Tested: Kriega Overlander S – OS-32

See also:
Soft Baggage Comparison
Overlander OS-22, on a Himalayan 410 in Morocco

Kriega’s new Overlander-S is their second iteration of a luggage system suited to bike travel. A few years ago they brought out a similar plate-on-rack idea (below right) but, with modularity using their existing 15-litre packs (or Rotopax), which were semi-permanently riveted to the HDPE plate which itself attached to the rack with fiddly skewer clamps. I never used them myself, but has a close look once and it wasn’t really for me. I prefer one big bag, like the Adventure Spec Magadans, and an easier way of getting the bags on and off a rack.

• Good volume
• Rugged construction
• Easy mounting and removal
• Exterior tabs for expandability
• Option to not use platform/plate

• Expensive, once you add it all up

I just spent a month in southern Morocco and Western Sahara with prototypes of Kriega’s new OS-32 panniers, the core of their new Overlander-S system (below right) using a similar bag-on-plate-on-rack system.
My load was only about 10-15kgs each side, depending on water, and I was set up for tentless camping with a few days food. A nifty Giant Loop tankbag, a trusty old Touratech tail pouch and Kriega R15 backpack with Hydrapak added up to the rest of my baggage.

With Kriega OS panniers, an HDPE plate or ‘platform’ in Kriegaspeak (left) can be bolted to a rack. You may think it just adds weight and expense. Both true, but a plate is actually a smart way to fit any rack. HDPE (think: kitchen chopping board) is great stuff, too: light, rigid and dead easy to drill or even just poke with a red-hot skewer.
The Kriega plate and its adapter clamps have been designed to fit just about any round-tube, 18mm/¾” rack and offer a broad, grippy surface for the hypalon-backed OS bag to cinch up against. Making your own fitting to fatter or square tubed racks would be easy enough. The Kriega OS bags use a cunning anchor and strap-up system to make a very secure fitting while enabling easy fitting or removal – a key element when on the long road. Strapping the hypalon-backed bag to the grippy plate surface spreads loads over a broad area too, meaning no failure-prone stress points.
Mosko Moto also use a plate for their Backcountry bags; a GRP wedge and ‘frame’ (right). The wedge attaches upwards to your bike rack, and the full-width frame permanently to the back of the bag which slides down onto the wedge and clips in with a latch. Originals were also made in HDPE, but either wore too quickly or were too soft. GRP (fibreglass) gets round this, but can be brittle stuff. I’ve not tried Backcountry bags, but intuitively I feel old-school soft-strapping to a plate spreads and secures loads better than two bits of GRP slotting, clipping and grinding together, even if it does just take seconds to fit and remove. It’s probably fine for road riding, less so for off road.

For a big trip with heavy/variable loads, a travel bike is better off with a rack, unless you take very little or can be certain your gear will stay put, be easy to get to and remove, and of course, won’t catch fire off the pipe (left; Niger ’86). It’s a load-carrying interface between your baggage and your bike to enable secure fitting on a variety of bikes, like saddles on a horse, a roofrack on your car, a packframe in a rucksack, or even the shoes on your feet.
You can use Kriega’s OS-32s as throwovers, in which case you could dispense with the plate, but you will need some sort of rack to stop them swinging about. You could duplicate the HDPE plate’s strap holes on a rack frame to effectively mount in the same way. It won’t spread the load and secure the bag as well, but it will save 2.4kg of plate and a hundred quid.

I used a Tusk rack from Rocky Mountain (4kg, left). Great price, well made in ¾” and solid mounting. It stood up to the beating well and was only spoiled by the clumsy extra bracketry for mounting hard cases. I removed what I could from the rack, but some welded-on bits (right) got in the way of mounting the Kriega rack plate as low and far forward as practical. I suppose I could have ground them off.

The plates (1.2kg each) have four slots for the upper and lower bag straps. To mount a bag (2.6kg), you rest it on your knee and feed the lower straps through – below.

Then you feed the top straps through the slots and pull the ‘anchor buckle’ through – works a bit like a shirt button and similar to Wolfman’s idea which cinched smaller bags directly onto racks.

Viewed from behind – the anchor buckles (as I call them) pull through and take the weight.

