Besides sailing, adventure motorcycling is just about the toughest test of equipment out there. Gear gets exposed to the elements, whether that be 45c days, -10c nights, rain, sleet, altitude, vibration, and of course plenty of drops and scrapes.
Lomo gets it, and in recent years has not only produced its own range of motorcycle specific bags, but also considered motorcycle use (amongst other things) in its more general purpose bags.
That’s where the Lomo’s blaze 60l holdall comes in.
Features
- 60l capacity
- Water resistant
- Large YKK zippers
- Multiple lash down loops
- Inner mesh pocket
- Can be worn as a rucksack
What’s good
- price
- durability
- size
- attachment points
- water resistance
The two things that stand out here are the price and durability. I’ve been running the bag for more than 6,000 miles around Europe, and more recently on the unpaved dirt/gravel roads of Colombia and Ecuador. It’s been in torrential rain. It’s been over filled, it’s been dragged, dropped, and squashed. So far the bag has held up to the abuse perfectly well.
In contrast, I previously had a cheap 76l Q-bag from TradeInn that I used for motorcycle trips. This was a thin PVC material that would become extremely soft in the heat. In 30c plus heat, this hasn’t been a problem for the Lomo bag.
As for the price. I paid £xx, which when compared to dedicated motorcycle holdalls is a bargain, and even when compared to Chinese gear on AliExpress, still represents good value for money.
Water resistance
I’ve experienced heavy rain on my trip both in Europe and elsewhere. The bag isn’t advertised as being waterproof due to the zipper. Adding a properly waterproof zipper would likely increase the price to over the £100 mark.
Despite this, I haven’t had a major issue with rain. Typically, even with a waterproof bag, you want your more water-sensitive items in an additional dry bag anyway.
The rationale is that if you drop your bike (as you are likely to do when adventure riding), you run the risk of scraping or putting holes in the bag to the point where it’s no longer water proof. This happened with my Q-bag. Not from dropping, but just from general wear and tear and vibration.
The zips of the Lomo holdall will leak water given enough rain, or being submersed. I typically mount it on my bike with the zipper facing away from the direction of travel. That prevents the air pressure from pushing rain up under the protective flap, and through the zipper when at speed.
That being said, eventually some moisture will make its way passed the zips. I’ve never come across actually drops of water, but outer parts of some of my dry bags close to the zip, have certain been a little moist when in heavy rain for long periods. Especially when just parked up.
So all in all, the bag has good water resistance, but don’t leave your down sleeping bag, or electronics in it without additional protection.
What’s not
- not completely waterproof (not advertised to be either)
- lacks additional pockets
- strap management
Considering the quality this bag offers at the price it’s sold at, there isn’t anything to complain about.
Yes, I would have liked to see a proper waterproof zipper, but then a YKK aquaguard zipper is going to cost as much as the whole bag.
More pockets
If I’m being really picky, there are two things that come to mind. Firstly, I’d like to see more pockets or compartments. There’s a mesh zipped pocket on the underside of the lid, but it would nice to have an external pocket also so stash various bits and pieces when on the motorcycle.
Added to that. The internal pocket could have been waterproof. I keep any documents in a zip lock bag, but even a £10 travel bag I bought on Amazon, has an internal waterproof pocket.
Strap management
Secondly, and again this is being super fussy. The shoulder straps could be managed better.
The straps that allow you to wear the bag as a rucksack or backpack can be removed, but it’s a faff to do so and put them back.
If you don’t remove them, then they get in the way of accessing the the contents of the bag. You can still do so, but you have manage the zips around the straps and untuck the lid of the bag. It’s annoying.
Then when packed on the motorcycle, you need to stop he straps from flying around in the wind. I just removed them, but having the ability to tuck them out of the way, like you can on the Salomon Duffels (£150), would be nice.
Excluding that, then a clip or a quick release fastening would have been ideal.
Where can I get it?
Lomo is UK based company but their bags available via Amazon here or direct from Lomo.
How big is a 60l bag?
It’s almost a daft question. 60 litres is 60 litres right? The problem is typically this volume figure is derived from a calculation of multiplying the bag’s dimension, or even filling with grains sand, rice, or water.
That’s not how we pack, and while the volume gives us an idea of the size of the bag it can be difficult to visualise just what you can fit into it, or how big it might look on the bike.
Here’s the bag loaded on my bike – a 2019 SWM Superdual T, which is a relatively small adventure bike in the grand scheme of things.
For a recent trip from Spain to Germany, I was comfortably able to fit the following in the bag
- Winter sleeping bag (10l volume)
- Rain jacket
- Rain pants
- Tennis racket (I love to play whenever I get the chance)
- Tennis shoes
- Down jacket
- 20l backpack with my various cables and what not in it
- heated vest
- Laptop
Alternatives to the Lomo holdall
There aren’t really (m)any alternatives in this price range. In fact, outside of side of AliExpress specials I can’t think of a single branded bag to match this.
If you are willing to spend the money though there are a number of bags that would fit the bill, such as the Salomon 70l duffel, which has internal pockets and a separate shoe compartment.
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