[Apriliarider]

I picked this up some time ago but wanted to wait until I’d used it as is to give an experience based review.

1st off, this bag is small. I mainly got it to use on a daily when I don’t need to tote anything but insurance and registration....and maybe a sammich.

I think it works well for this. However, I really did not like the security strap as it does not work well with all or really any of my bikes.

After a week or 2 of use, I actually pitched it to the back of my gear locker. I didn’t even take it out again for several months.

Then, I had a rare moment of clarity and concluded that it would be a great tank bag if I ditched the strap. So I did.

I cut the strap off save for about 2” worth on each end. My thought being I may reattach it later if my solution proved ineffective.

That solution was to install some magnets at the front end of the bag.

The 1st attempt was not as effective as I’d hoped. I cut the seam inside the bag and pulled the foam bottom out a short way.

Then I cut 2 small reliefs and hot glued in a pair of thin powerful magnets. That worked but not as effectively as I’d like.

After some thought, I removed a large magnet from an old tank bag that hadn’t seen use in probably 25 years.

I installed it in the same manner as the two smaller magnets but farther forward and in between those 2.

The result is exactly what I was looking for as it now sits securely on the tank of all 3 of my daily riders. For the purpose I bought it for, it now works perfectly.

I just think that Givi should have made it this way in the first place. Given that they’re a premier luggage manufacturer and all.

I guess the bottom line is, would I recommend it? If you care to spend the kind of money Givi wants for it and are prepared to modify it; then yes. If not, then I’d say pass and choose differently.

 

[[email protected]]

All good if you don't care about the paint on your tank. The problem with tank bags is they inevitably wind up grinding road dust into the paint while you are in motion. With a magnetic bag the magnets pick up iron oxide grit and each one turns into a mini sanding pad if you aren't anal about wiping them off.

I gave up on mine (which was a nice Cortech) and wound up tossing it in as a deal clincher the last time I sold a motorcycle. Plus the magnets were useless on my old Bimmer which has an aluminum tank, lol.

Not trying to be critical here, just pointing out that they do have a downside. But they sure make it easier to swing a leg over the bike compared to a tail bag. Now if I was going to ride to Tierra del Fuego and back and use up the motorcycle in the process......

 

[Apriliarider]

I rode for years with magnetic tank bags without issue....and I worked in a heavy equipment repair shop. Lots of metal work went on in heavy equipment and only once did I find any metal shavings stuck on a bag.

Then I got my Aprilia. Stock, it came with a plastic tank made by Acerbis for Aprilia. After a dozen or so years of ownership, the tank started to off gas through the plastic. It caused the decals to bubble.

Not much after that, the tank swelled and got misshaped from the ethanol in the fuel. I finally replaced it with a steel tank from a slightly earlier Mille. And right about then, I realized how much I missed magnetic tank bags.

Strap on tank bags are a royal PITA and I’m never going back to one if I can help it. I even turned my old Marsee strap on bag into a magnetic bag. Also, with 3 daily riders, all with steel tanks it sure is easier to just use the same tank bag all the time. Once the project 900SS is complete; I can use it on that too.

 

[Apriliarider]

I thought about this thread this morning as I popped the Givi bag on the Aprilia tank as I was leaving for work. It’s been about 18 months since I posted about it last and still plenty happy with it.

I did add a couple more magnets in the bottom to keep the front and rear of the bag more stable on the tank. Zero issues with the paint on any of the 3 bikes it’s been used on.

Really it’s only limitation is it’s size….and I have 2 bigger magnetic bags for when I need more space. As a daily commute bag to hold minor things like my wallet and bike registration/insurance cards….and an occasional sammich it’s perfect.

An original Pollo Bowl from El Pollo Loco will actually fit without crushing the lid down or leaving the zipper partially open. Yes, I gone through the drive through at several places and my order has always fit, no problem.

The birthday cake for my wife…..nah, it ain’t gonna fit….not like it did in my old Frank Thomas tank bag. The Frank Thomas stuff that was UK made, not the later stuff from various 3rd world countries. 😂

 

[auburn]

An original Pollo Bowl from El Pollo Loco will actually fit without crushing the lid down or leaving the zipper partially open. Yes, I gone through the drive through at several places and my order has always fit, no problem.

The birthday cake for my wife…..nah, it ain’t gonna fit….not like it did in my old Frank Thomas tank bag. The Frank Thomas stuff that was UK made, not the later stuff from various 3rd world countries. 😂

two important specs, if el pollo loco can fit and if the wife's cake can. trying to pick up a cake for the wife on the bike though... living life on the edge i see...

 

[Apriliarider]

two important specs, if el pollo loco can fit and if the wife's cake can. trying to pick up a cake for the wife on the bike though... living life on the edge i see...

Please don’t misunderstand. Years ago, more than 20 in fact I had a ginormous Frank Thomas tank bag. It had a magnetic base (it donated magnets to the Givi) and a two layer bag which could be zipped apart.

The upper bag was not super thick but could hold a couple pairs of jeans and maybe some socks. The lower bag though, you could fit nearly an entire bag of groceries in it. I know, it was my only means of transporting things when I lived in the UK (I didn’t own a car) besides a back pack.

On her first birthday after my wife and I met, I decided to surprise her at her work with a birthday cake. She works in a grocery store so I couldn’t just go to the bakery in her store cuz she’d find out.

So, I went across town to the Safeway bakery and ordered a cake for her there. I picked it up after work on her birthday and since I was on my Ninja, it had to fit into that Frank Thomas tank bag. Which it did.

I coulda taken my car….but that would have been out of the ordinary for me. She knew I rode everyday unless I had to load something up. I didn’t wanna alert her to the surprise I had planned.

I get to her store and walk in holding the tank bag underneath so it didn’t get mushed. Everyone who could went up to the break room with us and when I unzipped the tank bag….the cake was sloped to end of the tank bag that my chest pressed on.

When I set it on the table, everyone started laughing, including her. Thus, I had to explain why the cake was disfigured. IE, that I didn’t get it at some sorta sale price and I had done the smushing due to how it sat in the bag, on the bike.

It’s a funny story we still share today….specially when one of our older friends says to my wife “You still let him ride those things after all this time?” She repeats what I told her before we married.

“Don’t ever ask me to get rid of a bike. I’ll still have the bike and you’ll have a new husband”

But yeah, Pollo Bowl is a perfect fit in the Givi