Motorcycle Luggage and Touring Storage: Packing Your Bike Right
Where you put your weight changes how the bike handles. Here is how to split storage between your jacket and your luggage.
Most riders plan a tour around the route and the gear on their back, then treat luggage as an afterthought packed the night before. That order causes most of the problems. Motorcycle luggage changes how the bike handles, so it deserves the same thought as your jacket or your boots.
Weight low and central
Saddlebags mounted low near the rear axle keep the bike's centre of gravity close to where it already sits, which is why they are the first choice for genuine touring weight. Tail bags stacked high behind the seat are easy to fit but raise the centre of gravity and make the bike feel top heavy at low speed. Tank bags sit the weight closest to the bike's natural balance point, which is why they suit the items you want quick access to rather than bulk.
Soft luggage versus hard cases
Soft luggage is lighter, cheaper and forgiving in a drop, which matters more than riders expect on loose or unfamiliar roads. Hard cases lock, protect contents better from crushing, and hold their shape when half empty. Neither is wrong, it depends on whether you are touring on tarmac or mixing in rougher terrain, a question we cover from the gear side in our adventure riding jackets guide.
Let your jacket do some of the work
Before you add bulk to the bike, use the storage already built into your riding gear. The Gravlok Premium 3 Season Jacket has a rear storage pocket sized to hold its own removable liner along with gloves or a packed rain layer, which means less has to go into external luggage for a day ride. For bigger trips, treat jacket storage as the layer for things you need fast and bike luggage as the layer for everything else.
Waterproofing is not optional
Soft luggage soaks through fast without a rain cover or a waterproof liner bag. Pack electronics and spare layers in a dry bag inside the luggage, not just inside the outer shell, so a sudden downpour does not end the trip early.
Build the rest of your touring kit with our touring jackets guide, and browse Gravlok touring jackets. Made at 375 A1 Township, Lahore, Pakistan and shipped all over the world.
