Just a few thoughts and numbers to add to the growing body of research on touring on a Roadster...
I recently bought an RJays Explorer Bag for the back - slips over the backrest and sits on the sissy bar rack, expands from 45 to 80ish litres and easily held enough clothes for 2 for 4 days including a spare jacket and jumpers, a couple of books, laptop, ipad blah blah blah. No panniers or tank bag at this stage - will definitely go tank bag for the small stuff in the future but still undecided about panniers.
500km round trip at a steady 120kph and restrained use of the throttle (my new lady is keen but still a little nervous so best not scare her off too soon!), used 30lts all up and we had one stop each direction after about 1hr in the saddle. Tanya was a tad seedy on the return leg so occy-strapped her to the tail bag for the first half to make sure she stayed upright....lol...(I'm not allowed to post pics though????)
I'm about 90kg fully kitted, T is 50kg soaking wet and the bag weighed 18kg. Set rear at 5 for the journey down and 3 for the return. She was a bit wallowy on the way back as you'd expect but it was a much more 'forgiving' experience for the pillion so I'm told. The only time I noticed the weight/soft rear end was when the road got a little bumpy and then I felt like I was on my kayak in a medium swell. I imagine at higher speed this would have been amplified so back to 5 for the preload and a softer pillion seat is the way to go I reckon.
Pretty happy all up - I've done longer day rides solo but never carried luggage over that distance and like most seem to report, I didn't really notice it was there.
I recently bought an RJays Explorer Bag for the back - slips over the backrest and sits on the sissy bar rack, expands from 45 to 80ish litres and easily held enough clothes for 2 for 4 days including a spare jacket and jumpers, a couple of books, laptop, ipad blah blah blah. No panniers or tank bag at this stage - will definitely go tank bag for the small stuff in the future but still undecided about panniers.
500km round trip at a steady 120kph and restrained use of the throttle (my new lady is keen but still a little nervous so best not scare her off too soon!), used 30lts all up and we had one stop each direction after about 1hr in the saddle. Tanya was a tad seedy on the return leg so occy-strapped her to the tail bag for the first half to make sure she stayed upright....lol...(I'm not allowed to post pics though????)
I'm about 90kg fully kitted, T is 50kg soaking wet and the bag weighed 18kg. Set rear at 5 for the journey down and 3 for the return. She was a bit wallowy on the way back as you'd expect but it was a much more 'forgiving' experience for the pillion so I'm told. The only time I noticed the weight/soft rear end was when the road got a little bumpy and then I felt like I was on my kayak in a medium swell. I imagine at higher speed this would have been amplified so back to 5 for the preload and a softer pillion seat is the way to go I reckon.
Pretty happy all up - I've done longer day rides solo but never carried luggage over that distance and like most seem to report, I didn't really notice it was there.
