Rear luggage worth the money ?

Hi guys I live in the uk and want to tour next year on my new r3 is the pannier system worth the considerable expense or are there any alternatives ? Tia.
hi Tia, my GT 3 came with the panniers and while they are good quality they are also expensive. Also very small. I would be able to tour single using both panniers but not two up. You would need a rear luggage rack and pack so even more expense. Also from what i know, the newer panniers have a waterproof inner bag, the old ones have a cover that isnt very good. If you are not going to use them a lot, i would also look at maybe a soft luggage throw over generic set. If you want the safety of the OEM then its around £1000 inc the fitting kit and the panniers.
 
hi Tia, my GT 3 came with the panniers and while they are good quality they are also expensive. Also very small. I would be able to tour single using both panniers but not two up. You would need a rear luggage rack and pack so even more expense. Also from what i know, the newer panniers have a waterproof inner bag, the old ones have a cover that isnt very good. If you are not going to use them a lot, i would also look at maybe a soft luggage throw over generic set. If you want the safety of the OEM then its around £1000 inc the fitting kit and the panniers.
I have the Rocket panniers and fixing kit, yes they are a bit on the expensive side. I was lucky the get the fixing kit for £200 a closeing down sale and the panniers from a dealer which were on a show bike still new £395. They are 20ltr had waterproof liner bags and waterproof covers work very well went 2 up for a week with 20ltr bag on the rack no problem. Then i broke one of the zip tags and Triumph replaced them under warrenty with the new 25ltr panniers as they dont make the 20ltr any more. I will be touring to Austria this year 2 up I will use the new panniers and a 40ltr waterproof bag on the rack, as you will see on my profile on here ive made a bigger rack to take the bigger bag......
 
Hi guys I live in the uk and want to tour next year on my new r3 is the pannier system worth the considerable expense or are there any alternatives ? Tia.
IMHO Triumph have totally missed the mark with their luggage offering, but not only that, a poor excuse for a windscreen as well. The R3 has the potential to be a bar hopper a one-day-out cruiser and a serious tourer. I bought a Triumph R3 GT assuming (silly me) that the bike could fit well into our expectations of a touring motorcycle. Here's where they got it very wrong. The poxy little windscreen isn't worth the material that it is made of, so I bought a Gusafsson screen; better but still not anywhere adequate for touring.
Triumph's offering for saddlebags still has me scratching my head. The bags are not waterproof and you would have to be extremely quick to rescue the waterproof?? covers from the saddlebags before the whole thing went pear shaped and everything got wet. The security?? locks on the bags are quaint but useless. Looking closely at the saddlebag mounts would lead one to think that overloading could and would be an issue. The carrying capacity is low level at best. Now to the sissy bar and rack. Firstly the rack: tiny little offering not up to scratch for such an expensive motorcycle. Now to the sissy bar; unless you are planning on carrying a garden gnome or a pigmy as a passenger, forget it. One serious blast on the throttle would have whatever was seated on the back lying in the middle of the road wondering what happened. I got rid of my R3 GT with 20klm on the speedo and glad that I did. Gone back to the "dark side" with and Indian Chieftain. Now there's a well made motorcycle!! Triumph, what were you thinking?
 
I get it but why would you buy the Rocket for touring when there are so many other bikes that are made specifically for that? I bought my Rocket for an all round bike. As many have stated it's excellent for back roads, for bar hopping if you're into that and also touring overnight for a few days. The Rocket offers very little touring comforts that so many others do. I don't want a tourer although I want one that I can take with Panniers and stay overnight 400 miles away. I won't take it from California to Florida but if I had to it's up for the challenge but without all the comforts of the big touring bikes. I have the most fun farting around the back roads in Tahoe, Placerville and down to Yosemite. I pack up my panniers and go to Big Sur area and spend the night no problem on the Rocket. Let me tell you nothing splits traffic like the Rocket as I found that out the hard way going to Monterey last year. I actually had to split on and off for well over 40 miles. It was a breeze. I use the Rocket for everything but it excels on the back roads and in town. It's acceptable touring but not ideal. I have a Powerbronze windscreen that is fine for me. I agree the OEM screen is worthless over 50 mph but looks as cool as hell. You want a touring bike and you got one with the Indian. Indians are great bikes but not for my kind of riding. Now for touring I would take the Indian all day long but for back roads and surface streets that would be a hard no on the Indian. To each his own. Cheers.
 
