Tusk Aluminum Panniers

These boxes are very inexpensive, and while they provide great bang for the buck they definitely show off their (low) price point.

The fit and finish are rather lacking, and I think the design could be considerably improved without affecting the price much. The number one complaint: No hinge on the lids. The lids are held on by both locks, but if only ONE lock is opened or broken you can slip the hook out of the pawl on the other lock and the lid comes off. That means failure of just one lock on the trail or highway means your lid flies off completely. Plus, when you open the thing then you have to figure out what to do with the lid. I think a hinge on one edge and a single lock on the other end would be a considerable improvement. I might drill and add my own in the future. Putting a hinge on the front (windward) edge would prevent the lids from blowing off in failure scenarios like that.

Speaking of drilling, these are "universal" panniers with no mounting holes. You get to drill your own. You don't even get a template if you buy the matching racks. Drilling through one box into the other to get them consistent with each other is very difficult unless you have a compact drill and a short drill bit. Note that when paired with the Tusk pannier racks these are NOT WATERPROOF, since if you want to make a hole for the security knob you have to, well, make a hole that will allow water and mud inside. The lid seals are also not great, and have a considerable gap where the ends of the rubber gasket meet. I can tell you from experience that the hole for the security knobs and the gap in the gasket will keep out rain if the boxes are upright and still, but you WILL get crud in there if you ride through mud, puddles, or are moving in the rain, etc. They're water resistant but not water "proof".

The included hardware certainly matches the price point. None of it is stainless (although the locks themselves appear to be, at least the parts other than the cylinders) and all of the mounting hardware provided with the boxes as well as the matching racks require smoothing before installing if you don't want the cheap sharp edges to tear and puncture soft items stored inside (stuff sacks, sleeping bags, air mattresses)... The mounting bracket for the Tusk racks is not a smooth fit and has a large amount of play that results in squeaks, rattles, and bangs on the trail. Mine have contacted the back sides of the boxes and rubbed off all the paint where the tubes contact the box, and rubbed the paint off of the racks as well. The boxes can't rust but the racks can! The paint is garbage; bare aluminum would have been better (and probably cheaper, too). The paint on the inside also easy wears away from rubbing with items stored inside, and transfers easily even to soft things and textiles. I have black marks on most of my camping stuff from rubbed off paint inside the boxes, and big old scuffed areas on the inside where that paint used to be. Sharp points from painted over welding spatter on the inside will rip and tear soft items stored inside, as well. Definitely stick some self adhesive felt or foam or something to the insides of these to protect your stuff.

Here's something else no one is talking about: The flat fronted and sided design of these boxes is quite possibly the least aerodynamic thing in the universe. Due to the budget price point, these boxes do not include the rounded edges or corners of more expensive adventure/touring luggage. Just strapping these onto my KLR empty takes about 5-10 MPH off of my top speed and affects gas mileage accordingly.

Despite the budget construction these boxes do seem to be fairly durable. The utilitarian looks and feel match cheap off-roaders and the cheapskates who ride them, and you don't feel as bad about banging them up. I ate **** into a rock at about 30 MPH on the trail and went down on the right side pretty hard. A bunch of the paint came off and that box is now slightly bowed (interestingly, mostly on the INSIDE where it bolts up to the mounting bracket) but other than that it held together fine and probably saved my ankle on the way down. Two more incidents also involving that box including sliding about halfway down a hill on my side and power sliding into a fence took a bunch of the finish off of that box but did no other damage. On the bright side, the boxes (and Tusk crash bars) took the complete brunt of all three crashes and there isn't a scratch on my bike itself.

Replacing a pair of these is cheaper than replacing all three fairings on one side of the bike... Though it would be nice if the full set of componentry were separately available. I would buy a new box bottom to replace my dented one, but my lids and locks are fine. That's the only part you can't buy separately.

