IN A LINE
Inexpensive basic 500D PVC throwovers with more straps than the gimp in Pulp Fiction.

WHERE TESTED
Nowhere really.

COST & WEIGHT
£110 unused off ebay (from £140 new). 2900g est.

WHAT THEY SAY (shortened)
✔ EXCELLENT WATERPROOF: The motorcycle saddle bag is made of 500D PVC tarpaulin material, which is 100% waterproof and the most stand wear and tear motorcycle material. The roll-up design provides waterproof guarantee while supporting quick opening and closing.
✔ LARGE CAPACITY FOR DAILY NEEDS: Waterproof motorcycle bag is specially designed for those who like to travel by motorcycle, outdoor adventure. 2 side pockets with a total of 24L large capacity to meet your daily needs.
✔ STAND WEAR AND TEAR MATERIAL: Different from ordinary waterproof material, we use PVC tarpaulin as motorcycle bag shell material, which is stand wear and tear and suitable for daily use. High-density PVC resists dust and is easy to clean.

• Cheap
• Light
• Simple
• Loads of long strapping
• Can mount low and forward with a rack
• Inner padding may be OK without a rack

• 500D PVC is not particularly thick
• May not survive heavy loads off road
• Understraps for more external gear get in the way
• Despite rackless claim, best with a rack in this XL size

REVIEW
Rackless side bags from the well-known soft luggage manufacturers have been a thing for years. It will vary from bike to bike, but without a rack they have to be mounted high, almost on the side of the seat (right), to stop them swinging about into the wheel or bouncing on the pipe.
For better handling on the trail, low and forward is the way I like to do it, like the Kriega OS18 resting on the pillion footpeg on last year’s 450MT. Sadly this rackless innovation went unnoticed in the biking world.

My Serow Touring came stock with light side racks (left). They’re a bit far back (like so many racks) but are just the job to support throwovers which would otherwise swing into the wheel or melt on the pipe. Without a rack you’d need to hang them high on the side of the seat to avoid swinging, but that means a higher mass; less good for handling.
I was eyeing up these Rhinos for a while and got a barely used XL set on ebay, at 24L a side. The rationale being I won’t need any other bags bar a tank bag (though I admit, many bags or pockets makes quick day-access easier). As one reviewer observed, they’re like a pair of giant socks, the upper part rolling down to clip down the sides and over the top

Lashing on was dead easy once you get your head round the mass of long straps. (Better too long than too short.) Over the seat, I removed the unnecessary padding sleeves and cinched them up through a loop in my tail rack with cam and clip plastic buckles I’ve not seen before. At the lower ‘toe’ end, another ridiculously long strap loops through the pillion peg mount, or is long enough to go round the main frame to connect back to a metal cam lock buckle.
As said, at the back my over-seat straps went through the tail rack to stop them sliding forward. But there’s another metal buckle at the ‘back ‘heel’ of each bag to do the same job. Use a loose strap supplied to cross and loop over the tail rack (or whatever you got) from one rear bag’s rear cam buckle to the other.
Instead, I used a knotted offcut from the front strap to lash this rear point to my rack to better support it all Once bouncing loaded up along the trail, the more weight you can take off the over-seat straps the better.

There are also some long straps for lashing more gear on the outside under the bags, like the tripod shown right. But unsupported, I can’t see anything staying there for long (or staying clean) on the trail. Molle webbing would be better, or a pocket. Or just lash on top where it’ll stay put.

The honeycomb padding on the inner surface (left) claims to resist 160°C and looks OK but once splattered with gritty mud will rub on your plastics if you’ve no rack. On the trail I was not expecting to carry more than 10kg in each bag which ought to make them last. But in the end Mosko Moto sent me some of their new Alpine R60s to try so I went with them and resold the Rhinos.