Art Express Sport Tourer Tankbag
ART EXPRESS SPORT TOURER TANKBAG
CW EVALUATIONS
The f-stops here
WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT, MOTORcycling is really just one big Kodak Moment. Whether you’re marveling at your brand-new bike, touring the Blue Ridge Parkway or eyeballing the beauties at a concours d’elegance, chances are a camera is close at hand to record the occasion. If you’re from the point-and-shoot school of photography, finding storage space for your tiny auto-everything camera is as easy as opening a jacket pocket. But for serious shutterbugs, carrying a couple of camera bodies and several lenses on a motorcycle can be a problem.
Art Express to the rescue with its Sport Tourer tankbag. Starting point for the bag is a cordura nylon Tour Master TB-12 model, 12 x 6 x 9xh inches, with two external side pockets and a see-through map holder on top. Art Express (236 West 27th St., New York, NY 10001; 800/638-7258) then makes the TB-12 camera-friendly by fitting foam padding along the bottom and sides, and adding soft dividers of varying size that compartmentalize the interior; these attach with velcro and can be moved around, or removed altogether, as needed.
Mounting the Sport Tourer to gas tanks is fairly straightforward. A nylon belt loops around the bike’s steering head and fastens to the front corners of the bag with two plastic buckles. A single-buckle belt runs from the rear of the bag under the seat and secures to a frame tube.
A closed-cell foam pad beneath the bag protects paint from scratches, though the non-stock paint on Editor Edwards’ Norton 850 picked up a few additional abrasions after a 1000-mile ride with the Sport Tourer in place. Modern factory paint jobs, with their heavy clearcoats, held up well, though we were careful to wax every tank before fitting the bag.
Our Sport Tourer swallowed two fullsize camera bodies (one motorized) and three lenses, including a 300mm telephoto, though there wasn’t much room left for other items. For larger loads, Art Express sells its Pro Tourer model, with a bigger main compartment and three roomy exterior pockets. It retails for $175 and is currently outselling the Sport Tourer by a 10-to-l margin, according to Art Express.
Does the smaller bag, priced at $120, represent value for money? That’s twice as expensive as the base TB-12 tankbag, but as a secure, vibration-isolated, easily accessible way of carrying valuable photo gear, consider the Sport Tourer just about picture-perfect. □