With those buckles pulled through, the bag now hangs on the plate not unlike a throwover. You could probably ride on roads like that. For a bombproof mounting, you now crouch down and connect the dangling lower straps to the outer strap with a flat metal hook. This is about as arduous and fiddly as the whole bag-mounting process gets. Then, on top you do the same: hook the outer strap to the chunky tab off the anchor buckle, then cinch it all up and lock it down with the cam buckle. Sorted!
Mounting takes about 40 secs each side once you’re practised – demounting a bit less.

One of the best things about the Magadans are the big exterior pockets – a lot of soft luggageers dodge this necessity. Kriega supplied me with two OS6, 6-litre strap-on pockets (550g) which are part of the OS system and which I hooked on the front of the bags. They’re ideal for daily or heavy items to keep the CoG central. The OS6s cinch down on themselves to stop stuff shaking about. You could put two more on the back and another on top. There are over a dozen hook-on tabs on the main bags and the system includes an optional pair of shoulder straps which make it easier to do the bike-to-hotel-room-walk in one go.

All bags came with the usual Kriega white liners to enhance rummaging visibility and which are more durable than previous liners. I didn’t use them, and bagged stuff individually. Even then, what rain I got – a few hours a couple of times – didn’t penetrate the bags. They’re covered in hypalon panels (think: whitewater raft fabric; lasts for decades) which slow the wetting out of the bag’s Cordura body and of course will scoff at any abrasion, be it the constant rubbing against the plate, or sliding down the road hoping not to loosen your load. Daytime access requires uncam-locking and loosening the top straps and pushing to the sides, then unclipping the roll top folds from the sides and unrolling – about 15 secs.

On the top panel you’ll see a chunky metal fitting to feed a cable lock, like the Steel Core recommended by Mosko Moto. I initially just used them to secure the loose strap ends (left). Kriega tell me if I fold the ends over they’ll have the rigidity to slip into the outer sleeves, even when the bags are packed full. I never tried that and in the end just let the straps flap.

The bags have interior stiffening panels to help give shape, but fold down flat for shipping or shoving under the bed between adventures. The volume is 32 litres according to the brochure, but as I discovered here, a flexible, rectilinear box will actually increase in volume when filled with fluids as it seeks to attain spherical equilibrium. Who wouldn’t want some of that. For example, my notional ’24-litre’ Magadans (right) actually took 40 litres of water, and that increase will be the same with any similar flexible rectilinear pannier.

So, masses of volume meant I didn’t need an annoying tailpack, and low-mounting probably didn’t do any harm to stability either. Yes, they’re wide because the rack is wide. On the chain side I could’ve used the inner space better (just a rolled up 10-L fuel bag, yellow thing on the left). There’s four litres of volume to be had there, easily. A Rotopax won’t fit.

On road and trail the OS-32s never missed a beat or felt annoying to use. In fact the pulling up of the anchor buckles and then cinching up were quite satisfying actions – I suspect ‘actuation gratification’ (the satisfying click of a clip, for example; there’s probably better jargon for it) may be something that better designers think more about than others.
With my throwover-on-rack Mags (left) I removed the liner to take indoors as the bags needed careful lashing to the rack to stay put. With the Overlander-S it was no bother to:
• lift the cam locks
• loosen then unhook the lower straps
• unhook the top straps
• lift the bag on its handle, release the anchor buckles and carry it away

Your OS32s are a travel solution to long overland journeys. For dirtbike weekends or fast and light BDR-ing, I imagine a GL Great Basin, Mosko Moto Reckless, or alternative Kriega packs will suit riders prioritising agility. Me, I’m more of a traveller and prefer big, side-mounted saddle bags with minimal junk loaded on top. Slimmer would be nice, but that’s just conventional rack design and high dirt-bike pipes for you.

The Mags are still great bags and bound to be cheaper. The OS-32 kit as I used it with plates and two pockets would come to £710. That’s a lot of money, but of all the accessories you lash to a genuine travel bike, surely the baggage system is the most critical and will be the most used. I hope to carry over these OS-32s to my next adv bike. Good job Kriega, a well thought out bit of kit.

For more images from my ride in Morocco, see this.

