Marsee Zipp Bag

Marsee Zipp Bag

Steamer trunk for bagless voyagers

CW EVALUATION

TRAVEL BY MOTORCYCLE IS BIG-TIME fun, but doing it without saddlebags can practically turn you into a vagrant. There you are miles from home, carrying little more than a toothbrush and a pair of spare skivvies. God forbid if you’re called upon to wear anything even marginally dressier than the bug-spattered jeans you’ve been riding in for three days.

Marsee Products doesn’t claim to have the solution to that problem but it does have ci solution with its Zipp Bag (part #RM-ZIPP), one of the most elaborate motorcycle duffels ever devised. When loaded, the ballistic-nylon Zipp is hugesome 24 inches long, 20 inches wide and 11 inches high, with a total capacity of 50 liters. The exterior is fitted with four separate bags, three of which zip on or off as needed. One of the long side bags is a briefcase that includes a padded computer pouch and typical pen/pencil/business-card slots; the other is a tool carrier with three rows of elasticized screwdriver/ wrench hold-downs and a roll-up toolbag. One of the smaller end bags is designed to carry toiletries, the other is a non-removable general-purpose pouch. Then there’s the main bag, which not

only can be top-loaded but has a zipper that encircles the entire lid and three sides. That allows the bag to zip open into a completely flat “T” shape, giving unlimited access to the interior and its four zippered mesh pockets. A hook at the

top of the T allows the Zipp to hang from a closet rod or a door just like a garment bag.

For mounting, the bag is designed to sit on a bike lengthwise, its short sides facing front and rear. It attaches via three pairs of Fastex-buckled straps that run under the bag from one long side to the other. Depending upon the bike on which the Zipp will be mounted, the straps can be routed under the seat/ frame/luggage rack from one side of the bag to the other, or each of the male Fastex straps can be looped around the frame or rack on its own side of the bike and plugged into the female buckle at its base.

Therein lies the biggest drawback of the

Zipp: It doesn’t fit a lot of bikes. Its extreme length re-

quires it to rest atop the entire passenger area of a relatively flat dual seat and flushmount luggage rack. This disquali-

fies most bikes, even if an accessory rack is fitted. And the installation can be tedious, requiring you to find ways of looping the straps around parts of a bike that might not have been designed for such attachments.

But if you can make it fit, you’ve got one whale of a bag. We once packed it with four pairs of jeans, eight shirts, a weeks’ worth of socks and underwear, a shaving kit, a pair of size 14 street shoes and a basic toolkit, and still had room left for maps, sunglasses, cell phone, etc. It weighed more than 30 pounds when

we strapped it on a Yamaha FJR1300; but because

much of its weight is carried by the

we installed on that same machine.

passenger seat, its effect on handling was noticeably less than with a fully loaded tour trunk

So while the Zipp Bag is imperfect and far from a universal fit, for the right rider on the right bike, it can make the difference between arriving in shambles and arriving in style. □

DETAILS

Marsee Products 651 Niles Ferry Rd. Madisonville, TN 37354 800/293-2400 www.marseeproducts.com Price.. .$248

A More compartments than a passenger train A Extremely versatile capacity A Includes a rain cover ,owns V Fits too few motorcycles v Attach/detach can be time consuming v Briefcase too small for full-size laptops V You'll ride alone