ninja 1000 just doesn't stir my emotions at all. Regardless my next bike will have ABS. A top box would quiet a lot of my discontent...for a while anyway. I think. So many possibilities.
That's just frustrating! I wonder how hard it would be to fab up a rack? I bet some BMW sport panniers would perfect.
I've got an '03 Tuono, with dual Arrow high mount exhausts (that I love) so I faced the same issues you did with luggage fitment. In the end, I went with a Ventura rack with two bags (Spada and Delta, both seen below, which gives me just under 100 liters of storage combined). I combine that with a FAMSA dual tank bag (big 30 liter and a companion 15 liter that zips on top or can be used solo) and generally just run with the smaller bag (seen above) as it's fairly unobtrusive. That setup is great for commuting as well as touring. When commuting, I generally run just the Spada on the back, which will hold ALL my riding gear and detaches in a couple seconds so I just carry it in to work using the integrated backpack straps, and it's also big enough to hold a week's worth of groceries (I'm long-divorced and no kids). For touring, I zip on the Delta bag, and it holds my 1-man Hubba tent, sleeping bag, pillow, Big Agnes inflatable down pad, cook stove, water, utensils, etc, leaving the bigger Spada bag to handle bulky but light things like clothing and miscellaneous, while the tank bag holds things like my camera, phone, etc. What you can't easily see in that picture above is that the Spada is resting on the rack portion of the Ventura, not just hanging off the rear of the Tuono. Even fully loaded with enough gear for a two week camping tour, you really don't know the stuff is back there, it adds no width to the bike, so you can still easily filter through traffic, and it mounts back just far enough to avoid any issues with throwing a leg over the seat or dismounting. The gear is also very water resistant, mine held up great on a long 2500 mile trip to Lolo Pass and back, with steady rain over most of that trip. Sure, none of it can really be secured on the bike, but like I mentioned, it all comes off (and goes back on) in a matter of seconds. It's also pretty easy to fit cable locks on the stuff for deterring a fast "snatch and grab", and I do make it a point never to park the bike in an "unsafe" area with anything of value in the bags. But I do the same with hard panniers too, since it's child's play to pop the locks on those, there's really no such thing as "secure" motorcycle luggage. Granted, if you just run the rack with no bags, it looks a bit silly, almost like a sissy bar. But when I'm just out to scratch and look pretty, the rear rack assembly also comes off in seconds, and you can leave it off, or replace it quickly with an unobtrusive grab rail. Either way, it looks a lot better than a heavy rack mounting solution for hard luggage. All in all, I'm very happy with the Ventura system, it does a lot better than I expected based on my previous experience with soft saddlebags and even the well-built Wolfman Alpha/Beta bags. It does cost a dollar or two, I think I have just under $600 in the bags, rack, grab rail and (never needed) waterproof storm cover. FYI, my other bike is Sprint ST, with factory hard panniers top box, so it's not like I don't know how nice and handy locking hard bags can be, but the Ventura system isn't that far behind, and it has the huge advantage of easily fitting on most bikes.
Just curious croak but with the sprint which bike do you ride more often and prefer? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
