plastic or alu panniers

Getting pretty close to pulling the trigger on a 990 R !

I decided to go ahead and have the dealer install factory panniers and crash bars. I am flipping coins on going w plastic or aluminum panniers

Any words of advice on the panniers?

I have Gobis. I consider them as being just too wide for regular use. I'm converting to Pelican cases very soon.

Kriega Overlander 30 or 60.

Fantastic!

I don't want to try and talk you out of,, or into,, one or the other. I actually have three different types.
Aluminum hard cases, Soft (Heavy Cordura) and Plastic. All three have different benefits and liabilities.

The hard cases have better security. By that I mean, you can lock your stuff up to protect it from theft to a certain degree.

But I do like the soft luggage on my 990R. Just an FYI,, the soft luggage I chose was just about as expensive as my hard cases by the time I bought the KTM racks and bags. Save some cash and install the racks yourself. It's really pretty easy to do if you have a little mechanical ability and a few tools (some will be in the KTM tool Kit most likely).

Maybe other inmates will give you the pros and cons of each from their experience.

Lots of options from a lot of different manufacturers.

+1 on the Kriega Overland 60, add a Wolfman Beta Plus tail bag,,, and you got some serious room for lots of gear.

WJR

I had Gobis on mine and loved 'em. Very watertight and I just like the way they look. They are quite wide, but I don't know how it's detrimental unless you are riding single track or splitting lanes.

I like the looks of the those Kriegas and the rack accepts RotopaX canisters

They are much lighter than hard cases.
The Rotopax containers were partly the reason I chose the Overland 60 kit.
I will tell ya, the kit wasn't cheap. And it did take some time figuring out the best way to mount the "Platforms" to the KTM racks. Fact was, I could only get 3 of the 4 cams to attach to the rack frame. The 4th attachment point I used a very heavy duty plastic tie strap to fix the platform to the rack. Maybe I just couldn't figure out the way to get the 4th cam to work out?
I'm very satisfied with the product

WJR

Who manufactures the aluminum KTM branded boxes?

Touratech, but branded KTM. Not as wide as the gobis and lighter. dont stand up to a fall as well as the plastics but as with all things the right tool for the job depends on the job....

As long as the bike never falls on the aluminum bags they will do fine.

I've landed my 950 on my Caribous several times and they are no worse for wear and tear.

After reading a lot of reviews the single common aspect of all the metal boxes were that eventually I would read of someone tweaking them and then being unable to close them. Several of these reviews were folks on world tours.

Some were able to bend things mostly back into shape, others had welding done to repair the metal case. Many reported the cases never sealing properly again.

Bottom line is that this is considerably less likely to happen with cases such as those offered by Caribou Cases or other Pelican-style bags.

Aluminum is prettier and looks great on those GS's at Starbucks, but in the real world there may be a few drawbacks worthy of consideration.

Go to the vendors forum and read ALL the posts for any set you are planning to pay good money for. Then decide.

My bag project was: Racks and mounting kit from HappyTrails = $317
2 X 1550s from PelicanCasesforLess = $240
4 keyed alike locks from Pplmotorhomes = $ 56
$613
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=855346
The lid cables and hardware were < $10. Not cheap but exactly what I was looking for. It definitely adds some ass to the bike; I just about effed up today pulling out of the garage and sliding between the pickup and car. The pickup bumper reminded me about the cases:eek1

I like the pelicans but the pic of the KTM w the plastic boxes in your thread looks pretty sweet too

I had a low speed get off on my home built alum panniers and they held up just fine. They have a nice little scratch, but between them and the crash bars, NOTHING plastic hit the ground...NOTHING. A little black spray paint and you'd never even know I was down.

Yes! I heard that crash bars and panniers save the day in a lot of situations like that

I have Wolfman racks made by backroads moto and the expedition soft bags, and pelican storm hard cases. I like the expedition cases for heavy off road use but if you are in and out of the bags a lot, it becomes a pain in the butt. I used the pelicans for a trip to copper canyon and was much happier due to ease of access to documents, etc. I also only packed about half of each case and was able to fit my jacket and pants in them, locked up, when eating or whatever. I had an encounter with a log that ripped one of the pelicans off of the rack. The mounting setup for the hard cases bent, as designed, and saved the rack and cases from any damage. Berg Briggs from backroads moto sent me a couple new easy to change pieces and I was back to like new condition. On the copper canyon trip, my buddy on a GS with Jessie's, had a tumble. The aluminum bent and one side would not close and the other had a hole ground into it. I am not saying that wouldn't happen with the pelicans but I hit that afformentioned log pretty hard and the case was still square. Good luck with your choice there are a ton of good products.

If you're sticking to asphalt and ravel roads, please disregard my opinion.

If you DO plan on riding off road, especially rough roads that are seasonally washed out with ruts and exposed rocks or deeper sand, I don't recommend any kind of "hard bags" because when you have both feet down "paddling" the bike through said rough sections, inevitably on leg will get sucked under a hard bag and although it may not be broken, you'll swear that you just broke your leg. I remember this all too well from my GS days so my current ADV bike is getting "soft bags."
Again, if you're sticking to asphalt (no pun intended) your hard bags will be out of the way and not an issue.
-Mike

I agree. Different panniers for different kind of riding. As said before soft bags are lighter and usually smaller than hard bags. Good things if you are really riding off road far away from any civilization. With hard bags fully loaded it's easy to get near the stated maximum load capacity.

Riding "high speed" gravel / tarmac inside civilized world you may need to consider more about protecting your items inside the panniers than the ultimate bike lightness and survivability. Also if your crashing with speed usually your bike starts sliding around. Grinding everything that touches the ground. Maybe hard bags are better in these kind of situations. While in off road crashes seem to be hard hits, usually without any sliding. In those kind of situations soft bags may be better for the bike but maybe not for the items inside.

To original topic. First I had alu-panniers. They were easy to pack, had plenty of room and where quite light. I had few light off road style crashes with those, no problems. Only few bends. Problem was they where too wide and had even too much space for riding alone.

I changed for pelican 1550 cases. They are not so easy to pack and they are a bit heavy. They are a lot narrower so its easier to drive in narrow tracks. I have had few crashes with them. Off road ones left only few scratches. Crash on racetrack grinded left case a bit but lid still closes perfectly and it's watertight.

My sw-motech quick lock racks are getting more difficult to install/remove after every summer. Maybe some day I have to get new ones.

Ive had all of them!

Soft bags only carry enough for an overnight.
Gobies are tooooo wide (for me)
Aluminums are a bit too fragile for "get offs"
Happy with pelicans! Home made mounts on KTM/Gobi racks LOVE THEM!!!!

FWIW the 41L KTM branded Tourtech panniers will just barely hold a Medium or Large full face helmet [10.5 inches wide]. The lip at the top of the bag is narrower than the body; just guessing about 0.25 inches on each side but I haven't measured it. The downside is they are much wider than the bars. The 41L bags are about the same total width as the Gobis but with more storage capacity. I doubt the 35L Alu panniers [9 inches wide] will hold a FF helmet if that is important to you.