After weeks of looking for some luggage for my 87, I stumbled across these.. Dowco Value 3-Piece Tank Bag Set - Motorcycle Superstore For the same price that I would have payed for the Cortech sport saddlebags alone, I now have a complete set, complete with a magnetic tank bag! They feel like they are good quality for the money and look pretty good on the bike. I'll give a more complete review after this weekend.
Dowco Luggage Review Just returned home from my ride (which was awesome, btw) and the luggage did pretty good. Here's what I think of the bags' performance... Tank bag - probably my favorite bag out of the bunch. It held my hat, Oakley case, camera, cell phone, wallet, owners manual, spare key and fuses, a roll of electrical tape, and ear plugs. It was super easy to take it off and put back on for fuel-ups. Size was big enough to hold what I needed it too, but never was in the way. I didn't need to use the map pouch, but it's nice to know that it's there. Saddlebags - These were pretty easy to put on, as they attach with a strap around the fender and a strap on the passenger peg braces on each side. I taped the straps to where the excess wouldn't hang down, but once on the road, the straps seemed to loosen and the bags would slide forward on the bike. I had tape on the tail section of the bike to prevent the plastic clips from rubbing on the paint, but had to keep either shoving the bags back to where the tape was, or apply tape to where the bags were ending up which I had to resort to in the end. The backs of the bags themselves have a rubberized grippy backing, so they didn't scuff paint. The saddle bags held a pair of shoes, sandals, a towel, skivvies and socks, a small toiletry bag, 3 t-shirts, a medium sized towel, 2 pairs of athletic shorts, and other assorted items. Tailbag - Attached to the saddle bags via a strap on each corner, but the bag didn't suck down to the saddlebags as tight as I wanted, but it was tight enough to where it didn't move around very much. Only complaint that I had was that it moved with the saddle bags. The tailbag held a pair of jeans, an extra visor for my helmet, a t-shirt, a pouch of wipes to clean visors, and had room to spare. Overall I think that for $120 (which is the price of Cortech saddle bags by themselves) you can't go wrong with this set, especially if you only take a couple of long trips per year. If you do more long distance stuff, you might want to go Packman's route and either find or custom rig some hard bags and/or a trunk. For my needs, this set is perfect. Hope this helps somebody in their hunt for cheap practical luggage.