Review: Giant Loop Fandango Pro Tank Bag

For my kind of riding I’ve not been a great fan of tankbags. When you get off the bike it’s another thing to unclip and lug around with you, along with your lid. For the stuff you can’t afford to lose I find a backpack like Kriega’s R15 more functional – it stays with you on or off the bike, but over nearly a decade I’ve reluctantly gelled with my ‘dango.

Fyi: I bought this Fandango Pro used off ebay for £35.

What they say:
Fandango Tank Bag PRO™ (8 litres) represents a major upgrade of Giant Loop’s largest, most popular tank bag. Expandability, electronics compatibility, and features driven by rider feedback inspire this adventure-proof state-of-the-art design.

What I think:

• Solid and well made
• Still using it on all sorts of bikes 5 years later
• Perfect size for my needs – not too big
• More handy compartments than Secret Squirrel

• ~~A hundred and sixty quid for a PVC tank bag~~? Nope, now £220!
• Mounting zips are a faff when filling up; would prefer clips or even velcro

Review
I like to try new stuff, or up to a point, retry ideas I’ve given up on. Once I strung some high-end Rova-Flex zip ties round the frame and headstock the Fandango perched securely on my WR’s big IMS tank. It stayed there for a month, zipped off every 4-500kms to refill the tank, or right off when overnighting in lodgings. Since then I used it on an XR400 in Algeria, on my XScrambleR 700 in Morocco and on my Himalayan.

The volume is just right for me, though the map pocket’s surface area os a bit small. It closes with a velcro patch, but that wasn’t enough to stop my vital notebook falling out while battling through a oued on the Western Sahara border. Going back to look for it was just ‘too hot, too hard, too far’, to paraphrase GL’s motto. Make sure you velcro down well, especially with toll-highway tickets.
The back mesh pocket was great to whip out my P&S camera on the move, and inside under the top is a nifty hidden zip pocket, but it’s starting to fray. There’s another under the base (may get wet) and inside the body is a velcro divider I have no use for as the bag is not that big. I just stuff in what’s needed.

There’s a port to let a cable out so your phone can recharge, and they’ve neatly addressed securing the loose ends of the harness to eliminate flapping.
As expected, the zips can be a pain some days. It takes just a few seconds of fiddling to get them to hook up, but I got things to do and places to ride! I’d prefer clips. The breather hose from my WR’s fuel cap didn’t get affected by the bag pressing on it, and lightly loaded as it was, the sat stayed in place over rough terrain.

Once the harness is on the bike, it will be nice to ditch the backpack and just use the ‘dango like a small top box as it’s been a dead handy accessory on my trips. Lately I’ve fitted it to my Himalayan where it sits nicely with some more Rova-Flex zipped round the frame tubes. Only this time I’ve taped some tape to the tank top to stop the base vinyl from scuffing the pristine white paint.
Just remember all this goodwill is based on the great price I paid for it used.

Tested: Klim Outrider pants review

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updated 2023

Tested: Klim Outrider pants.

Where: 3000km over a month in southern Morocco. Then another 5000 in Morocco and Spain, another 1000km in Algeria in 2018 and for a few weeks every year in Morocco till late 2023.

UK price: £165 at Adventure Spec.

See also: Klim Dakar ITB; Aerostich AD1s Adventure Spec Lineman (soon)

• Usual Klim quality
• Not plastered in Klim branding
• Exterior knee sleeves make armour easily removable
• These also make handy stash pockets
• Can pass as slightly unusual normal jeans
• They didn’t go cargo-pocket-mad, as many do
• Cotton-Cordura fabric feels tough, but breathes well
• Dry fast

• Regular length was too long in the leg (shortened mine)
• Way too baggy at the shins for riding bikes too, even OTB. I cut a wedge out and zip put in
• Expensive, but lasted years

As I wrote, I’ve been looking for some riding pants that make me feel protected but don’t weigh a ton like my old leathers, and aren’t sweaty, bulky, membrane overpants. There are those kevlar-impregnated demin jeans, but who actually wears jeans these days?
After a while I decided my Klim Dakar ITBs were just too race-focussed, under-pocketed and too nylony for my tame level of desert touring. At the 2016 NEC Adv Spec put me onto Klim’s forthcoming Outriders – normal looking, jean-like riding pants with well-thought-out armour. Something you can wear on or off the bike. In other words: ideal do-it-all travelling trousers.
When they arrived my 38″ Regulars weigh 1440g with the armour, or 1090g without. More than half that of my leathers and a bit less than the chunky Dakar ITBs.

