Pannier Lid Organizer
On my bike, I use the hard Givi cases for storage. Now I am not going to get into an argument over hard vs soft luggage but I will say that that one advantage of soft bags is the ability to have a lot of storage pockets while the hard cases only have one. When traveling, that is usually not a big deal as most of my gear is broken up into smaller bags for easy storage and removal. The big issue is that there is not a good place to store smaller things in these large cases.
When I first got the cases, I purchased netting that affixes to the lid of each pannier. This works quite well unless you have smaller items that can fall through the netting material. Also, I was using the net for storing my extra straps. It works well except with traveling, the vibration has a tendency for the strap ends to fall thru the netting. And inevitably, those lose ends always get caught whole closing the lid. There had to be a better way.
After a lot of searching, I found a type of storage bag that is designed to be affixed to the inside of most hard pannier lids. Moto Pockets makes all types of bags, luggage, and organizational items to help packing your gear easy and quick. I specifically looked into their motorcycle top case lid and side case lid products.
I do not typically ride with my top case so I did not order that product but since I always ride with my side panniers, I ordered a set of these lid bags. They are not very expensive and are VERY easy to affix to your bike.
When they arrived, you get a lid bag and a large piece of Velcro (13"x5.75") backing to affix to the lid. My lid is not a smooth surface so instead of just affixing the entire piece of Velcro, I cut it into 3 strips and affixed two to the lid of each box.
I cleaned the lid with the alcohol wipes that come with each product. I let it dry then placed each strip on each side of the bulge in the lid. I let it sit over night to get a good seal/grip to the lid.
The next day, I took each bag and attached to the lid so see how well they would stick to the Velcro strips. It was very easy and seemed like a nice sturdy fit for the bag. I then proceeded to fill each bag with gear. In my case, I took my First Aid kit and added all the contents to one of the bags. I also added a few new items such as a tourniquet and a stitching kit. The bag is quite full but I still have the pockets outside of the bag (and I am sure I can squeeze more into the bag as well).
The other side contains all my straps and a few other odds and ends. I really like how this can easily hold many of the small items that I either left out of the panniers or tried to stow in my tank bag. Now I have plenty of places to store these items and I do not have to worry about them rattling around inside the pannier box.
So far they seem quite solid. My only fear is how will they hold up to the heat. Since my boxes are black, they can get a bit hot in the sun. Hopefully this will not be an issue. If so, I may have to look at replacing the Velcro strips with a better brand that can tolerate hot environments. But so far, all is good. I will update this post if I find out anything more.