So, thinking strongly about street triple and looking at third party top box as I NEED to leave the helmet and gloves on the bike every day.

Is it just me, or does every single top box make every single bike in the world not look nearly as cool - but rather ruins the 'lines'?


Another quick thing .. if INSTEAD OF A TOP BOX I CHOSE THE BELOW for my bike, with a luggage padlock, and my helmet etc inside (so I can take the bag off when not needed):




Would it basically be stupid to leave on the unattended bike as some nasty man would come and knife their way in and nick the stuff within about 3 minutes?

Defo the hard box. The material one could be opened with a stanley in about 10 seconds. In a situation like this you have to take practicality and safety over aesthetics.

If there is no way of carrying it around, definitely the top box, just much more secure. If you're getting a soft one though, is there no chance of carrying it around, some have straps so you can have it like a rucksack. Why do they helmet and gloves NEED to be with the bike?

You can take a decent top box off any time and you don't need the massive metal rack if you have a luggage rack in the first place.

I have a Givi Maxxia, whilst massive I can unclip it and take it wherever I want and is solid and safe

They do look crap. But if you see a decent bike with a top box on, at least you know the rider actually uses it instead of standing and looking at it in pub car parks.

Why don't you just take the helmet into work? I've always taken my kit into work. When the box is on I leave the lid in it, but that's not what the box is there.

I hated the idea of having a top box, until I got one on my vfr. The practical benefits more than made up for the way it looked on the bike. Mine was the same colour as the bike which help.

Knew a guy with a VFR 800 who had a top box fitted at all times. He had at the last time I heard which was a few years ago, over 100,000 miles on the VFR. And this guy could really ride a bit.

He did a track day once at Knockhill. Pretty much rode circles around everyone including the "all the gear no idea" crowd understandably. Eventually during an interval, a girl approached him and asked him to take the top box off his bike before the next track session was due to begin. Puzzled, he asked "Why?".

"Because I'm trying to get video footage of my boyfriend" she said, nodding over in the direction of a guy with a Gixxer 1000 sat up on paddock stands with tyre warmers etc fitted "And every time you come round that hairpin you go past him and he says it is embarrasing and spoiling the video".

Needless to say, the top box remained firmly fitted for the next track session.

Haha id have followed the gsxr on purpose then

My dad was flying past all the gear no idea types too on his R1150GS at anglesey and he still had rear top box on and the side box mountings which are pretty big anyway