plastic or alu panniers

I like my Jessie boxes.

I have Gobi's, but after seeing the Jesses in the flesh I wish I had them, much better. More space, about the same weight, stronger and aren't any wider than the bar ends. Also are stronger than the Touratech ones.

Had aluminium ones then sold em and got gobis , get alu, much better. the water carrying gimic is just that, it's a PITA.
Just be sure to get a cable lanyard attached to your lids, cause if you lose one it's big bucks, trust me on that one.

Good customer service with Jessie panniers. Only thing I needed to follow-up with, was applying silicon sealant to and around all the fastner pass through points to ensure no seepage in the rain.

My Gobi's measured right at 42" wide. Has anybody thrown a tape on the other options mentioned here for comparison purposes?

Wish I could post a photo of the Kriega/RotopaX set up,,,, (no photo bucket account, too cheap)

With the bags stuffed full of gear they measure 36" wide using the factory KTM mounts.

Photobucket is free, at least for me!

I wish KTM would offer the plastic bags without the 3 liter water jackets molded into the sidewalls. A small plastic (disposable) bottle of water in the tank bag has worked great for me. The extra storage space in each bag would be much more practical.

There is a thread full of photos in the Vendors section.

I like the Gobi boxes. The hinged lid can be propped open making camping easier, instead of having to remove the lid.(Some alum are also hinged) Water and dust proof, act like cooler if your carrying food and beverage. Unlike alum, it doesnt mark or stain items. The width hasnt been any problem. Strapping gear such as a sleeping bag to it is not as convenient, although you can order tie down mounts from Heppco Becker. Also, being lockable, I put my gps and pistols there when Im away from the bike. (Most alum would also lock)

This is a pic of my multi day set up. The Gobi's swallow up tons of gear including my fairly big Coleman fuel stove (which I carry because it's been toted on bikes in my family since 1970) MSR bottle, extra tubes, all kinds of stuff. The big 90L drybag holds tent, sleeping bag, pillow, and a huge 3" thick self inflating sleeping pad that is like staying at the hotel. The dry bag is only about 9" across and weighs about 22 lbs for the entire "motel". And it's slightly narrower than the panniers.

Not that a pic of a 950 with Gobi's was needed, just loved that bike.

I have the Godis, which came with the bike. I think they're too wide, so I'm working on converting some Pelican 1550s to mount to the bars. I like the look of aluminum, but I tend to think plastic will survive better than aluminum in a crash. Have a look at what happens when you hit a rock or two with pretty good aluminum panniers: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11599126&postcount=32

The marking and staining is not an issue with the Jesses, powder coated inside and out, the lids can stay open like the Gobi's.

Gobis work well with loops (see below), camping gear one side, kriega bag the other. Don't get me wrong, I like my Gobi's and have crashed with them, but I think the Jesses are much, much better. When I next shop for hard panniers, this is what I will get.

looking at those bashed up Touratechs it's hard to justify ally boxes but i guess the idea is they are bendable and weldable if you are a long way from home,
no one has mentioned or shown the consequences of crashing with the Gobis???
I guess these days there are good quality plastic glues available but only if you can join the breaks?

Although I choose to sleep in a hotel on multi-day rides, I purchased the pelican cases w/ HB mounts from the guy in Boulder...Caribu?
Have had no issues with them......Hold plenty for a four day ride and are also a bit cheaper than the other options, like KTM stuff.

Problem solved!



Thanks for sending me the photo, Wantajustride.

In that case (no pun!), here's a close-up of the same system on a 690 Enduro with Touratech racks for ya!



Cheers,


Michael

Swapped out and lowsided on asphalt that had recently had a new fog seal applied. I slid on my side case and crash bars for 45 feet on asphalt.
I had to replace the latch in the first pic as it was ground down and would not work.





Notice the case ground through the first (outside wall) layer. Inside layer (second wall) still intact and waterproof. I think hard cases would have been severly bent and non functioning afterwards.

Lovin the orange crash bar on the 990R!

Ours measures 37 inches wide, our left case is set out 1 inch to get around our spare fuel tank, thus they would only be 36 that they are advertised at.

We are running the Jesse Odysseys on our SE and love them, we ran Pelican 1550s on the DR's, the 31L Pelican 1550 weighs .75 kg heavier the the 41L Jesse locks, mountings and all ready to put on the bike.

The op wanted to know plastic or alloy so I won't worry about softies.

With the Odysseys these cleverly bring the weight in low and close to the centreline and do not stick out like a bus.

Having had several brands and types I am sold on Jesses, I have worked on Zegas after a GS 12 rolled and they were parallelogramed very badly and had split, although we have not binned on our new Jesses I know plenty of others who have in spectacular form and they have stood up far better, NOTHING is crash proof.

Jesses strength come from triangulation and folds and finish wise are powdercoated inside and out, also with the Odysseys you can adjust the postion of the case forward and backward 5 inches so you can play with the weight to suit your rising style or passenger etc.

That is our 2 cents worth, if you are looking to do hard core offroad consider Wolfman, if you are RTWing like us or traveling dirt and pavement with smaller offroad stick with hards.

This is our setup, although on and SE I would be happy to put up pics of any queries.

Cheers Andi