Mindsigh

Rjays Super Top Box (motorcycle luggage) review

Posted by Jerry on March 11th, 2007 — Posted in Journal, Motorcycling

The gearsack was more than six years old and lately the zip had started to give way making it difficult to open and close, and the thing was no longer waterproof. It was time for a re-think. Armed with some birthday money I headed off to Joe’s Motorcycles in Fyshwick on the advice of a friend who had told me of some bargain priced hard top-cases to be had.

I looked at replacement bags and then saw a small top-box. It was more lunch box than top box. It may have been cute, but I couldn’t see a helmet AND jacket fitting in the way the gearsack did (oh so THAT’s why the zip gave way!)…

Underneath the small topcases was a larger model – the Rjays Super top box

– a full 45litres and by trying in the shop found it fitted two helmets snugly inside. That’s a good start I thought and after parting with AUS$159.95 I took home the case.

It comes with a mounting plate and a set of four brackets with bolts to attach the mounting plate to the bike. I figured I would just cut down the gearsack rack to provide room for the lid to swing open.

After a bit of research online, it appears that there is a strong recommendation to have a pre-existing FLAT rack on which to mount the topcase. I decided on a different solution. The gearsack rack is built from square section steel, so I lined up the slots on the mounting plate with the non-structural in-fills of the rack and drilled two holes to fit. Then I used some longer bolts to fit the topcase mounting plate. I positioned the other two so the brackets would go between the rack in-fills and bolted the plate firmly down.

When I tried to position the topcase onto the mounting plate I found it was held apart by the uprights on the rack. So a little surgery with an angle grinder brought the rack uprights down to the level of the mounting plate.

I positioned the topcase on the mounting lugs and pushed it home. It felt solid for a second or two then popped off in my hands. Okay so it needs to be pushed home very firmly until there is a definite click.

The case looks neat, and feels secure, and at 45 litres it should hold a fair bit. I shall reserve judgement on whether or not it will need to be mounted more securely – ie whether it needs to be bolted to the mounting plate, but it’s designed to be able to lock securely on the bike, or to be removed quickly to use as a carry case. Good concept – like the BMW panniers. As I say, I hope the plastic clip holds it securely – if not I’ll bolt the thing permanently to the mounting plate.

Anyhow, it looks like a stylish piece of luggage and at one third of the price of some other brands, it’s a bargain! It should look good with the panniers in place for touring too. One nice touch is the elastic hold-down inside the topcase to stop stuff from moving around inside – nice touch.

It weighs a mere 6 kg and measures 40cm front to back and 58cm across and top to bottom is 28cm. Did I mention it has a pillion backrest incorporated? In my case it’s probably mounted too far back for a pillion to use it comfortably, but for safety it’s always better for the pillion to hang on to the rider so the rider knows when the pillion is falling asleep.

Inside the cardboard carton you will find: the top box, the steel mounting plate, four brackets with bolts, a set of keys, and an almost useless sheet of instructions. But it’s easy enough to figure out and over the next few weeks Ill put it through its paces 🙂

[later 21 May 2007] In response to James’ comment below, I have included a couple of photos to show the carrying capacity – the yellow envelope is a standard A4 inter-office envelope – you could probably fit an A3 envelope in without bending it. – [Jerry]

Cheers
Jerry

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