Mosko Moto Soft Bags for Offroad & Dualsport

My 2 cents...(which is probably worth only one cent).
I'm a brand name snob. Even if something else is just as good or even better, I am more comfortable spending my money on product that has a time tested, well known brand name to it. Its a matter of buying comfort I guess. If I was looking for a Jacket and two products looked and seemed identical, one had Gore Tex and the other had something different. I would buy the Gore Tex one. I'm not saying you couldn't market your product well and have test reports and tons of documentation saying yours is better. But unfortunately I think a lot of people will stick with GoreTex because it has been around for so long and is so well known. Then again....I could be completely wrong.

+1

I don't mind paying a little extra $$ knowing if the product starts leaking 10 years down the road, Gore will take care of me. Who knows if the other companies would even be in business that far down the road.

This is precisely why every company in the outdoor industry despises goretex and what they have done.

Gore-Tex' patent expired in '97, since then there were 100 other ePTFE based waterproof garments on the market with other names, but they were all essentially exactly the same, they just didn't say Gore-Tex.

Also, if a company even dares try a non Gore-Tex branded waterproof barrier gore-Tex will pull their license. (IE strongarm them). And because these companies know that 95% of their customers don't realize this and prefer to see that little Gore-Tex label on their gear they reluctantly backed down.

IE If the brand you are buying already has a lifetime warranty (most high end outdoor products) there is no need to spend even more for a Gore-Tex jacket made by that very same company.

I disagree. I had a Klim badlands jacket that has a lifetime warranty through Klim. I crashed in it and while they repaired it at my expense, they said they would no longer warranty it because it was in a crash even though they repaired to its original state. However, even though they would no longer guarantee it from leaking, Gore will still guarantee it. I've also seen a thread about an inmate with BMW Santiago boots that were about ten years old that started to leak. BMW no longer warranteed them, but Gore replaced them for free.

I guess the lifetime warranty from Klim is rather worthless then. I've heard the same from BMW apparel.

My experience comes from outdoor industry stuff, Mountain Hardwear, Patagonia, Columbia, e.t.c.

It would be nice if a retailer went above and beyond and forced companies to honor their lifetime warranties, lest their gear would not be sold in their stores.

I'm sure a large retailer like Revzilla or MC Superstore would be able to pull that off just like REI and Campmor does with the outdoor industry.

My "work trip" to Honduras starts Monday. Damn: I'm stoked.

Our top priority this week was to get the new "right side" pannier from Chip, get it mounted, and take the full kit out for a test, packed as it will be for the trip. I want to deal with any obvious issues here in the States, not on the side of a road in Central America.

Packing

Left Side Pannier Main: jacket, towel, spare parts/fluids, clothing



Left Side Pannier Pocket: spare front/rear tube, tire irons, patch kit, pump, and gauge. The idea here is keep these stored on the outside so I don't have to pull all my stuff out of the pannier every time I get a flat. Really pleased with how much stuff the pockets hold.



Left Side Pannier Molle: hydration bladder with MSR dromedary for quick access to water. Good for washing/brushing/etc. I'm also taking a couple bottle holders mounted on the bottom molle panel but Chip is still working on those.



Right Side Pannier Main: shoes, food, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, tent. Note that the right side pannier proto doesn't have molle panels because we were in a hurry to get it done. We figured that we only need to test the molle on one side (plus the duffle).



Right Side Pannier Pocket: tool roll, tow rope, spare buckle, zip ties



Rear Duffle: clothing and laptop. Love how the helmet clips on the beavertail for carrying. I think the beavertails will come in handy for lots of random stuff like that. I'm taking a hydration bladder on the duffle molle as well, Chip's still working on that.





I noticed that the panniers are tough to compress compared to, say, a backpacking pack. This is due to the built-in structure in the bag walls as well as the metal buckles we're using on the front beavertail. There's clearly a trade-off between "holding shape" and "easy compression." Plastic buckles would slide better than aluminum, but they would break too easily in a crash. By putting my knee against the beavertail and pressing in, I was able to make the pannier the exact size I wanted it. Once the pannier was mounted on the bike, the top-down compression via the roll top and top compression strap (which has a plastic buckle) worked great.

Mounting

Mounted a HDPE frame on the new right-side pannier proto.



On the Wolfman racks (same racks that are on my bike in Honduras) we noticed that the pannier sits a little higher than we'd like. We'd left some internal supports in the mounting slots on the wedge, but we realized a) these make getting the wedge on/off the bike a pain in the ass and b) they limit the number of possible mounting positions. Removing the supports with a jigsaw enabled us to lower the panniers. We'll manually rout the mounting slots even lower before I leave, and will change this in our designs as well.







Test Ride

With the bags packed and mounted, we headed out for a ride. Not a bad day in the office.







We switched them onto Andrew's KLR with Happy Trails racks for a bit.







For our first real test ride with the panniers fully loaded I was really stoked that everything went smoothly: i.e. nothing fell off the bike (haha). I feel good about getting on a plane with these bags on Monday. I wish we could do some kind of "crash test" but I'm finding it hard to crash a perfectly good bike on purpose. The crash tests will have to happen organically.

