travel straps, tie downs

A couple of days ago, I finished a 2500 mi trip from California, through Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Arizona and the Grand Canyon of course!

Before my trip I had searched high and low to find the best way to carry my gear. I bought and tested a couple of rack mount luggage bags and returned them (thanks Cycle Gear!) I couldn't seem to find what I wanted until the last minute. I had great concern for the safety of my stuff because I was bringing two computers and all the extra gizmos needed for a long trip. I had heard of the great success of rokstraps but the high cost stopped me $20 for 2.

The final result was two dufflebags one on top of the other on top of my Harald backrest rack, tied down with 3 adjustable bungee cords from wally world. The straps were the cat's meow. They worked perfectly the whole trip and not once did the bags even shift. The straps came in a box of 5 using 2 different lengths and were only $9.99. I will get a couple of pictures of the setup uploaded tonight when I unpack my camera.

I also want to give kudos to Harald's backrest rack. It held almost 80lbs the whole trip and didn't even whimper......

Bungee cords do work, as long as you have a good secure place to hook them. They also can and do come loose or snap back and do horrible damage to things like . . . eyes! Especially while you're first adjusting your load. It's a very well documented problem and much more common than you would expect. I had eye surgery a few years back--NOT bungee related--but the surgeon (who I came to know very well) mentioned this when we were talking about motorcycling. He won't let his family use bungees at all for this reason. Since then, I've heard a lot more about this problem, some of it here on this board.

$20 for two Rok Straps isn't all that bad after all, IMHO. And I leave one pair on the bike all the time, crossed over the pillion seat, and always there in case I need them. They're much stronger than normal bungees, much more versatile, and very much easier to use and adjust. And safer as well. Twenty bucks very well spent. I also like my Garauld rack and back rest, btw.

[SIZE=24pt]My apologies for the misspelling!![/SIZE]

[SIZE=24pt]Garauld rack and back rest[/SIZE]

Another Rok Strap user here. :good: Much more secure than a standard bungee.

--G

+1 on ROK Straps. Have both sizes large and small. Both come in very handy. IMHO much more secure and safe than bungees. Worth every penny of the additional cost.

fjrshanta said:

[SIZE=24pt]My apologies for the misspelling!![/SIZE]
[SIZE=24pt]Garauld rack and back rest[/SIZE]

Click to expand...

+1 (without the back rest version) - about 13,000 miles with duffet bag and Rok straps.

SacramentoMike said:

Bungee cords do work, as long as you have a good secure place to hook them. They also can and do come loose or snap back and do horrible damage to things like . . . eyes! Especially while you're first adjusting your load. It's a very well documented problem and much more common than you would expect. I had eye surgery a few years back--NOT bungee related--but the surgeon (who I came to know very well) mentioned this when we were talking about motorcycling. He won't let his family use bungees at all for this reason. Since then, I've heard a lot more about this problem, some of it here on this board.
$20 for two Rok Straps isn't all that bad after all, IMHO. And I leave one pair on the bike all the time, crossed over the pillion seat, and always there in case I need them. They're much stronger than normal bungees, much more versatile, and very much easier to use and adjust. And safer as well. Twenty bucks very well spent. I also like my Garauld rack and back rest, btw.

Click to expand...

Another problem with bungee cords (learned from my backpacking years) is that they will wear out and break, a lot of times, unexpectedly. The constant flexing (simple walking and the backpack "bounces" up and down with your body, or more applicable to motorcycling, bumps on the road, etc) will make them wear out even faster. Straps/webbing all the way.

i would like to order some rok straps , but not sure what to order. i'll be using hte straps to tie down items to the back seat and rack. Is there a specific size i need? should it get the adjustable straps? any recommendations would be helpful (and let me know if theres a place that cuts a deal on price)...

Thanx

Greygoose

@GreyGoose -- you have a PM. Check around your local shops...I bought mine at the (gulp) kool-aid shop but in my defense, they had a nice selection and I had just ridden one of their demo bikes.

--G

escapefjrtist said:

@GreyGoose -- you have a PM. Check around your local shops...I bought mine at the (gulp) kool-aid shop but in my defense, they had a nice selection and I had just ridden one of their demo bikes.
--G

Click to expand...

thanks G,

i was just trying to see what size most of the forum users were using. i'd be tying a descent size duffel to the seat and maybe a couple of camping chairs on the tail. that would be the max i would probably use. Looks like the 52 inch adjust down to 18, so its probably hard to go wrong.

GreyGoose

Just a few weeks ago, a friend was only 100 miles from home after a long tour on his FZ1 where he had bungeed his sleeping bag to the rear. Unbenounced to him while slabbing along the 101 S/B near Soledad, said bungees failed and his sleeping bag slid off and engaged the chain and rear wheel completely binding the rear wheel stopped at 70 mph. He was able to control the skid in a straight line till he got uncontrollable wobbles at slower speeds and high sided, fortunately off the edge of the freeway. Broken collarbone and some other less serious issues and his bike was repairable. One lucky dude!!

That's my bungee cord story....that is all!

I have LOVED my piggyback straps and garauld rack ever since I bought them both.

I had a bungy fail two separate times in the last 6 years (FWIW both were from Walmart, and neither caused any permanent damage to anything.)

MCN did a great review on straps and they loved the Rok Straps, and the Piggyback straps.

https://www.piggybackstraps.com/

thanx for everyones input. i was able to order both sizes for pu-products for 32 bucks delivered. there web site wanted 42 bucks, but they had them on ebay for 32.

GreyGoose

These cheap lashing straps from harbor freight work fine. If you don't trust them then just use two for one.

fjrshanta said:

I also want to give kudos to Harald's backrest rack.

Click to expand...

I didn't know that I sold any racks? Maybe I was drunk that day?

KYRider said:

+1 on ROK Straps. Have both sizes large and small. Both come in very handy. IMHO much more secure and safe than bungees. Worth every penny of the additional cost.

Click to expand...

That's what I've been using for two years. Today I had my dry bag with about 40 pounds of camping gear, clothes and misc. get loose on my KLR, and the bag got chewed up in the chain. One of the Rok Straps loosened up on its own. Dunno why. I checked the load 30 miles earlier. But if you ride 30 miles of rough road including rocks, tree limbs and washboard road -- check your load more often.

EDIT: I gave up on bungies three years ago when one slipped from my fingers while extended and snapped back -- missed my eye by less than an inch. I almost had a career as an eye-patched pirate.