Fyi: I bought these Outriders at a discount from Adventure Spec in return for advertising in my books

What they say:
The Outrider is designed to traverse the environments and demands of the multi-sport enthusiast. Scrambling out to your favorite fishing spot, hiking from the trailhead to the lake at 9,000ft, or cruising the boulevard to the pier at sunset. Wherever your next odyssey takes you, the Outrider is ready for anything. Built with the quality you expect from KLIM®.

Review
I was pretty sure I’d like the Klim Outriders and out of the box I wasn’t disappointed. I’m around 6′ 1″ and 94kg, 37″ waist (when I left for Morocco), and an inside leg of 32″ (unchanged). So ’38 x 32 Regular’ was my size.

But these pants are actually a yard long in the leg and once worn standing up, sag at the heel, like the image right, but more. Once the armour’s in and with some riding up when sat on a bike, they actually look correct. And if you wear them ITB (in-the-boot) to eliminate snagging the baggy ends, it ought not matter (or so I hoped). Better too long than too short, I suppose.

You get two front pockets with a jean-like coin slot inside one; two at the back, one with a flap and stud, and a smartphone slip-in on the left thigh so you can check in without taking your hand off the throttle.

Inside, mesh takes the slim D3O hip armour pads (left; I didn’t use them on my trip), and at the knees you slip the armour in from the top, position with unobtrusive velcro and do up a stud.
Even without the armour these long, double thickness knees will give some extra protection, and feature drain holes at the lower ends for those deep BAM crossings (right).

The 75% Cotton-Cordura fabric is hefty without feeling like scout tent fabric or being unduly sweaty. The attention to detail and triple-stitching is confidence-inspiring and the shade of dark brown works for me. Maybe it was all part of the grand business plan, but it’s good to see Klim getting away from the sporty racewear and into more mainstream riding gear which will have many more buyers.

Before I even got to Morocco my Outriders got soaked while waiting in the rain to board the ferry at Algeciras. A good test to see if they’d dry on the hour’s crossing. They did.
Over the next month, I rode in temperatures from 35°C in Western Sahara to close to freezing in the High Atlas (with runner’s leggings underneath). In all that time the Outriders never felt too hot and sweaty, nor chilled my legs out of proportion to the rest of me. On the very hot days, just stopping for a minute in my Overland jacket, with all vents and zips open, saw me start sweating; my legs in the Outriders remained stable.

Because they’re so long, tucking the rolled-up ends into my boots and then doing the boots up became a chore on some days. And, perhaps because my boots aren’t full knee height and clamped to my leg, over the course of a day getting on and off the bike they’d work their way out and need stuffing back in. I could have worn them ‘OTB’ but I’m sure they’d have snagged on something and got oily or ripped. As it was, they got ripped anyway while paddling hard through a sandy oued – didn’t notice till later as I was slightly desperate at the time. I suppose they caught the footrest or gear level on a forward lunge.

I got them machine-washed once – probably high temp and not inside out, contrary to instructions. I can’t say I noticed any shrinkage, if that is the reason (in fact I would have welcomed a bit). I didn’t crash in them either, though I dare say something closer-fitting like the Dakar ITBs would keep the knee armour in place better.

Back home I got them shortened by 2 inches (using the off-cut to patch the tear), and a few months later cut a wedge out of the lower leg to get a slimmer shin fit and installed a zip along the inside. A side-benefit of the zip makes them easy to pull- or roll up to the knee for wading or general airing-off. But all up that’s a lot of after-market sewing for an expensive pair of trousers. I know the American fit is typically larger than in Europe, but an inch is still an inch.

After another wash or three, the Klims are fading but are in good shape. For the moment they are my general riding trousers, quick-drying and without the weight of leathers, the sweatiness of the ITBs or synthetic-ness of membrane over-trousers.

