Yesterday, we kicked off the tankbag comparo with a look at Wolfman’s Rolie bag. Here’s a look at the US-20 from Kriega.
Kriega US 20 – Approx: $139 plus $35 for tank bag harness
The US 20 is actually a tailbag, but Kriega sells a tank bag adapter harness for it.
This tankbag is a fantastic piece of kit. It’s got the same general construction as the Overlander panniers I tested; it has rolltop closure (three buckles keep it shut tight), a tough 420D ripstop nylon shell and a waterproof liner. Like the Overlander bags, the US 20’s liner is held in by Velcro; you can remove it for cleaning, or for replacement, if you put a hole in it. It also makes it a bit easier to repair.
The tank bag harness itself works well. It has soft padding underneath to avoid scratching your gas tank. It uses straps that run forward through the bike’s headstock, and underneath the gas tank to hold it in place. The straps are quite long, enabling users to fit this to several different gas tank shapes.
However, in my experience, it works best with a standard-styled gas tank (like on a Yamaha Bolt) than with a sloped gas tank (like on my DR650 with IMS tank). This is a little unusual for Kriega, as many of their products are designed with adventure bikes specifically in mind. This tankbag does do the job on a dual sport (I used it quite a bit last summer on my DR650), but I prefer to use it on other motorcycles.
This tankbag has a couple of external pockets, unlike the other bags in this review. There’s sort of a mesh pocket on the back (excellent for smelly, dirty laundry) and a solid pocket on top (good for stuff like toothpaste, etc.).
The Kriega bag is easy to work around when it’s time to refuel, as the straps holding it down can be easily disconnected thanks to the quick-detach buckles that are part of the design. You just unsnap the buckles and lift the bag.
The Kriega 20 also holds a lot of luggage for a tank bag. I found this bag alone could carry most of what I needed for a week if traveling light (as long as I wasn’t camping). I could even fit my gargantuan 17-inch laptop into the bag with plenty of room left over for clothes.
And when you arrive at your destination, it continues its usefulness. You can clip a shoulder strap to the bag, turning it into a handy piece of luggage. In fact, I used this bag quite frequently on car trips or plane flights as well. It’s very handy, a good all-around piece of luggage. As it’s extremely dustproof, it’s a good bag to haul to the beach.
If there’s a problem with the bag, it’s that it might be a little too big. If you have too much weight in the bag, its weight can make it flop around a bit while you ride, especially because there are no magnets in the harness.
There are five-liter and 10-liter versions of this bag available; I’d like to have tried the 10-liter bag on a bike. However, I was quite happy to use the 20-liter bag, and the extra luggage capacity was very useful when I pressed the bag into non-motorcycle use.
Check in tomorrow when we look at the Ortlieb Moto tankbag, and then wrap up.
GALLERY
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