Touratech Zega motorcycle touring cases

As I continue with preparations for the Arizona motorcycle trip this morning (seems like it never ends) I discovered that one my Touratech Zega cases was pretty dented in. As I have reported in an earlier post in September, I had some minor wipe outs during last tour in the Mammoth Lakes area (see the post Laminar Lip motorcycle windscreen spoiler) that is still coming back to haunt me.

I usually perform a close inspection of my F650GS motorcycle after every trip but some how the dent on the inside of the right case escaped me. The case walls appeared to be straight enough but when the case is mounted onto the frame the ABS plastic "spacers" on the inside felt a bit loose. It wasn't a major dent but just enough to make me feel uncomfortable about mounting the case. I sure didn't want it to inadvertently fall off.

Before I had owned these cases everyone who has them said that these motorcycle cases are really resilient, that they take the dents and could forcibly be banged back onto shape. So I put the Touratech Zega case to the test. After removing the fasteners I took a rubber mallet and went to work on it. After two or three minutes of banging I would check fit it on the mounting frame. I repeated banging and fit checking and 15 minutes later... what do you know... the case fit pretty snugly back on the mounting frame, be it not perfectly like when it was new but pretty good! (Unfortunately during the excitement I forgot to photograph the dent before the fix and could only show the after pictures)





So what some of the other adventure motorcycle riders said is true. Had this case been of plastic construction those crashes I had could easily have broken the mount or the case or even both.

Now I hope I had discovered all the issues. Sure don't want problems while I'm on this thousand mile motorcycle ride.