I get it but why would you buy the Rocket for touring when there are so many other bikes that are made specifically for that? I bought my Rocket for an all round bike. As many have stated it's excellent for back roads, for bar hopping if you're into that and also touring overnight for a few days. The Rocket offers very little touring comforts that so many others do. I don't want a tourer although I want one that I can take with Panniers and stay overnight 400 miles away. I won't take it from California to Florida but if I had to it's up for the challenge but without all the comforts of the big touring bikes. I have the most fun farting around the back roads in Tahoe, Placerville and down to Yosemite. I pack up my panniers and go to Big Sur area and spend the night no problem on the Rocket. Let me tell you nothing splits traffic like the Rocket as I found that out the hard way going to Monterey last year. I actually had to split on and off for well over 40 miles. It was a breeze. I use the Rocket for everything but it excels on the back roads and in town. It's acceptable touring but not ideal. I have a Powerbronze windscreen that is fine for me. I agree the OEM screen is worthless over 50 mph but looks as cool as hell. You want a touring bike and you got one with the Indian. Indians are great bikes but not for my kind of riding. Now for touring I would take the Indian all day long but for back roads and surface streets that would be a hard no on the Indian. To each his own. Cheers.
A hellava lot of money to pay for a part time bike. As for the panniers - what a joke. They are not waterproof or steal proof. I'm just imagining riding along and getting caught in a rain storm. Sequence: Pull up where you can; get yourself waterproof first then dig about in the pannier that has your electronics in it and then try to fit the useless waterproof?? plastic cover over the pannier. Repeat for the other side. By this time, I would have given up and caught a bus. The fact that a windscreen "looks as cool as hell" does nothing for the rider who wants to go over 50mph. My beef is with Triumph who had a real chance to make a great all-round bike with affordable and useful accessories. I'll state it again!
Triumph, IMHO you got it wrong and you missed an extraordinary opportunity.
 
So you have a beef with triumph because they didn't make the Rocket like you wanted them to? Maybe drop them a line and air your grievance. I get it, you don't like the Rocket now. Silly you for buying one right? The looks and style of your Indian had zero to do with the aesthetics and your decision to buy it, hence the back handed 'cool as hell' remark. You go by function over looks is that what I hear? The Rocket certainly isn't for everyone. I can't figure out why you are so adamant about hating on the Rocket. Did you even test ride one before you bought it? It's not a touring bike and if that's the sole reason you bought it you didn't do your homework. It's not it's selling point. It's fast, crazy in the curves and straight a way's and a blast to ride. It's not a touring bike and one ride should have told you that. Did someone along the line tell you what a great long distance bike it was cause they lied. It's a great bike for most everything and it can tour but not with the comforts of a touring bike. You can tour on anything but it doesn't make it a touring bike. Are you here just to do some bashing before you move over to an Indian site? Just curious. I do like the Indian you bought and you made a very good choice. Have fun on your touring bike. Cheers.
 