-m-2015 KAWASAKI KLR650--

I have had these on my Ktm 1090 adv r for 1 year now and 10,000 miles i have had several spills on my bike on some very tuff terrain and these have held up very well and have saved my legs a few times i highly recommend the tusk aluminum panniers

-m-2017 KTM 1090 Adventure R--

I havent had time to load the boxes with camping gear and go out. I dont have a review at this time.

-m-1997 KAWASAKI KLR650--

Very well made and seem to be top quality. Installation was fairly easy and instructions weren't bad. However I referred to the installation video a few times to make sure.

-m-2011 KAWASAKI KLR650--

Bought these to "Adventurize" my XR650L.

Excellent quality. Full kit of hardware.

I used threadlocker on the threads of the little screws and Hardware.

Wonderful product.

Perfect for what they are made to do! The attachment loops on the lid could be a bit larger. Solid construction. Great box and easy to take on and off.

Haven't installed panniers yet due to having to prefab mounting brackets to fit on Happy Trails rack. Should be no issue, just drill a couple holes and make a bottom support bracket. Great carry capacity. I ordered the large boxes and the price is acceptable. Construction looks very solid. Would recommend for adventure touring but not severe off road trails.

-m-2017 SUZUKI V-Strom 650 (ABS) DL650A--

they are OK but: heavy, have sharp edges, locks do not work as hinges, fixing bolt vibrates off in no time.

-m-2017 KTM 690 ENDURO--

You can’t beat these for the price. Built solid, and they have a nice plain look.

-m-2018--

Bought these tusk panniers ,they were the least expensive I could find,there built pretty good,mounted up easy,I only plan on have these mounted for longer trips,for every day use I just use small tail bag.i didn’t use the the tusk panniers mount I all ready had the src mount with gas can,so I adapted them too it.if I where to do it again I would use the matching mounts.but for my purpose my set up is fine

-m-2018 HONDA CRF250L Rally--

For what you get with the money spent, I think they are a great value. Would have rated 5 stars but one of the nuts in the hardware package was defective so had to dump the coffee can of loose nuts and bolts and find a nut to replace it, its not an acorn nut to match the rest, but its on the inside so only I know my nuts don't match. The paint job was not done by a Rembrandt, more on the lines of the neighborhood vandal spray painting his mark, but they are gonna get beat up any way so I'm good with them. Extremely fast shipping from Rocky Mountain.

-m-2018 YAMAHA Super Tenere 1200--

Seem like solid Panniers so far but won't actually use them until spring. Well built, nice finish, no complaints. For the money I don't think there is anything even close to these. Almost any other Aluminum (and even some plastic) are double the price of these. I waited for the 10%off coupon to save even more. Very happy so far

I had to build custom racks because Tusk doesn't make them for my bike. Boxes are great, can't beat the price. Completely satisfied.

-m-2018--

If you have been looking for panniers you will not get out any cheaper than the tusk pannier set. If you have the ability to drill a few holes you are golden! I got the medium which are 27.5 Liters per side and they are plenty big for my camping expeditions and cross country travel (I leave the kitchen sink at home). Paired with the Tusk pannier liners and handles and it makes a great combo. The biggest upside is the price, especially if you are planning to ride offroad, I needed soft bags as well but I wanted somthing that would lock when in the city and these fit the bill perfectly.

-m-2017 HONDA Africa Twin CRF1000L--

I thought the lg would be, well, too lg. They fit mu 2018 KLR 650 perfectly. If I lost them today, I would order two more tomorrow.

-m-2018 KAWASAKI KLR650--

The installation was pretty straight forward. You can pack a lot of gear in these panniers. My only constructive criticism is that you should put blue loctite on the threads of the lock cylinders because a couple of months of off road riding and one of the cylinders spun out and is lost, so now I have to go through the hassle of getting a new lock and hopefully keyed the same as the existing 3 so I don't end up with more keys etc.

-m-2008 KAWASAKI KLR650--

They were delivered, well packaged, and in good order. They are everything I thought I wanted. I will definitely look for other items, for my bike, from RM, good experience.