WR250R – Ready for the Desert

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WR250R 4000-km review
WR Introduction
WR250R Stage 1
WRing about in Wales
WR250R ready for the desert
Morocco trip report, 1–9
Fuel log

While in Morocco last year and not riding around on my WR250R, I left it with a list and a bunch of stuff with Karim, a desert bikey mate with a lavishly equipped garage and some spare time on his hands. Over the weeks he tinkered away, finishing the job I’d started in the summer, converting the WR into a lightweight desert bike.

The list included a TrailTech engine temperature gauge (above). IMO it’s vital to be able to know an engine’s temperature – air or water-cooled; I don’t want to hope some warning light might chip in just as steam starts wafting up from under the tank (as happened to a 450 KTM in the desert once, left: engine fried, end of his ride). The gauge’s pick-up sensor can be mounted anywhere very hot including splicing into the radiator hose to read water temps – all you’re really looking for is a representative value from which to evaluate a normal reading.

If it starts straying into unusually high figures you can choose to back off, or even stop and turn into the wind at tickover. On the ride back to London in a backwind gale the temperature varied from 85°C up to 115°C flat out or at the lights, but usually around 100. Another handy thing is it reads even when the engine’s off – a handy air temp reading when camping.
At the same time one fan blade got tippexed white to make it easier to see at a glance if it was spinning when it should be.

A RAM mount and wire for my Montana got hardwired in (left) to guarantee a reliable, clip-on connection, and some 12-volt and USB plugs got added to the cross-bar (right). Got no actual use for them but handy to have. There’s also a DIN plug tucked in by the seat base to power a heated jacket and the tyre pump.

I’m going to be trying out some new Kriega Overlander-S panniers – OS32 – which mount and strap on quite cleverly to an HDPE platform that’s clamped to the rack. I’ll do a fuller review of the system once on a road a couple of weeks, but as you can see, the volume means a large tailpack isn’t needed, even with basic camping gear. I find that makes swinging a leg over the high saddle easier and a less cluttered look.

My trusty old Barkbuster Storms are getting what must be their fifth fitting on the WR. Whatever came with the bike was all plastic and not really up to the job. And before I’d even loaded the bike to head back to London, the Barks saved the day when a gust from Storm Doris (right) blew the WR over.

The headlight bulb has been uprated to a Cyclops H4 LED (on ebay) which emits a bluey light, and they promise will cut through the night sky like a meteor shower as well as consume less juice.
And down by the front sprocket I added a Sandman case saver kit from Basher in Missouri. I’m starting on a 14T (on 46), and swapping to a 13T (about 10% lower gearing if the speedo error is any judge), should the need arise.

Tyres, you ask: I try never to use the same type twice and this time around I’m on Mitas (formerly Sava) MC23 Rockriders. I was hoping to go tubeless until I saw the back DID rim doesn’t have the lip (in which case this would work, were it in my size). I’m confident the Mitaii will easily last the trip of about 5000km, helped with a splash of Slime and a few Hail Marys.

I’ve also added a dinky Motion Pro rim lock on the back which weighs next to nothing, but will hopefully bite when the need arises. I can’t see me running pressures low enough where the scant torque of a WR250 will be able to pull the tyre round the rim. The whole point of running knobblies like the MC23s is – away from deep sand plains and dunes – you will get great grip on the dirt without the need to run them at 1 bar and risk flats.

And that is that. The rest of the adaptions are here. The bike is on its way to Malaga in a Fly and Ride artic which, at £595 return, actually works out quicker and cheaper than a ferry-and-Spain crossing.

I readily admit the WR is no FJ12 on the open road and makes you feel a bit vulnerable dicing with fast European highway traffic – but then again it won’t be an FJ12 on rough backroads or the pistes either. So far I have a good feeling about the untried WR-R: I love the lightness and the better than average poke for a 250, along with great mpg and desert-ready suspension and tyres. But of course, I’ll miss the comfort of last year’s La Mancha-munching CB500X. What we have here is a specialised, lightweight desert touring bike.
Stick around to see how the WR performs in Morocco and, if it behaves, in Western Sahara too.

Reviews – The Street Riding Years

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Buy Kindle on amazon • Buy paperback on amazon

Recent mentions in Classic Motorcycle Mechanics and Classic Bike magazines

March 23 – Amazon review
I was pleased to see someone as young as 21 could get the book too.

