Considering the Plunge to Soft Panniers

[Prutser]

Maybe this can help......(someone)

Just made a 6000 km off road trip through Kazakhstan Russia and Mongolia.

I used Steel pony's. Brand new when I left. After 5000 km I noticed that the edges from the plate thats in the back pocket was worn through the fabric.
Even in places where I had a strap around the bags the fabric was worn.
The buckles that connect the 2 bags are in the middle of the seat. Could feel one of them the whole trip....A pain in the.....!
They damaged my luggage that was on the back of the seat. The buckles can still be seen in the seat.
I really like the steel pony's but maybe this trip was just a bit to tough for them.
In the Netherlands the steel pony's are the same price as the magadan's


There were 3 people using the Magadan panniers.
After 13000km (2sets) and 6000km for another set no sign of wear !!! (almost everything off road)

Using a liner works really good. So I can take the clean liner into my tent or hotel and leave the muddy panniers on the bike.
I used 35 liter sea to summit dry bags in the Steel pony's. That works in the same way as the magadan liners.

For me the advantage of having "not waterproof" panniers is that I can put my wet tent on the bottom so it can leak and dry without the rest of my gear (in the liner) getting wet.

[mefadv]

Kuddo's for the Wolfman products.
They are not perfect but if you keep the Zipper's conditioned they should last for a good many miles. Kinda hard to control the long straps if not fully loaded, but all those tie-downs are nice.

[Dan Alexander]

Originally Posted by Prutser

Maybe this can help......(someone)

Just made a 6000 km off road trip through Kazakhstan Russia and Mongolia.

I used Steel pony's. Brand new when I left. After 5000 km I noticed that the edges from the plate thats in the back pocket was worn through the fabric.
Even in places where I had a strap around the bags the fabric was worn.
The buckles that connect the 2 bags are in the middle of the seat. Could feel one of them the whole trip....A pain in the.....!
They damaged my luggage that was on the back of the seat. The buckles can still be seen in the seat.
I really like the steel pony's but maybe this trip was just a bit to tough for them.
In the Netherlands the steel pony's are the same price as the magadan's


There were 3 people using the Magadan panniers.
After 13000km (2sets) and 6000km for another set no sign of wear !!! (almost everything off road)

Using a liner works really good. So I can take the clean liner into my tent or hotel and leave the muddy panniers on the bike.
I used 35 liter sea to summit dry bags in the Steel pony's. That works in the same way as the magadan liners.

For me the advantage of having "not waterproof" panniers is that I can put my wet tent on the bottom so it can leak and dry without the rest of my gear (in the liner) getting wet.

Great to have some real world experience to use for refference, thanks!

How was the trip?

Last time I travelled east Russia was forbidden so we all travelled south through Iran and Afghanistan and further east. Times change

PS: by saying the Magadan and the Steel Pony are the same price does that mean the Magadan are cheap or the ST's are too expensive

[Prutser]

Originally Posted by Dan Alexander

Great to have some real world experience to use for refference, thanks!

How was the trip?

Last time I travelled east Russia was forbidden so we all travelled south through Iran and Afghanistan and further east. Times change

PS: by saying the Magadan and the Steel Pony are the same price does that mean the Magadan are cheap or the ST's are too expensive

The trip was great.A bit to much things to be seen in not enough time.......!

The Steel pony's are 465€ (575usd) when you finally get them to Holland.Shipment and tax....!!!
The Magadan's about 443€ at the moment.

[Steamy Moose]

Fitted a set of dry expedition Wolfmans to my rig today, pretty happy with them so far!

[Canuman]

Wolfman Expeditions strap down tight and don't move. They are really, truly waterproof (you can submerge them without worry when they are closed properly) not simply "water resistant." The simple design means there is very little to fail (one reason why I'd never again choose a zippered saddlebag.) They are reasonably priced in comparison to other systems. My only criticism is that they could be a bit larger, and the factory stiffener sucks. I simply took the stiffener out, and have had no problems. I pack my gear in stuff sacks, which keeps things clean and organized and makes unloading a snap. Good stuff sacks can be had much more cheaply than "saddlebag liners," and come in a large range of size. My Wolfmans have been used for three years on road and off without a single failure or issue. They've supported a sleepy bike on several occasions with no damage. I'll never use hard bags off-road again.

They are part of a system. They work best with the Wolfman racks as on the KLR, or Jackpiner57's TATracks, shown on the DRZ400E in the bottom picture.