Molle Hydration Pouch

We picked up a first round proto of the molle hydration pouch and I am really digging it. It works exactly how we imagined. It fits snugly on the side of the pannier, under the side compression straps, and can hold either a dromedary or a drinking bladder.



Here it is with an MSR Dromedary:





And with a normal drinking bladder:





Rackless Pannier/Duffle

This week we also finished the patterns for our rackless pannier/duffle concept. Our concept is a dry bag suspension system, where three welded dry bags are held on the bike with a harness system, and can be easily removed while the harness stays on the bike.



The main body will be ballistic cordura:



Using foam to give it shape



Plus a plastic stiffener for the underside.





Man there are a lot of tiny little parts in this design!



Factory Visit

And finally, we headed into Portland to meet with our factory and discuss some specifics of the designs, pricing, order quantities, etc. They were in Portland to visit a certain "large Oregon running shoe company" that they make a lot of bags for. A couple interesting things from the visit:

- We're headed to Vietnam in late February to see the factory. Can't wait for that.

- This is their busy season, so we probably won't see a first round sample until shortly before we head to the factory. However this is OK with us, since we may have some design changes after the test-trip to Honduras.

- For now, we're going to search for a supplier for the HDPE and aluminum parts here in the US, even though it will be a LOT more expensive.

Steve & Steve from the factory have been a real pleasure to work with. Steve (on the right) grew up in Georgia and did a lot of trail-riding as a kid. We also learned that our project manager at the factory in Vietnam is really into bikes, and rides a cafe racer around HCM City. How cool is that?



Every morning I've been checking the weather in NE Honduras. It has been raining a lot, and Alex told me they've had some major windstorms this week. That should make for an interesting ride.

I didn't say it was a good system. It is unfortunate it is that way. I will try to be less of a brand snob.

Good luck on your trip! I hope you have these in production by late spring. I'm ready to buy a set of soft panniers!

Fookin' want! Nice rack as they say. Great looking bags. Hope soon but May will get here eventually and hope you don't have too many delays. Now go out and crash that bike on the Molle side.

Hi , I have been following this Thread for some time and love these bag setup .
This setup of bags is going to be very adaptable to a great veriaty of bikes as I have a KTM 520 for my Off Road Bush Adventures and I have a KTM 990 Adventure for longer Road and some Off road Trips.
I am looking for Bags that are adaptable to use on either Bike and have not found bags that come up as Tough as these bags .
It is great to see in your bag setup to go onto other Bikes without to much trouble , I am going to wait for these bags to be released over here in Australia to try them in our mixed roads and veried conditions and seasons .
I look forward to to launch of the bag setup . Great work !!
Tezza:

Any idea on price yet?

In. Liking the ideas....

Most excellent! Looking forward to the continued testing in Honduras!

When do you gonna have them available? Where one can place order for buying a set? How much ?
Thank you.

Apparently I have no problem crash testing bikes
You oughta see the pavement scrubs on my "giant tubes" (homemade PVC pipe panniers) from falling down on this icy pavement we have every morning here. I have to ride 2-3 miles of pavement before I get to the dirt portion of my commute. I'm already planning our bike trips for this year, starting late March.

Seriously, though, if you need a tester with a 990, I could meet you for a day and head back up to those powerline roads, and show you an awesome rough route down into Mill Creek Rd, South of The Dalles.....and then there's "Suicide Grade". PERFECT for real life rough field testing, I tell ya!! Or a trip up Mt Defiance in the snow will be sure to induce a good "off" or two

I have been watching this thread with great interest. We used Ortlieb soft panniers with the QL2 mountings on our 2 up DR 650 on the TAT in 2012. While the bags are very waterproof, tough and easy to get on and off the bike with the QL2 mounting system, the internal plastic stiffener bends and the bags sag and bulge and end up hanging out in the breeze more than my 35L aluminium panniers.

I think your system may be better with a much thicker mounting plate and straps to pull the bags in.
A throw over system is no good for us as Dawn doesn't want to sit on the straps so a clip on mounting system is a must
I may have missed it but have you mentioned the volume of the panniers. I am hoping for something in the 25 liter range.
Looking forward to seeing the completed products for sale.
Cheers Phil

I've used those Ortlieb bags many times, I have never had that happen, but if you're on trail and falling a lot then you can't really blame a thin piece of plastic whose only job it is is to make the bags keep their shape.

After your trip simply go down to your local plastic supply shop and pick up a sheet of ABS or similar nylon composite plastic and replace the one thats broken in your bag.

How much weight have you loaded in those bags?

Fantastic.
I know you're on your way south; have a good trip.

I'm a big supporter of small business, especially startups that are basically just imagined and built from scratch. I own a restaurant that I built from nothing at all.

Quality product is absolute number one.
Anybody can build a cheeseburger or whatever; when making a really good one is a priority, people know it and will go out of their way for it.
Customer service is next and just as important. I know that if you have a really good product and back it up that you will find success and be competitive in your market.

Thank you for sharing all this very personal info with us all.
I look forward to trying your stuff!

+1000.

These look better than anything else on the market which is just a bonus. Cant wait to see the finished product.

The bags were full as between those and the back bag that was all our gear/spares for 2 months. I think the weighed about 6 1/2kg each.
Not sure what you mean by "on trail and falling a lot " Pillions dont like it when we crash