-m-2007 KAWASAKI KLR650--

This is a great product at an affordable price. The utility of the KLR650 almost doubles with the addition of these. Installation is not as quick or easy as they make it sound. "Installs in minutes" is accurate, but it doesn't say how many minutes. I spend about 5 hours(300 minutes), but I'm not a mechanic and it was my first installation.
It is amazing how much stuff these things hold and how much more useful the bike is when you can actually carry something!,

-m-2009 KAWASAKI KLR650--

These are wonderful boxes. Very sturdy and well built. Price is fantastic. They are a bit difficult to mount as you have to drill holes in the boxes yourself to fit your bike. Just take your time and it will come out great! I have the medium. black panniers.

-m-2013 HONDA NC700X--

Got the medium size in black with the pannier rack combo. Boxes came quickly within the promised 3 day delivery and we're packaged nicely and in such a way they wouldn't get damaged or scratched in transit. Assembly was strait forward and the included instructions were helpful. Like stated, be sure to loctite everything!

-m-2017 HONDA Africa Twin DCT CRF1000D--

These are a very tough but still not to heavy set of panniers. They have bent and twisted when crashed in heavy condition s but held in there. Later they could be bought back to original shape with a bit of panel beating. Pity my ankle, knee and ribs couldn't be repaired as quickly.

I would definitely recommend these panniers to anyone looking for a budget friendly but high quality set of cases. I mounted them on sw-motech racks using mounting hardware and pucks from happy trails. I ended up choosing the 37L panniers, and they fit everything I wanted locked up or protected. One tip though for anyone that purchases these, put thread locker on the lock tumbler assembly and all other hardware, don’t want those locks coming lose on the highway. Only reason I rated installation lower is just because tusk doesn’t make a rack set for my XR650L.

-m-2016 HONDA XR650L--

Just what I was looking for! Very easy to install after following the YouTube install guide.

Very happy with shape/size/colour etc.

-m-2012 SUZUKI DR650SE--

Great value for the money. Have used them several years now, tens of thousands of miles. Waterproof lids have so far been waterproof. Used on several bikes. Only hiccup is that one of the locks started acting up, but a quick fix, just tightened everything back down. Don't think there is a bigger bang for the buck out there.

Great product for the $. Very easy ordering process and timely delivery. There are a couple paint finish issues, but for the money, I'm not hurt by it, you'd have to really look to see it anyway. Gives a huge space to put a reflective sticker design, I'd take pics for you, but I'm too lazy :) it's looks good and highly visible.

-m-2012 KAWASAKI KLR650--

The side boxes are bombproof. Very sturdy and simple. They look really great covered in mud :-)

-m-2017 HONDA Africa Twin CRF1000L--

Great storage boxes for the money.

-m-2017 HONDA Africa Twin CRF1000L--

They must be good, I have 2 set's of Tusk Panniers. One on my Dr650se and the other on my F650gs. I would and have recommended them.

-m-2001 BMW F650GS (ABS)--

Love the boxes good value for the price installed on Happy Trails racks very easly .
A week after I installed them I went for a ride for ten miles on a gravel road when I got back I notice one of the locks was gone when I opened the other latches I found the screw that holds the lock cam where loose on all three remaining locks with out that the lock cylinder can come out of its case.
I put thread locker on the threads and reset the screws

