Tail packs --really...are they that secure?

[wannaride]

Hey,

As I've been commuting to Uni everyday, I've had to give up carrying my laptop, folders and books in my back pack (it was KILLING me!) and started to bungee the bag to the pillion seat. This worked well for a while, but a strap from the bag that I used to add stability snapped, then bungees just started snapping. After a swerve on a roundabout, I checked back to see my rucksack almost dragging on the road (MY LAPTOP!!!), being held on by only one determined bungee.

ANYWAY..

...really don't want to fit a big, hard luggage top box (it'll wreck the look of my VFR), and besides, I need to just pick it all off the bike and go. So, I thought a tail pack might be a good idea...but they all look so high, and I can't imagine that it wouldn't just topple off the bike as I'm leaning on carriageway bends and the like. With heavy books, laptop and stuff, would a tail pack hold on well enough?

Cheers,

[techno]

I use one on all the forum weekends and stuff and its well secure, filled to the brim with all my stuff, I even carried a cake in there once as well!

I alsoput some grip stuff underneath it as well which stops the bungees rubbing the body work as well as helping it grip the sheet ...wonder webbing its called!

[Guest akey]

I have used the cheap Oxford one for a couple of years now doing everything from spirited back road rides to miles and miles of motorway stuff and never had a problem.

If you are at all worried then get a bungie net and put it over the top.

[PhatDad]

Just a word of warning though. I had a 30gb creative mp3 player with built in hard drive that I kept in my top box plugged into my autocom to provide me with some tooons on rides. The thing went and bloody broke though and I believe it was the vibration of the bike causing a failure in the hard drive. For this reason I will not put my laptop or other hard drive based devices in anything other than a back pack despite the pain. Have you thought about having just your laptop in the backpack and everything else in a tank bag/tail pack?

[TC]

There Fine as long they are bungied down correctly (instructions are on Oxfords website)

Like others have said get some "wonderweb" to protect the bike and i'm sure if your laptop was protected by something wrapped in a jumper/jacket, bubblewrap it will be fine.

Korben went around Wales with his laptop

[Sheep_onna_Bandit]

50 mile daily commute with my Cargo one, no problems at all.

[wannaride]

Cheers guys,

have to say that I always trust experience of other riders over a salesman.....SOLD.

I never did consider whether a laptop could get damaged due to vibration...guess with just a laptop in a backpack I wouldn't be uncomfortable...but my daily commute is over a hundred miles and I have noticed that-with the backpack- I do start losing concentration as I squirm around...also speed up a bit as I try to get home quicker.

Anyway, thanks again...off to buy one before Monday.

[Guest]

Korben went around Wales with his laptop

 

one of those google trips, without the bike so he could stay nice and dry..

you know, you sit in your old armchair, with the fire, dog and slippers and look at wales from the comfort of your home...

[MtotheJ]

Look at the Kriega ones, not bulky at all and fully waterproof so you wont need to worry about your laptop getting wet or anything.

[Guest]

Your laptop should be fine as long as it's not actually switched on when it's on the bike. Hard drives are much more robust when they're turned off and the heads are parked, than when they're holding a read/write head a micron from the surface of something spinning at 5400 rpm...