User Review: Speed-Pac

User Review: Speed-Pac

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Summary
Product Name:	Speed-Pac
Maker:	Speed-Pac
web site:	www.speed-pac.com
Purchased at:	their web site
Price:	~$130
My rating:	fair
Summary:	neat idea; water resistant; limited capacity; damaged my tank.
Pics	Click for gallery

Speed Pac

first impression:

What is it? Hard shelled backpack and tank bag for my bike. Looks cool as hell, costs waaaay too much, works as advertised and is pretty spiffy.

the good:

Letter size paper fits -- as long as you don't mind giving it a spherical cross section. You'll notice in the first on-the-bike image it's strapped under the seat, while in later pictures i found a place I can run the strap down around the frame of the bike -- feels much better, less side-to-side movement. And I don't have to pop the seat that way, so getting it on and off the bike will be faster.

It can't be kept completely still. Since it's held by straps it has some play. It doesn't move while riding, but vibrations and an uneven load inside could probably cause it to shift sideways. OTOH, the thick foam rubber feet seem to keep it from sliding; after an hour and a half of riding at low and high speeds tonight it hadn't moved around.

It just barely doesn't interfere with lock-to-lock, but even turning tight in a parking lot i haven't swung the handlebars all the way yet...

Capacity is somewhat lower than I had hoped, but it carries all my day-to-day stuff with room to spare, so that's no biggie. I'll still want to use the courier bag for bulky items -- or better still, my bungie net and the rear seat.

Contents of speedpac in photos: compact franklin quest planner (about 9"x5"x2"), Samsung 3500 cell phone, Gerber multitool & mini Maglite in carry pouch, folding brush, Canon Elph camera (okay, it's taking the photo, but it WAS there). In mesh pouch in lid: checkbook, glasses case, a couple pens, "wee willy" faceshield cleaning kit.

The "fit and finish" could be a bit better. Edges aren't always perfectly mated, but construction is sturdy. They could take some tips from CourierWare on the finishing of nylon straps and fasteners, which tend to slip and change lengths.

More info at Speed-Pac's web site. Justifiably placed on Wired Magazine's Fetish page. Expensive for such a small tank bag/backpack -- if you don't mind ugly, a good tank bag with more capacity will cost you less. But it's not nearly as cool.

the bad:

Actually, there isn't much bad. everything about this is either good, or really bad. Read on...

the ugly: tank damage to my flat-topped tank

One day, trying to shift the speedpac an inch or two back, I added some slack to the clips around the steering head and tightened up the straps in back. This worked fine, until I went over some bumps on the road and highway and heard some clanking I hadn't heard before. When I arrived at home and removed the pac, I noticed it had chipped the paint on the tank where it had lain!

Next time out, I took the slack out of the front clips, moving the pac back to its usual spot close to the steering head. Unfortunately, it just found a new place to chip the tank. Hmmm. It must have been trying to do that all along! (A closer look at the bag showed that the center screw which mounts the pac's cover latch lost some paint too.)

The problem appears to be that the pac is curved along its length, while my tank's top is fairly flat. This causes the top of the bag to come in contact with the tank.

I took some pictures to document the problem (see gallery). One solution is to turn the straps over, rubber side down, and lay them between the bag and the tank. This works nicely and keeps them out of the way, but raises the pac enough that it touches my torso when i lean forward to the handles -- and the Suzuki has a relatively low tank. :-( I contacted Speed-Pac, told them about the tank damage, and returned it and got a refund. They said they were considering a revision, but given that this was around 2001, and the product looks the same on the web site, i don't think they ever did.

The speed-pac looks nifty, but it has some drawbacks and a serious gotcha in that screw if you have a flat topped tank. OTOH, their site gallery shows it being used successfully on other bikes, including Gixxers and various Ducatis. YMMV -- and even if your experience with the product isn't good, their return policy is!