-m-2009 KAWASAKI KLR650--

This is my fair and honest review of these panniers. I use them on my KLR. After several thousand miles here goes. Threadlock everything. The locks are terrible. I have lost two lids that were locked. They simply rattled loose and flew off. The remedy to this is to wrap a bungee cord around them. I use a long bungee cord and wrap twice. I don’t lock them anymore unless I am in a urban setting. So I really don’t spend any more time securing them when you minus the time spent always locking each individual lock. The install was a little tough. Didn’t fit perfectly but is very secure. I would buy these again in a heartbeat. They are the best value by far for a bike like the KLR. I have laid the bike over multiple times on these and there has been no damage. Maybe it you lay it over on a big rock you would have damage but dirt and sand shouldn’t hurt anything. Once added benefit of laying it over with the big panniers is it is easier to get the bike up because it doesn’t lay down as far as it would without the panniers so you don’t have to leverage so much to get it up. If you have them way over loaded this would probably be negated. You have to watch how much you load into the panniers. I was packing too much weight at first just because I could but this really hurt the handling and made it a SOB offroad at slow speed. You just have to find that happy medium. One last benefit I have found is the rear luggage rack is now far more secure. Its bolted to the pannier rack instead of just the flimsy plastic of the rear fender. I feel confident putting 40lbs on the rear rack now and I didn’t before. It seriously doesn’t budge now that its bolted to the rack. If you have a KLR I would buy these. You can carry all the essential repair gear needed to get you home. I would also buy 4 of the liners. They make organizing the panniers soo much easier.

-m-2015 KAWASAKI KLR650--

These boxes are awesome. I'm a certified weld welder and the welds are perfect. They do come with the security knobs

Got the medium size and welded my own racks for them. These have taken a real beating, falling and dragging down the trail. They have been bent some, just straighten them out and there ready for more. Even lost the lids on the hwy, TWICE! They do have some stress cracks at the top corners of the boxes, still highly recommended.

-m-2006 SUZUKI DR-Z 400S--

For the price of these boxes you can't go wrong. That being said I feel as though they could wear a much higher price tag. The quality I find is awesome! The racks are a bit of a pain to put on, however make sure you only just start the bolts and get all of the bolts for assembly for the racks in before you tighten them down, your going to need that extra room to fight around getting the last few bolts in. Other than that once the racks are fully installed the rest comes together quite well. I didn't use a 11/32 drill bit as the instructions say because then you had to drill out the mounting bracket for the boxes so I used a bit that just fit in those holes which worked perfectly, might have been a 5/8 or just a bit smaller, plus that way it's a smaller hole for water to penetrate. Regardless it will take a couple hours but take your time and it turns out great. Also the locking latches are great, keeps the lid very secure. I would advise watching the install video from RM a couple times it will help you greatly.

-m-2017 KAWASAKI KLR650--

These are very solid and sturdy Panniers, the latch installation only took a few minutes and the have a great finish on them. I look forward to using them for a long time.

-m-TOURING--

These Bags are a great deal, you won't cry to much when you go over on these panniers and even if you don't get off road at all bikes fall over. They were easy to drill and mount to my SW-Motech rack set up. Happy with these bags.

-m-2015 BMW R1200GS Adventure--

These are great panniers for the money. Mounted to Happy Trails brackets with Happy Trails puck system on a 2014 v-strom, worked great. Reinforced the mounting side with another layer of aluminum on the inside for extra strength, like Happy Trails are for $24.
Locks, seals and closing hardware look good and solid.

-m-2014 SUZUKI V-Strom 650 (ABS) DL650A--

These are simple panniers that simply get the job done at a great price. They install easily, fit well, are watertight, and lock securely. I was recently hit t-bones by an SUV in the left leg while riding. The panniers took the brunt of the impact with the road as my bike slammed onto the road and flipped over twice. It looks like I just need to replace the lids.

-m-2013 HUSQVARNA TR 650 Terra--

These bags are flat on both sides , right and left are identical too. I see people ask if they can fit xyz, if you can attach the flat surface to some sort of mounting bars you can probably make them fit. A welder might even modify a bag and 'notch the buttom' to clear an exhaust pipe. My set were securely installed on a KTM smt 990 but not with Tusk mounts, the previous owner machined Delrin blocks which were bolted to the case and have a deep notch that fits the tubular bar the bike has, similar to an old airhead BMW bag mount. Similar delrin blocks with metal backing are bolted thru and grip the racks upper loop. to remove/install the bags one just needs to get inside the bag with a wrench, not as convenient as the clasps on a production BMW but much more secure and rattle free.