March 10 – Review by Martin Round
In true vintage motorcycle style you need to give this book time to warm up before you get the best out of it. You tickle the carburettor on Scott’s early passion for bikes but it takes a while to kickstart into the world of despatch riding where the stories start to race like an urgent organ transplant delivery.
Read full review

January 31 ~ Interview in Bike magazine

Adventures in Motorcycling is about curiosity, experimentation and yup, adventure… an engrossing insight into a bygone and edgier age of motorcycling.
Bike

January 5 ~ Ride magazine and Austin Vince have their say
It’s the best book of any sort I’ve read for about five years, not just the best book involving bikes.’
Austin Vince, Adventure Film Maker

January 5 ~ from Mark Williams – co-founder of Bike magazine
Scott’s reminiscences will resonate fondly with many of us who cut our biking teeth in an era he sometimes waspishly, often with painful accuracy recalls in great and highly readable detail.

January 1 ~ Email from a reader
I’ve just finished reading Adventures in Motorcycling, and wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it. Thanks for writing such a well written and extremely entertaining book. If I have any criticism to make, it’s that you’ve now added to the growing list of old nails I routinely search through eBay for!

December 17 ~ Review from Survival Skills Motorcycle Training

It’s a fast-paced, insightful and occasionally controversial look at a long-gone anarchic lifestyle that somehow survived state control and the SPG. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, chucking and laughing my way though some of the wry observations of a time I remember only too well… Get it, read it, and enjoy the sound of life and bikes in the 1980s.

Read full review (Dec 17)

D
ecember 15 ~ Review from Biker Glory

Long before Ewan and Charlie, before Mondo Enduro – in fact before pretty much everyone bar the legendary Ted Simon – there was Chris Scott. But let’s put this into perspective: almost since the genesis of motorcycling, people have headed off astride the old iron horse for parts unknown. The difference being that way back in the day, no one bothered writing about it….

Read full review

December 13 ~ Review in South East Biker magazine Dec-Jan 2015 issue

Chris writes in an entertaining and articulate style, managing to combine a comprehensive history of the era’s bikes with a taste for the music, culture and turbulent political scene… It’s a motorbike trip with a difference, a journey through an era, where the characters are as much the bikes as the people involved.

I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone who rode back then… or those who would like an insight to what are now the ‘good old days.’

Read full review

December 12 ~ ‘Five stars for bikers’ according to The Londonist

Our second courier to trouble the word processor this month is Chris Scott. Scott’s adventures round the city by motorbike range from the hilarious to the dangerous to the painful, with plenty of bumps and bounces along the way…

Read full review

November 30 ~ Review from Ants BK, author A Short Ride in the Jungle

Pithy, witty, informative, excellently written – a rip-roaring ride through the culture, music and bikes of the eighties

November 27 ~ Review from Motorcycle Explorer Magazine

Two questions answered in definitive fashion in this part autobiography written by the man who wrote Adventure Motorcycling Handbook, better known as ‘The Bible’. How does someone end up writing an adventure book and what life was like in booming 80s London when you have nowhere to live and no idea what you want to do other than ride motorbikes as fast as possible to avoid the odd riot!

September 24 ~ London Bikers spreads the word.

They’ll be reviewing the book later. . .

September 10

In the US, Adv Moto Magazine previewed Adventures in Motorcycling.

The Rider’s Digest – autumn 2016 issue

As a writer, Scott is an accomplished raconteur, with a journalist’s ear and eye for the telling detail. He’s incapable of telling a dull story as he is of writing a dull sentence. His off-beat take on life and its indignities is balanced by a rather droll British quirk of exaggerating the minor points or issues and minimising major ones. … Despatching Through 80s London is a collage of brilliant anecdotes. [that] captures the spirit of the time and place perfectly.

Jonathan Boorstein

Fyi: I bought this Fandango Pro used off ebay for £35.

updated 2023

WR250R 4000-km reviewWR IntroductionWR250R Stage 1WRing about in WalesWR250R ready for the desertMorocco trip report, 1–9Fuel log

WR250R 4000-km review
WR Introduction
WR250R Stage 1
WRing about in Wales
WR250R ready for the desert
Morocco trip report, 1–9
Fuel log