When Viking Bags asked me if I was interested in doing a review of their survival series magnetic motorcycle tank bag I said absolutely. In the last year of I added a Suzuki DR650 Dual Sport as a second bike for those days I want to go somewhere on a motorcycle that my touring Motorcycle just is not designed for. Now if you are familiar with the DR650 you know this basically just a Dirt Bike that is street legal and has absolutely no storage. A buddy gave me a Tusk Tank Saddlebag that fit over the gas cap and hang on either side of the tank and they have been working okay but I was looking for something better.
I was impressed with the construction as soon as I received the product. This tank bag is made of cordura 1600 D Ballistic fabric, and it is pretty rigid so it holds its shape even when it is empty but not so rigid that it won’t fold a little if you apply pressure such as when leaning over it on a motorcycle tank. The bag has 4 flaps with magnets in them to secure the bag to the tank, but the back is designed in a way you can tuck any of these flaps in and not have them exposed if a particular flap is not going to be used to secure the bag, for example if the bottom flap would just be laying over the seat. The seams are double stitched, and the zippers feel right and not like you going to be stuck with a bag that will not zip closed in a year.
The tank bag is weather resistant but does some with a rain cover. I tend to put anything I am concerned about getting wet in a plastic bag or zip lock bag before I put it in a bag so I don’t tend to use rain covers but I do appreciate the fact it is included.
This bag also comes with a should strap and backpack straps that can be fitted to the bag so if you do not want to leave this tank bag on your motorcycle for some reason it becomes easy to carry with you. I found this to be a neat idea and can see many reasons you might want to do this. If you rode to park and wanted to hike and have a way to carry a snack and drinks it would be ideal.
There is a separate pocket on the top for your phone or maybe a GPS unit, I tested it with my phone, and it is easy to operate the phones touch screen while it is in the pocket. I don’t carry a large or oversized phone, but the pocket seemed to have plenty of room to accommodate customers with larger screen phones.
There is also a smaller sperate pocket at one end of the bag and it was plenty large enough to store a pair of glasses, a soft coolie cup and another smaller item at the same time if needed.
With this bag measuring 15” long, 9” wide and 5.5 inches high the main compartment was big enough to store many items. I even checked to make sure my first aide kit that is designed for traumatic injuries would fit in and it did with room left over for additional items like riding gloves, a bottle of water and more.
I put about 200 miles down with this tank in one day and I must say I really like it. I could open it quickly and the magnets do a great job of holding the bag in place when zipping down the road (even when only using the side flaps) and the bag stays in place nicely even when you are operating the zipper one handed. I test the bag for fit on several motorcycles including a Harley Davidson Dyna and the bag is large enough for my girlfriend to put her small purse in along with other items like riding glasses and gloves so she would not have to unbuckle her saddlebags every time she needs to store one of these items.
A buddy who rides an old Honda V65 Sabre is already asking if he can test it out as he would like to have a little storage on it as well. I think this bag is a great option for people on many styles of bikes that don’t have any built-in storage on the bike like my bagger. Or even for riders just looking for a more convenient storage option that also can hold their phone, not everyone wants a handlebar mount for their phone when they are riding, and this can be a great option for those people also.
You can this Bag and other products from Viking Bags at the links below.
https://www.vikingbags.com/viking-survival-series-motorcycle-tank-bag
https://www.vikingbags.com/motorcycle-tank-bags.htm
https://www.vikingbags.com/motorcycle-luggage.htm