My only possible complaint is that the lids are not hinged so could become lost if I forget to latch them! if the factory did install a hinge, fitting would become less 'universal' though-you need room to hinge a lid open.

For street use I like hard bags because they hold their shape whether full or empty, but semi hard plastic would hurt less if you fell and it landed on you; for an off road journey presumably you will start and end fully loaded-I would MUCH PREFER soft luggage in that case, like the U shaped bags, especially because in dirt one DOES tip over and a soft bag wont crush or break bones. nor will it be dented or show scratches ...

-m-TOURING--

Awesome bang for the buck! Waterproof and they aluminum is just as thick as the high-end thousand dollar cans. Overall fit and finish is not perfect with very minor flaws in the paint or powder coating but only noticeable from inches away. The latch problem they used to have supposedly has been fixed. The rivets that hold the latch to the lid do wear through the canned portion a little bit so you may need to take a Dremel to the protruding rivets on the lid itself pretty minor.

Great size, low weight and sturdy construction equal a solid value. Definitely use locktite on all the fittings when assembling the panniers. I had a lock fail and had to tinker with it a bit. I never did bother replacing it, though. Better locks could be found and fitted. The locks do get the job done for light, around town duty. Overall, I'm very happy with them.

-

-m-2006 SUZUKI V-Strom 650 DL650--

Sweet cars for the money. Good build, sturdy cases. The paint is....so-so. But I don't care.
Take a few minutes and tighten all the hardware.
Lots of room for stuff, and they stay dry.

-m-2014 SUZUKI V-Strom 650 (ABS) Adventure DL650AADV--

These are low cost, but HIGH value panniers that are truly universal. I have built my own brackets and drilled to suit and the smooth back gave me alot of area to select the correct place to mount them.

They are mounted on a '93 Suzuki GS500 adventure bike.

Excellent quality of craftsmanship. Excellent addition to my KLR 650

-m-2016 KAWASAKI KLR650--

Great bang for your hard earned buck!! Would love to buy American but too expensive on a farmers salary !! Come on how much does it cost to weld up a set of boxes when everything is set up to build them? Plus alot of things standard on the Tusk boxes is extra money on the usa boxes !! Dont forget we all are riding offshore bikes in the dual sport field !!!

-m-2016 KAWASAKI KLR650--

I installed the med. panniers on my Super Tenere with Givi racks and I love em. I made quick release mounts and loosen one knob and remove it from the rack. They're well made, useful and look great. And as for private , the racks cost more than the boxes!

-m-2012 YAMAHA Super Tenere 1200--

These panniers are really well built.I bought just the panniers for a custom installation.The seals on mine were pieced together and the finish was a bit rough.Overall,nothing to be concerned about.These things will take a beating offroad,so I'll end up painting them every couple years anyway.Seals are available here,so no big deal,if they ever leak.I'm happy with them.

-m-HONDA--

The panniers were great and it was a pleasure dealing with the staff of Rocky Mountain ATV/MC

-m-2014 SUZUKI DR650SE--

Great value.
The Panniers themselves seem well built and really sturdy. Fit and finish isn't great. Had to take everything apart and locktite everything because nothing was tight.
Bolts on the footman loops are way to short and pop of if you try to tighten. Had to replace them all. Locks are not the best quality and are not put together well. They were finger tight so locktited and tightened everything down. One lock is already broken after a couple days. Will see if I can get a warrantee.

Tusk makes some great products and some not so great products. This is probably their greatest product in my opinion because its affordable to the average man. $400 and you get panniers with racks that are waterproof! fits great on a gen 2 klr and can take a beating (being dropped daily on the trails). would highly recommend to anybody! people touring, people dual sporting, people commuting!

Strong Boxes. The black scratches pretty easily. Make sure you add some thread locker & tighten your locks. They are OK panniers. Price is good. I bought the 37 Liter and they are large. Very good storage capacity for the KLR650.