Viking Bags Large Back Rest Sissy Bar Bag Review

Viking Bags makes an exceptional large sissy bar bag. It works with or without a sissybar by mounting under your back seat, has  huge hard shell 4080 cubic inch capacity. Motorcycle House sent me the bag for free in exchange for a fair and honest review of the bag, no asses kissed, no punches pulled, no holds barred. Here it is.

I’ve been using a duffelbag-style of soft motorcycle bag for almost a decade. It was great as a first motorcycle bag for a student motorcyclist living on a shoestring budget. With no separate compartments, I simply stuffed everything in there and hit  the road. I had kept my eyes on a hard motorcycle travel bag for a while but never pulled the trigger, it was one of those luxury items that I wasn’t sure was going to be worth the buck… but there I was getting one for free, sometimes being a blogger has its perks.

The bag arrived in about a week. It was huge. It measured about 17″ x 20″ by 12″. The 4080 cubic inch capacity is about 66 litres. A “Live Chat” feature popped up on Motorcycle House’s site and the little person living inside my computer told me that this was the second largest motorcycle bag they carried. There is one main compartment containing three mesh pockets and a padded laptop compartment. There are three side pockets with a double zipper that makes them slightly expandable and helps with waterproofing. Finally there’s a top pouch for items that you’d like to access quickly. 

The bag hasn’t seen any significant use yet. Toronto has seen three consecutive snow storms. The ice hasn’t melted off of the road, and I’m not about taking the cruiser out on slushy and salted roads. The temperatures out are too frigid for a photo shoot. We’ll give the product a proper review in the spring.

For now I thought I should mention that there were a number of features of the bag that led me to believe it was really well thought out and must have been made with feedback from real motorcycle travelers.

Some cool features I liked:

• The top opens 90-degrees and no higher unless you remove the straps, a nice feature that’ll keep items accessible without having your motorcycle bag flopping all over the place.
• There is a clip for keys in the front pouch to help keep them easily accessible.
• Waterproof cover with pull-string tightening that looks ready for the task of keeping up at highway speeds.
• All zippers have loops for locks.
• 2 mesh net exterior side pockets.
• Easy to unpack and repack, no fuss digging through items as in soft shell bags.
• 30 day money back guarantee from Motorcycle House.
• Dual mount system mounts to either sissy bar or straps under seat using a harness.
• Adjustable backrest pad – the pad is tough, offers good support, but isn’t very plus.
• Main compartment can hold a full face helmet as well as a beenie helmet.

Perhaps most importantly is with all of that space I was able to fit an extra pair of pants, a couple t-shirts, a sweater, an extra pair of gloves, my motorcycle jacket liner, a spare beenie helmet (because you never know who you’ll meet), extra socks, and a pair of sneakers. There’s nothing that leads me to question the durability the bag will have. I just won’t be able to comment on that, although it looks heavy duty and up for the task. Stay tuned for our spring long term review.