Hello
Right, I had a shaky start to my riding career, lack of confidence blah, blah, blah. Well, I am happy to say I am loving it now. Still probably a bit slow, especially round roundabouts, but I am sure that will come with experience.

I am now in need of some wise advice from those of you in the know. At the moment my wife has me responsible for all food shopping duties. To carry all of this wonderful produce home I use a rucksack… This is beginning to get irritating for a number of reasons namely; I have to carry a bloody great rucksack around tescos with me as well as my helmet etc.

I am beginning to consider that a top box could be a nice solution to this hassle. I have a number of questions.

1. Does a top box drastically affect handling?
2. Are they reasonably secure i.e. can I go into the supermarket and happily leave my gear in it?
3. Are there any better alternatives? For example, is a tank bag something that you can leave on the bike whilst it is parked for a period of time without someone easily running off with it?

Thank you as always for your wisdom






Neg

the easy answer to this is get the wife to do the shopping...........

a top box will affect the handling, more or less depends on what size, how much you put in it etc.
have you ever stopped to consider what a tin can or similar in a rucksack will do to you if you have an accident(thats the 1st line i would use to get the mrs to share the shopping duties)

obviously the bigger the box, the greater the load, the more the handling will be affected, it is something you can get used to easily, & its not going to change the characteristics of a bandit THAT much.

more safe than a tank bag etc, a good box will lock onto the rack, have its own lock so you can leave your gear in it whilst shopping(they are mostly plastic, so a determined thief is going to get in it-but its unlikely in the middle of a busy tescos etc car park.)

a decent box & rack is going to cost you at least £150-£200(yet another argument for the mrs to do the shopping)
HTH

i asked a similar question about handling and got some helpful replies (as always ) here

i wouldn't leave a tank bag on the bike cos mine's magnetic so literally the work of moments to nick

I have a 52 ltr Givi topbox on my bike. Sturdy and secure bit of kit, even though it's been down the road a couple of times now (saved the bike some damage too ) and is held together with colour co-ordinated gaffa tape at the moment. Have never noticed any handling problems - you get used to riding with it. My bike is my only form of transport and I manage to get 3 carrier bags of shopping in the box, so do the shopping a couple of times a week - if I have to I also take my boy to school everyday and manage to get his lid, jacket, boots and trousers in it for the return journey too.

P.S before you ask - yes, the pic in Moff's thread is for real - but I did buy a tank bag to spread the weight shortly afterwards

I recently added a 45l Givi box to the back of my Diversion and I have to say that I hardly notice it's there. I habitually have a spare lid and waterproofs in it, so it isn't heavily loaded. There was comment about the drag being noticeable when you come off the throttle but that isn't my experience - the engine braking is far more prevalent.

IIRC, the instructions give a load limit - It might be wise to heed that else you may find your box goes the opposite way to you when you throw the bike spiritedly into a corner, especially if it's quite heavily loaded! If you're going Givi, you need to watch out because there are two types; Monolock and Monokey - They are NOT compatible!

Monolock appears to be for lighter use and smaller bikes but it's what I've got and I'm happy with it. You usually find that it comes with the base plate too. The Monokey appears to be the beefier and dearer solution, and the base plate is usually a separate purchase.

i would say get one.

i consider it safe enough to leave 2 helmets (each priced at £250) in and leave the bike.

as said, always try to sort the contents so it doesnt move about etc.

i also have a tankbag but i tend to use this more for work when i can take it with me.

Thank you all for your replies.

Well that's settled I am going to get one.

I’ve started trawling the internet and am now utterly confused.

Which one do I get? How big do I need? What do I need to install it to my bike? What is the fastest land mammal?

Your help is invaluable.

Cheers

what do you plan to put in it?

i got mine mainly for helmet storage when out with our lass, so size was minimum of 2 helmets capacity.

Givi seem very popular

depends on brand, but mine is a bike specific rack, with universal plate and box. if i want to port it to another bike its just another rack (about £70ish new)

Cheetah?

No help atall on the topbox front but as for the shopping tips.
The introduction of internet shopping by Tesco / Asda and others have made my life soooo much easer. £3.50 to save me the hastle of walking round / riding back with it.(I also save a fortune by not getting the things I don't need) and you can get a months worth in one go!

Also good for getting the beers in!

Blimey, I never thought of the internet shopping option - fine idea...

Ok, ok, ok - I am going to start getting irritating now - is there much difference in handling depending on the size of the box? I am guessing marginal?

I need one that will fit in a few bags of shopping when I go shopping. But, it would be great also to be able to handle my helmet and maybe my boots when I head into London... I'm guessing that is a two helmet one really.

I'm still not clear what I need to fit the box to my bike - is there anything already on the bike as standard or is this something I will have to buy independently?

Should I fake my orgasms?

The box manufacturer will provide a rack that will be specific for your bike and is suppplied separately.







Only when in the company of someone else

presuming its an 00-04 Bandit

http://www.givi.co.uk/caschi_borse_bauli_a....asp?CO_ID=2182

then get a box to match.

obviously different if you dont choose Givi.

It's a 96 Bandit... I am Mr Retro me...

I checked out the website though - cheers

So I need to fit a rack and then buy a box that fits that rack... it is all becoming clear.

check ebay for boxes, that's where i'm gonna be looking when i get mine next month

Mine came from eBay. FWIW, set yourself a price and stick to it; they're going for stupid prices at the moment. I must have let at least 25 go until I finally won one at a price I was comfortable paying - don't forget to factor postage costs in!

How much did you pay as a matter of interest?

You can get hold of a cheap top box for as little as thirty quid. The more expensive ones only work with the makers fitting systems, cheaper or more traditional ones basically require holes drilling in the base to then fasten with bolted clamps to a conventional tubular rack. Such as this Rickman box:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rickman-Top-Box_W0QQ...1QQcmdZViewItem

Of course you can also drill holes in the side of the box and simply bungee it to the seat as is common with dispatchers.

It's a bit of a meaningless question because it was an auction, so I paid enough to win but that was £75 including postage costs. I wasn't prepared to go above that amount.

aye but they come up that often on ebay that there's presumably a going rate for them?


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<-----------woo, four helmets!
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Most of the ones that I let go went for £85ish + P&P (which was whatever the seller wanted it to be).

1) It depends how much you put in a box. Remember it tends to be high up and far back, so filling it with bricks (or tins of beans) isn't going to help keep the front wheel down. So a bit of common sense needs to be applied.

2) Fairly. they're pretty heavy duty plastic, so they'll deter most people but you could just lever one off if you were a toe rag.

3) I wouldn't leave a tank bag unattended - they're just far too easy to remove.

I used to have a pair of 45l (or were they 40l) panniers and a 50l top box on my Sprint, and when they were stuffed full they were noticable. The panniers made less of a difference than the top box. I had Give (badged as Triumph) monokey cases.

Panniers actually improved the handling on the GT when it was a bike - quite noticeably! Never had a top box so can't say.

Hard panniers are best for security and safety - this system looks really good as it's compatible with various makes of luggage.

SW Motech Luggage Systems