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So you have a beef with triumph because they didn't make the Rocket like you wanted them to? Maybe drop them a line and air your grievance. I get it, you don't like the Rocket now. Silly you for buying one right? The looks and style of your Indian had zero to do with the aesthetics and your decision to buy it, hence the back handed 'cool as hell' remark. You go by function over looks is that what I hear? The Rocket certainly isn't for everyone. I can't figure out why you are so adamant about hating on the Rocket. Did you even test ride one before you bought it? It's not a touring bike and if that's the sole reason you bought it you didn't do your homework. It's not it's selling point. It's fast, crazy in the curves and straight a way's and a blast to ride. It's not a touring bike and one ride should have told you that. Did someone along the line tell you what a great long distance bike it was cause they lied. It's a great bike for most everything and it can tour but not with the comforts of a touring bike. You can tour on anything but it doesn't make it a touring bike. Are you here just to do some bashing before you move over to an Indian site? Just curious. I do like the Indian you bought and you made a very good choice. Have fun on your touring bike. Cheers.
The "cool as hell remark" was not initially made by me. I picked up the comment from someone else's post. Yes I did test ride the Rocket 3 GT, but I was not able to see feel or touch the accessories as they were not available at the time I bought the bike. I expected better quality accessories from Triumph. By the way, try sticking the OEM knee pads on the tank. I followed the instructions only to find one on the garage floor (adhesive side down) the following morning and the other one half peeling off.
I am not anti Triumph. I have owned Triumphs in the past and loved them. Go to just about any other bike manufacturer (including H-D) and they have a book full of useful accessories to suit most riding styles and conditions including affordable waterproof luggage, taller windscreens, a decent sized rack and a sissy bar to support a pillion safely and comfortably. BMW's R18 was hot on my list before I bought the Triumph, but I decided against it because the agent didn't seem to know what was in the accessory pipeline and the costs seemed excessive.
 
So you have a beef with triumph because they didn't make the Rocket like you wanted them to? Maybe drop them a line and air your grievance. I get it, you don't like the Rocket now. Silly you for buying one right? The looks and style of your Indian had zero to do with the aesthetics and your decision to buy it, hence the back handed 'cool as hell' remark. You go by function over looks is that what I hear? The Rocket certainly isn't for everyone. I can't figure out why you are so adamant about hating on the Rocket. Did you even test ride one before you bought it? It's not a touring bike and if that's the sole reason you bought it you didn't do your homework. It's not it's selling point. It's fast, crazy in the curves and straight a way's and a blast to ride. It's not a touring bike and one ride should have told you that. Did someone along the line tell you what a great long distance bike it was cause they lied. It's a great bike for most everything and it can tour but not with the comforts of a touring bike. You can tour on anything but it doesn't make it a touring bike. Are you here just to do some bashing before you move over to an Indian site? Just curious. I do like the Indian you bought and you made a very good choice. Have fun on your touring bike. Cheers.
I agree none of the three new Rockets are touring bikes. It is unfortunate that one is named a Grand Tourer. That said the Panniers are total crap. Any rear bag that requires a cover and a liner to ride wet is garbage IMO.
 
On the old ones, I really didn't like the zippers. The newer, bigger ones are decidedly worse. The newer ones don't have the netting or the buckle straps like the old ones and they still have the same ****ty zippers. I'm thinking about trying to ebay them and buy anything else, hopefully something with a top-opening design.
 
The "cool as hell remark" was not initially made by me. I picked up the comment from someone else's post. Yes I did test ride the Rocket 3 GT, but I was not able to see feel or touch the accessories as they were not available at the time I bought the bike. I expected better quality accessories from Triumph. By the way, try sticking the OEM knee pads on the tank. I followed the instructions only to find one on the garage floor (adhesive side down) the following morning and the other one half peeling off.
I am not anti Triumph. I have owned Triumphs in the past and loved them. Go to just about any other bike manufacturer (including H-D) and they have a book full of useful accessories to suit most riding styles and conditions including affordable waterproof luggage, taller windscreens, a decent sized rack and a sissy bar to support a pillion safely and comfortably. BMW's R18 was hot on my list before I bought the Triumph, but I decided against it because the agent didn't seem to know what was in the accessory pipeline and the costs seemed excessive.
Triumph certainly lacks in good accessories for some models and the Rocket is one of them. They attempted to make a hybrid sport/touring/cruiser kind of motorcycle. it accels in the sport and cruiser but not so much in the touring. It's not a tourer but of course you can indeed tour but you will get beat up by the wind. Each individual person tries to find the bike that fits them and sometimes it's a homerun and other times a swing and a miss. I really like my Rocket but the recall problems bug the crap out of me. Some newer Rockets have zero problems and others like mine have all of them. At this time in my life the Rocket is the best fit. Another 5 or 10 years a nice Indian or maybe Guzzi would be an option if I can get to it on my walker. I do understand what your saying though and agree on the lack of accessories and some are garbage. I should be getting the newer 25L panniers as the zipper broke on the 20L because, yes, they were garbage.
 
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