Coop's Corner: Viking Bag Sport Tail Bag

Friday, September 19, 2014

Viking Bag Sport Tail Bag

This evening I finally had the opportunity to take a better look at the Sport Tail Bag from Viking Bags. I mentioned in my last Post how it ended up being delivered here. Hoping to get out for a ride yet this evening, I was disappointed when it was getting too late with thunderstorms showing up on the radar. I will get out yet this weekend for a road test but this evening's fitment on a few of the bikes has me enthused and anxious to make this bag a primary tool in my luggage arsenal.

Here's the bag from the top. Visible is the double zipper for the top loading flap, the carrying handle on the back with my 12" (30.5cm) ruler as reference. Hidden are the 4 buckle straps that attach to the matching (not included) Sport Saddle Bags. Those straps are hidden under a hook and loop panel that easily attaches/detaches on the bottom.

Zipped expansion panels on both sides open to allow 2" (5cm) of extended space on each end.

There are stiffeners on each side to help the bag keep it's shape, the interior finish very softly padded. A full length zipper opens a storage pouch, 1 of the shorter zippers secures a small coin/credit card-sized pouch and the other zipper closes a vented pouch. Between those two areas are 2 pen/pencil sheaths.

Each side has a zippered, external storage pocket as well.

Included are an adjustable carrying strap w/snaps that connect on each end of the handle, making carrying easy and convenient, over the shoulder style. Also, there's a full coverage rain cover included.

Here the bag is mounted on my fabricated Hyosung luggage rack.

Here on the Breva.....I tried the seat; it would have fit just as well on my luggage rack.

On the TW200 Yamaha ........

.....and expanded.

My verdict? This is exactly the size I was looking for and should serve my needs very well. I'm seldom if ever without a tank bag these days though depending on the ride or destination, my tank bags are usually not enough, or not quite enough. Some are large and expandable, some are compact.

What do I carry? I'm an eye glass wearer and would be in trouble if I break my daily pair (easy to accomplish with my full face helmets off/on/off/on, etc., something I've done and will most likely do again someday, so there's a spare pair. A few tools, some extra clothing, water bottle, small tire pump and tire repair. These days I've always got a few tools along though I'm almost never the one that needs them. Possibly some extra clothing depending on the season or room to carry a removed layer, tripod, water bottle, a snack or two if I don't plan to stop somewhere. I've always got at least one camera along and even though it's a Point and Shoot, there are extra batteries. My phone and chargers typically stay in the tank bag where I've got 12volt power.

VStar Lady and I made mention of luggage size in my Preview Post comment section. For any kind of camping trip, this bag simply doesn't have the required capacity and will rest in the garage, ready for another trip. I simply need one of my bigger duffels for tent, fly, mattress, sleeping bag, etc., etc., For a decent day ride, or motel overnight, having this extra space is just about mandatory for me these days.

I like this bag a lot and expect to use it more often than not. My one criticism would be the hooks. I've had these bungee style hooks before and after a fair amount of use, the paint finish has typically cracked, flaked off and become rusty. I've solved that before by warming up short sections of small diameter black gas line (rubber hose) to make insertion easier, fill a small dollop of silicone over the hooks and slide the hose on. The glue not only helps to keep the hose in place but also seals the interior against water infiltration. Outside of that, this bag is what I hoped for and feel fortunate to have found, the perfect addition to my 'collection' that WILL get used.

Many thanks to Miss K for her assistance, great communication and to the folks at Viking Bags for this sample to test and to use.

4 comments:

RichardMSeptember 20, 2014 at 1:19 AM
On the bike the bag looks bigger than I thought it was. It looks like a very convenient size for shorter, non-camping trips. Thanks for the review.
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VStar LadySeptember 20, 2014 at 8:53 AM
Coop - That bag certainly fit's perfectly (on each of your bikes) ... and I agree with Richard, it looks larger in perspective. The pockets and carry strap - handy.
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"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)