Episode 74: Tusk Excursion Review Part 2, The Capacity Issue
Vložit
- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- A follow up video to Episode 73 in which I discuss some of the issues I am finding with the capacity of the Tusk Excursion system. These are just the ramblings of a mediocre rider with poor hygiene.
I see what you are saying about the difference between NR & TE bags...I just bought and put the same TE bags with the bottle bags etc. on my DRZ400S...I am pleased with the size so far, never packed anything in the past and don’t know the difference between them...I just pack what fits and it make it fit. Enjoy your channel
Great Honest review, wish I would have seen this before purchasing the excursion bags myself.
Still hoping for a redesign. In the meantime I’m still butchering mine up to hopefully make what I want.
Ahhh, I see, yes that strap around the back bottle necks. The Nelson rig bag seems to be very practical. We definitely appreciate it!
I'm glad I found your video!
That restrictive band would piss me off. I am the kind of person that wouldn't be able to live with that, every time I loaded the bag it'd bother me more and more. I'd think about how much I spent and get more angry.
I'd rage quit and rip them off the bike
That’s exactly where I was with them. I have a “mod” video where I start cutting them up in an attempt to improve them.
Stopped using them after first day on a week long Colorado trip.
You make some excellent points. For a range of reasons I made my own version of the Globetrotting rack and a Moscow Moto soft luggage replica but the big difference is that my bags hold a 50 litre dry bag each side and there are no constrictions near the top.
FYI WV4 I just bought the tusk bags. I watched a lot of tube videos before I made my decision. What sold me is how the mount leaves open the top off the seat for a bag or a gas can. I think your bike is plenty big for your bags. I had a KTM 525 and I down sized to a WR250R because you just don’t need all that power and speed ripping through the woods. If you do your not enjoying your surroundings. Maybe yes and maybe no. If I rode in the back it perfectly fine. I don’t miss a thing. Just my opinion. Around Bend Oregon out!
That’s because the tusk bags as advertised, are 14.4L. Just take the dimensions in cubic inches and convert to Liters. And like stated before, every company is off on the volume. Sometimes less than other time greater than. Just like different brand riding gear fits differently but is shown to be the same size.
It does bring forth rage for most of us. But that is the beauty of CZcams. We get to live and learn vicariously at the expense of the content creators.
Your critique of the restrictive band up top is spot on. Poor design. I'm not sure how one measures capacity in liters, but no way do these bags seem to be the advertised 15L each. Maybe if a bag was stuffed full up to the top without closing it up? I have a 10L dry bag and frankly that seems larger than one of these.
To Tusk's credit, these are a rugged piece of kit. I was impressed at the quality. But with that comes weight... several pounds more than I expected. 7.25 lbs on my kitchen scale. No wonder Tusk / Rocky Mtn doesn't publicize the weight on the website.
Hey, some guys will love these. They are for sure well made, and a good value for the money. Alas I'm sending mine back because of the small-ish and inflexible capacity and the weight. I need a cheap, light set of rackless bags to run around Southeast Asia on a rented 150CC for a few months, plus go humping thru airports and hotels. Will go with the Nelson Rigg option that's half the weight, half the price, with larger and expandable capacity but lower in quality.
I see what you mean by that strap around the side bags. Watch the Tusk video and they do touch on that but make it look so easy to overcome. I guess it's the same with most tutorials made by the makers/suppliers of products. They make it look so easy. I am thinking of getting these as a 30 liter system but might have to rethink and decide if a 20 liter system will be big enough. I do intend to buy the Tusk top duffel bag as well though. Might have to go with the Tusk Highland X2 system instead.
Yeah...I'm like you on the brands...
Mosko is my number one choice, but the beer bottle budget has me leaning towards Tusk. I'm definitely going with the larger (same style) system.
(Name escapes me right now)
But $500ish compared to closer to $900ish, my DR650 will just have to settle on second best.
Word of advice for all else looking at luggage (any type) go larger than your bare minimum planning. Trying to manipulate gear, clothes, and maybe a few luxury items into a less than able, will only lead to frustration and possible gear damage.
I have the same issue with mine, I have to install the dry bag in the rackless before filling. That's the difference between the Mosko rackless bags. Those were built to fill off the bike and install like a holster. That's my 2 cents, thanks for the video.
I have ceased using mine. I have debated on cutting the roll portion off the bags and cutting the restrictive strap.to add a cinch strap. Essentially making a system that mimics the Altrider Holster system. Then use my Nelson Rigg bags in them.
Some, of the capacity is in the roll top part, it doesnt need to be rolled all the way down.
Just one roll can work, that gives more room. Then there's the bottle holsters to hold smaller items.
I have some Wolfman Rocky Mountain bags I like for a real camping jaunt.
Ive got some of these arriving today, I can tell by looking they are mainly a day trip bag.
People say they go camping with these, it would have to be Really Minimal.
A medium dry bag on top of rack might do the trick.
I'd be curious to see you fill the dry bags with water and see how much will fit in the excursion. That way we can see who's fibbing on their listed liters, tusk or nelson.
Would be a good experiment but one of the Tusk bags wore a hole through it after the first use. And the whole Excursion kit has been rotting in a landfill for probably 2 years now.
I agree with your frustration 100%. The way the band is sewn in is really dumb. Lots of odd design choices, the extension could actually be useful with only one roll if they'd have just put some velcro at the top and mounted them lower so the tops wouldn't interfere with each other or the top bag. Don't understand the purpose of soft liner padding on the inside either, odd and just takes up volume.
