Last weekend’s Colorado Rockies Dualsport Moto Trip came and went, and after a week of digging out at work, I realize I am long overdue for some new posts. Lots of stories to tell, and I really need to go back through the notes and dredge up the memories of an amazing trip. We welcomed a new rider into the posse, Jake Rippstein, the Cache County Ripper, who deftly floated his big KTM 950 Adventure S over everything with speed and grace, and homie wasn’t even running knobbies. Jake ejected a day early, leaving via road from Telluride, and missed most of the epic passes, but we thank him for his wet wipes, Folgers coffee tea bags, and of course, footage below from the Wrinkle Cam. The clip below was from the Friday morning leg from Red Cliffs Lodge in Moab, past some amazing Red Rock scenery, on the way to Gateway, Colorado.

I had a chance this weekend to dig in to the Giant Loop Moto Great Basin Saddle Bag for my BMW F800 GS, and play around with installing it on my bike. My first thought is to tell everyone out there this is not just a bag for your motorcycle, it really is a complete luggage system. Neatly tucked into the bag that was shipped to me are a few things you might not notice at first glance, because they go inside. There are two contoured “pods” which are designed to fit down low in the “legs” of the bag, one on each side. These are made from heavy duty pack material, with beefy zippers, and carrying handles. The folks from Giant Loop Moto are riders too, and they recommend to use these for heavier items that might be inclined to shift around if they were loose, such as tools, or your camping cookset. They also recommend keeping such items down low in the legs, to help maintain a low center of gravity. Also included are two additional yellow internal bags, which will come in handy for keeping clothing items separated. There is a center bag sewn into the Great Basin, which kind of looks like your typical rear mounted saddle bag, but it is inside, and an integral part of the system. On each side of this internal bag are two sleeves designed to hold liter-size bottles of water, or whatever else you want to tie down inside. All part of the system, all inside the bag.

They recommend to stuff something like a sleeping bag inside to fill out the volume and shape of the bag to make it easy to install, so all the photos you see are just so. I tried mounting it way back on my Touratech rear luggage rack, but the lower straps on the legs were too short to tie down on the frame where the passenger footrests are on the F800 GS. This position would have been nice because it would allow for a second rear seat bag I have, an Ogio tank bag that has been repurposed as a rear-mount saddle bag. It also would allow for easy access to my gas tank lid. Mounting the Great Basin this far back off the seat might have caused some issues obscuring my rear turn signals anyway, so I thought better of trying to make it work, and slid the whole thing forward. After that, it took about 5 minutes to secure all the tie-downs, and I was in business and ready to ride. This forward position allows almost all of the Touratech luggage rack to be used for something else, like maybe my tent, or a soft cooler (think cold beer). It partially obstructs my gas tank lid, so it looks like when I fill up, I might have to release the “leg” tie down on the right side, or just mount it a few inches further back, but I will experiment with that when the thing is fully loaded and ready for the trip. Another note: I was worried I might need some sort of heat shielding for the left leg, with the tie-down being so close to the exhaust, but there seems to be plenty of space and nothing close to touching. Problem solved, I think.

Got Bike Sticker

Great Basin Saddlebag

Right "leg" Tie-down

Plenty of room left on luggage rack.

Fully mounted, ready to ride.