Vario’s on a GSA

batman1 said:

Vario’s still have it for me...’function over fashion’ every time.

However, The alloy cans do have the important advantage over the abs for real adventure riders, in that they can be bashed straight after a tumble, in which case they do win over the plastic.

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mikef said:

Yeah but the big ally cans generally survive if you drop your GSA. What happens to the Varios when you drop the bike?

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I've mentioned this before on here but.............

I have thrown a 650 down the road at +70mph. The l/h pannier was 'cosmetically challenged' but I carried on using it for a year after and when I sold the bike I put a new metal 'skin' on it and you could hardly tell.

Later I then spent 3 weeks on my own in Maroc on my R1200GS and Varios. Numerous drops (and I mean numerous!) and scrapes against all sorts of shit and they still worked perfectly and looked pretty ok considering.
On that same trip, a mate I was initially riding with dropped his 1150 on a roundabout and trapped his leg under his ally boxes; snap went his leg and end of his trip (not unheard of with metal boxes).

I no longer ride a GS but I think their Varios are brilliant for many reasons and they would always be my first choice to use.

Also, pannier frames and metal boxes just look shite (all IMHO of course ).

Andres

Well just for balance. I spent a fortune buying the OEM frames, Ali panniers and locks for my 2017 GS Rallye as I prefer the 'look' both with the panniers fitted and without.

I had Varios on my last GS TC and I got a set cheap with my Rallye when I bought it. I have nothing against the Varios and used them loads on my previous bike. My preference is the hardcore 'I'm off to Morrisons' look and I can pack much more in the Ali panniers. I drew the line at changing the pillion hangers as I never carry a pillion.

JerseyNeil said:

Well just for balance. I spent a fortune buying the OEM frames, Ali panniers and locks for my 2017 GS Rallye as I prefer the 'look' both with the panniers fitted and without.

I had Varios on my last GS TC and I got a set cheap with my Rallye when I bought it. I have nothing against the Varios and used them loads on my previous bike. My preference is the hardcore 'I'm off to Morrisons' look and I can pack much more in the Ali panniers. I drew the line at changing the pillion hangers as I never carry a pillion.

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Don’t tell this lot you like the look! You should have said you prefer the alloy boxes as they’re top loading, and that side loading is shite!

The Nutty KTMer said:

Don’t tell this lot you like the look! You should have said you prefer the alloy boxes as they’re top loading, and that side loading is shite!

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Well that goes without saying...................... so I didn't

Surprised no one has mentioned the fact that they are called vario’s because you can wind ‘em in and make them quite a bit skinnier which can be the difference between a hit and a miss when filtering.

I'll add my tuppence worth to this debate. I bought a set of Vario panniers/top box for my 1200 GS and while I liked the idea of the variable width/height I found the Vario mechanism to be a pain and didn't like the side loading.
When I bought my new 1200GS I "invested" in a set of SW Motec metal panniers. Prefer the top loading and consider them to be better quality than the Varios. Mine never really shut easily without a helping hand to align the catches.
The advantage with the SW-Motec is that the pannier rails can be removed in seconds so you don't have the "scaffolding" left on the bike.

Side loading is fine if you have inner luggage bags, as I do on my Shad panniers. Dirty panniers stay on the bike, clean inner bags go into the hotel. I also get 35 litres on each side, within an overall width no greater than the handlebars, though I did have to fit a low level exhaust to achieve that!

Just a personal preference, but I don't like the metal boxes, both from the appearance and practicality aspects. Bikes with this style of pannier which I have tried sitting on seem to make it more difficult for rider and pillion to get on and off, and some restrict pillion space.