I kind of agree with you , however just to add some balance , lower weight doesnt affect the bike as much in the twisties as opposed to a box or strap down luggage and the panniers aren't as wide as the bars , so youre not as restricted as you think. Besides some fucker youre riding with has them anyway . We now restrict ourselves to a tankbag or 20 litre pack just for fun. Usually 7 days and 2000-2500 mile jaunt. It's more fun on the bike
My pannier also seemed to be a crash magnet. or perhaps saved the rest of the bike from damage. Last trip my mate crashed into the back of the pannier. Not once but twice - same pannier on different days. It’s a 1260 multistrada. Scuffed the black plastic up and that was it. No drama and on with the trip. I got home and tried all sorts of polishing and the like to get it looking normal but it made it look too polished compared to the other pannier. Using link from this forum it was a few quid to replace just the black piece and job was a good un. Pleasantly surprised as I thought I’d be giving up a kidney to Ducati for a new one. So not sure if the pannier helped or hindered there, but bloody strong!
You clearly don’t travel with a partner that rides a bike that only has a 7 litre tail pack My Carole packs really very light but there is still stuff I have to carry in my panniers. Andy
Although panniers clearly do make a difference in terms of the overall width of the bike, when filtering they are no wider than the handlebars/mirrors, so have never caused me any concern whatsoever! If I can get through at the front, then the back end will pass too. One of my riding pals has unfortunately used each side of my bike as a magnet though, when I've been touring with him and 'interfered' with the pannier casings, thankfully only on the black plastic sections.... He knows who he is, so no names, enuf said
The only trouble I’ve had when filtering is with turning into a gap too quickly or swapping lanes to sharply. It means the pannier rubs on the car wing, something drivers tend not to appreciate for some reason. (or you could just knock their mirrors off and keep going @rotaxracer knows what I mean!)
Whilst riding through France a few years ago it would have been handy if I’d had a spare rear tyre on board ! Got completely rinsed for a non matching rear tyre.
I remember it very well!! the poor blokes wing mirror got completely obliterated!! If he opened the door to get your number plate I would ploughed into him!!
The thing is with panniers and filtering your mirrors and bars will go over most car mirrors but the panniers are lower and can catch the mirrors!! And out of sight is out of mind if you ride most of the time without panniers attached.
My girlfriend managed a month riding around Germany with only a 30 litre Kreiga and a small tank bag on her Monster.
