I'd been digging around forums to find the old Backcountry 25L panniers from Mosko Moto. I found some newish 35L to trade with someone that had a set of used 25L ones, so we made the swap. The 25L pannier is a pretty good fit for the size of the bike and will allow me to bring along all the necessities for camping. Any larger and I think they'd be too big for the bike. They are a piece of cake to mount and I've used my existing Dirtracks steel racks as the mounting point. Now, I just have to get out and test it out on a camping trip.
Nice setup! How solid do the dirt racks feel with weight attached? My wife got me a pair and Ive yet to use them. Only having 2 mounting points per rack on the bike makes me a little nervous that it will apply too much torque when going over bumps and whatnot. I know others have used them with no problems so it is probably fine, just curious what your thoughts are. Anyway, looks great man! Now all you need is a destination and time
I haven't tested it out yet. The Dirtracks seem like they'd do the job for forest roads and light trail duty. I'm not sure I'd want to push it any more than that, but to be honest, that's basically all I'll use the setup for - light-duty touring. They do sell a kit with crossbars but I think this will be fine for my purposes. Just need to load them up and test them out.
Another good alternative is Mosko Moto's Reckless system. No racks required, versatile and lighter weight while still being bombproof. I own quite a bit of MM gear. Some would say I have a problem .
I thought about the Reckless systems but like the mounting hardware option of the Backcountry panniers better. I know a lot of people like the flexibility of the Reckless. I think I'll add some of their Molle pouches. And I like the Backcountry duffle but I already have other drybags that work for the purpose. Maybe next year as an addition since they are really compact and functional.
Quick tests offroad showed that the two mounting point system is fine for soft bags that are supported by a cross strap over the seat but repeated bouncing around may be a problem in the long run and break the welds with the Mosko bags. So, I upgraded to the multi-use pannier rack from Dirtracks. It has four points of attachment and now looks completely bomb-proof for the Mosko luggage or for hard panniers. With more mounting points the racks are really solid and have no flex or movement that may end up causing stress. I also took off the OEM tool box to allow for room to mount two tool tubes. I think there would be enough room for a rotopax 1 gallon container on the inside of the rack as well. I had them leave out the welded centre section since I have a top rack for rotopax and luggage and this would allow for extra space for the Mosko Moto hardware to mount. Now the wait for spring - 4-6 more weeks....