On the flipside they are probably the cheapest option of all the rackless setups. Can't have it all but a few minor tweaks and they'd be so much better.
The dry bag will go in more easily after it gets some wear on it. Or a little dirty. Mine improved with use. Still smaller for sure.
My tusk bags wore a dime size hole through them after 2 rides
Nelsen dose seem to fit more for the number. I had the 14l hurricane saddles and do to tearing i went with these and had to rearrange because there smaller wish i got the 25l highlands bc there probably more like 18-20l 😅
Thanks. Helpful stuff.
Nailed it. That band is terrible. You cant fully load the dry bags and get them in there. The one poor aspect to the bags
Thanks for the confirmation. I thought maybe it was just me. Really should be an adjustable strap.
Bro you'd be awesome for those late night infomercials where they guy is having a huge hard time doing the most simple things. Like put stuff in a bag.
That may be true but still a crappy design for luggage.
@@wv4life375 can you replace the strap for a rokstrap?
You do this for fun, we enjoy your vids…
Thanks. I hope to do more riding and videos this year after the snow melt
If you haven’t tried this yet you are kinda comparing apple to oranges. You are trying to pack one bag that is on the bike and subject to the compression of being stepped down to the bike, compared to one that has no compression cause it’s off the bike. Just a thought.
I took the harness off the bike and still had the same issue with that constricted nylon strap when trying to push the dry bag in. It’s just something I’m going to have to work around and adapt to.
@@wv4life375 oh that’s too bad. I just ordered this set up with the larger too bag to replace my GL coyote. I hope it actually gives me more room than my previous setup.
@@beejaytee I may have been a little harsh because I made the video when I first tried to fit the bags. It was a little disheartening at first. I like them and they are certainly worth the price point compared to similar products. They we priced low enough that I even considered taking scissors to them and basically turning them into a better version of the Altrider Holster. I’m going to use them for a few months and see. I mainly bought them for an Alpine Loop trip in the fall.
So you think the tusk highlander would be too big for your bike ? Was thinking 40L might be to small
My opinion is simply that and it really depends on your end use and purpose. Personally the only reason to run such big luggage on a 500 is for living off the bike in remote areas. And in that case you may be using the wrong bike or you pack too much.
@@wv4life375 ya. Never gone yet so not sure size I need for gear tools ect. still buying little
Things before summer like stove chairs ect
Yeah, I bought the highland set for my 300 Rally because I knew that companies oversell capacity especially roll types, and the advertised 25L is really maybe 18-20. No way the excursion would have worked for me for the reasons you pointed out. Thanks for real world review. The “small” 22L bag is the only thing close to accurate. But you can’t beat the price of the Tusk.
How is the highland set up working for you on the 300 rally.
@@mynamesnotrob Howdy not Rob! The more dual-sporty I've become, the highland doesn't really fit this bike. I could go on and on about the weight of the cases, inefficient packing capacity vs the amount of space it takes up on the bike (with the 20L middle bag), and stock suspension while riding off-road loaded like that. But suffice to say if I was doing a fair amount of road tripping through paved back roads and hard pack service roads, it would be OK. That being said, I've found myself riding more forest roads (not maintained in winter) or Class-4-6 abandoned roads (which aren't much better than double track) during my moto-camping adventures and am now using the Kriega OS base with 12L OS side bags and a 30L roll top Amazon waterproof bag (I could likely go to a 20L bag but I carry a bear canister for my food and toiletries) which is cumbersome - see camp setup. This allowed me to take off my tail rack and drop some more weight. The whole setup isn't taller than my helmet on the seat. One of the biggest drawbacks to the TE is that if I make camp and dump the top bag, I have no way to cleanly secure the beaver tail and just ride with the side bags, like I can with the Kreiga set up. Link to photos: photos.app.goo.gl/Retv26WQRHDGvho46.
Couldn’t you put the dry bag in empty and fill it from there? You’d still have to pull everything out before the dry bay came out, which would still be a pain…
If its raining then loading the dry bag once on the in the sleeve would be contrary to the purpose of a dry bag
Probably measuring liquid volume
Man you really need to improve your packing skills.
Also for a fair comparison you should add to the 1? pound bag the weight of the rack, because this system is rackless and I managed to fit it on my 690 with no additional hardware.
Excuse me! I will tell you I was once runner up in a good ole fashioned Russian back alley bare knuckle Tetris match.
Still not a huge fan of that strap that goes around the bag. Stay tuned I may make a video soon on cutting it apart to make a better version of the Altrider Holster.
True about adding the rack to the weight of the dry bags alone, BUT I was going to run it either way this making it moot. Primary ready is to add support to the 500s very short and weak subframe.
ill buy them
Looks like you want to ride an ultralight bike with GS 1250 capacity, lol. Pack lighter.
@@hitmanhite8958 if you have watched any other videos especially one with camping or review of the Altrider holster you would see that I pack light typically using backpacking items. I still stand by the Tusk Excursion being trash.
Dude, you're wiggin🤣🤣
You shouldn’t have bought the excursion. You sound very disappointed. Did you know they make a larger size? That’s like someone wearing too small of a shoe because they think they know what size they wear. Just get what fits...
I was under the assumption that 15L is 15L and that one side of the Excursion should be able to hold everything that I easily fit in a single 15L dry bag. I still think the big design flaw is the restricting band around the mouth of the bag. I bought them for a single trip I plan to do this fall. After that trip I may ditch them or begin modifying them to fit my needs.