I’m a big fan of these, especially on sport bikes. See the gas tank on your motorcycle is heavy, it’s up high and it’s quite central. So if I throw a little bag on top, that’s not going to change the dynamics of my motorcycle too much.
Cortech Super 2.0 12-Litre Tank Bag
The Cortech Super 2.0 tank bag is my first choice for a sport motorcycle. It’s my first choice for a standard motorcycle too and – probably – for most ADV bikes as well.
Like the whole Super 2.0 lineup, this is designed for performance riding. Sleek profile, and made of 1680 and 1800 denier fabric depending where you look. If I drop my bike, this bag is going to be the least of my worries. It’s durable.
The Super 2.0 is technical too. This clear map pocket is device-friendly, which is great because my generation doesn’t know how to use a real map anyway. Then the whole pouch comes off, and there’s a hidden slot underneath the clear one for insurance papers, some emergency cash, that kind of thing. Open this rear pocket, and there’s my waterproof rain shell. It has a clear window to match the one on the bag itself, which is just common sense. And up front, this little pocket has a peephole if I want to run a line from my motorcycle into here to charge my phone or something.
Inside the main compartment now – utility panel with various pouches, a lanyard, little loops for holding pens or, more importantly, pen gauges. Then the main cargo area has two mesh pouches and a really cushy bottom. Why is this bottom so padded?
Well, because there was backpack straps hidden in the lower pocket. Nice.
I got the strap mount option on this bag, because it costs 30 bucks less than the magnetic version and with all the ties that come with it, I could MacGyver the thing as a tail bag pretty easily. This mounting harness it good – it took me about 5 minutes to get it installed and I’m no handyman. These two bottom straps secure under the seat, and the top one around the steering stem. My only annoyance is that – when I go to fill up – I have to unbuckle the top and peel back the harness to access the gas cap. But that’s nothing I can’t get used to.
I will say that this bag is a lot smaller than I expected. I ordered this 100-dollar version, which Cortech calls 12 litres but it looks more like 8 to me. Incidentally, there is also an “eight litre” option, which must be bloody tiny. And then there’s a jumbo 18-litre bag which is probably just normal-sized.
Giant Loop Diablo Pro Tank Bag
Now, I would personally take the Super 2.0 for my V-Strom. But there are hardier adventure riders than me and they need something a little more dirt-worthy.
This is Giant Loop’s Diablo Pro Tank Bag and I wish I was enough of an off-roader for this to be worthwhile, because it’s so damn cool.
For one, it comes in a bunch of colours, which really stand out from the sea of black tank bags. It’s also specially-shaped for off-roading. The dropped front really complements the slanted tanks that you typically see on dual-sport and adventure bikes, plus when I stand up, my legs don’t make contact.
The main thing about the Diablo is the build-quality. This material is called bomb shell. Victoria’s Secret might have coined the term first, but Giant Loop put it to use in the off-roading world. Bomb shell is super heavy duty – easily the most rugged material on my list. Everything about this bag is over-engineered – just look at the size of these YKK zippers, they’re huge .
The Diablo Pro screams waterproofing but … the seams aren’t sealed. You can buy the rain cover if you really want to take a bath with it but – for me – this level of water resistance is good enough. I’d throw my cell phone in here and ride through a rainy day without even a tinge of worry.*
***Note: For 2016 models, the Diablo Pro includes an inner waterproof liner.
Features are nothing special. There’s a hole up top to run a power cord into the bag, then another peephole into the clear pocket if I need. Little mesh pouch on the outside and if I open it up, there’s your 4-litre cargo area with a movable divider. I always make fun of companies for putting Hi-Viz material on the inside of a bag but I guess the yellow might help me to discern objects in here.
For a 275-dollar bag that wasn’t a lot of features. But hey – you don’t buy a bulletproof vest for the pockets.
Installation was a cinch – two straps to the frame on either side, with one noose around the steering stem. There’s quite a lot of play with the zipper attachment, so I wish Giant Loop just went Kindergarten and gave me Velcro. But I love the harness – easy access to my filler cap all the time , and these D-rings can be used to secure other Giant Loop bags to the side of my tank.
Nelson-Rigg CL-2020 GPS Sport Tank Bag
Now, the first two bags were performance-inspired storage – how I can carry a few things with me without changing the way that I ride.
But what if I just need space . Obviously a huge tank bag is going to get in the way of my tuck position, it might hinder my view of the dash but whatever – if I need to go big, what can I get?
Nelson-Rigg’s CL-2020 seems like the best option to me. This guy uses its space really well to give me a lot of features. Obviously, cell phone and GPS pockets up top. My iPhone 6 fits into the cell phone pouch fine, but that’s about the biggest you could get in there. I like that the GPS pocket flips up, but I wish it was removable entirely. I normally park my bike in honest neighbourhoods – most of Canada is an honest neighbourhood. So if I could just take off the GPS in a neat little carrying case like this, I’d probably leave the rest of the tank bag on my bike.
Zippered side pockets on both sides. This port is for running electrics in and out of the bag, and this port is for the tube of a hydration pack. Nelson-Rigg sells the CL bladder separately for this guy. It’s only 20 bucks, which is nice, but for that pocket change I wonder why they didn’t just include it.
The main cargo is 21 litres of empty space, but I can get it up to 26 litres if I open this expansion gusset. That’s enough room for a slimmer full face helmet like this Nolan N44, but my bobblehead Variant didn’t fit.
Here’s the rain cover, which seems high quality. I can still use my touchscreens through the top window and there’s even a zippered expansion gusset in case I have the CL-2020 in beast mode. I wish Nelson-Rigg gave me a special place to keep the rain shell though, because I have to sacrifice one of my side pockets just to store the thing.
The CL-2020 is around 175 bucks whether you get the magnetic or strap-mount versions. And the nice thing about either, is that the mounting system tucks away underneath …
So it becomes a pretty functional shoulder bag! This strap can also be rigged in a backpack configuration, but it doesn’t work too well for that.
Icon Urban Tank Bag
What does work well for that is Icon’s Urban Tank Bag.
As a backpack, it’s unparalleled. Nice padded straps, with two side pockets and a big main compartment with a decent utility panel. There’s even a helmet carrying pouch on the bottom. No rain shell for this guy, but the rugged ripstop fabric is at least water-resistant.
As a tank bag, it’s pretty good too. There’s this clear map pocket and a bottom pouch, which didn’t make any sense on the backpack but it’s really useful in tank bag mode. And the Urban is a magnetic mounting system as well, which is almost unheard of for a 100-dollar piece of kit.
A lot of people complain that the magnets aren’t strong enough, but they seem fine to me.
My problem is more with the tank itself; because there are so many plastics on the Strom, I can only stick magnets to the metal back here. That’s why I normally opt for strap mounts instead.
I wish I had a bike that worked better with the Icon Urban, because I think it’s really cool.
So that’s it for my favorite tank bags! All things pavement, all things dirt, all things volume and features, and then the Icon Urban is the only one that doesn’t look dinky as a backpack.