Can anyone share pics and reviews of Jesse bags?

[jeepinoutwest]

Hi Everyone, today is day one with my '17 Tenere. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride home. I've been looking at bags for weeks but it seems like Givi and Sw-motech get almost all the press and internet coverage. However I found Jesse bags http://www.jesseluggage.com/ that seem much better made. Can anyone share pictures or experiences they have had? Thanks, Rick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvCibJyGR7M

 

[snakebitten]

Type this into google or bing:

Jesse bags site:yamahasupertenere.com

You'll drown in Jesse posts.
Sample- http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?topic=13603.0

 

[Don in Lodi]

I love my Jesse Safari bags. Been on there since early '12. Tough sons of guns. My understanding is they've discontinued them recently. Lots of compound angles to all get welded together.

 

[Pterodactyl]

Between Spousal Unit and I we've owned five sets of Jesse Bags, and still have four sets in the shop now.

They have a very high standard for fit and finish and are extremely durable. I used to work at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks and one of the areas I supervised was campus housing. During the summer we would open a dorm for motorcycle riders. Each summer we would get 350-400 riders staying with us and most were headed up the haul road to Prudoe Bay. Regularly, riders would return from the ride north with damage from falls on the haul road. I noticed that quite often those with the pervasive rectangular bags, such as Zega and the OEM bags found on many bikes, would suffer a tweaked bag and the lid would not seal. Not so on the Jesses. I saw one bike that had a fairly high speed low side that ripped his Jesse Bag off the bike. He returned with the bag held on with bungee cord, twine and tape, but the bag held its shape and the lid operated normally. As alluded to by Don, Jesses use many immutable triangles in their design. This gives the bags tremendous strength and resistance to deformation in an accident.

By the way, if you head to Fairbanks, I believe the U still allows riders to stay on campus from late May to mid-August. Rooms are spartan, but clean, safe and warm. They are also cheaper than the cheapest flea bag motels. It is a great way to meet other riders to link-up for the ride up the haul road and/or talk to riders just returning to get current info about the road. Call Conference Services at 907-474-6769.

Spousal Unit in Montana:

 

[sparkyduc]

Had mine for 4 years, 2 trips to Alaska.no problems. Get the Cee Bailey liners.

 

[HeliMark]

I have the 10" Odyssey side cases with the top box. The 10" when mounted are just a small amount skinnier width wise than the handle bars. Living in California, this is great for me with the lane splitting.

The boxes are tough, and have withstood a number of falls in the dirt when I have had them on. The right box has had to have some "adjustments" due to one dirt incident, but I think it was in great shape for what it took. I always have the top box on (way of securing stuff), but the side cases only when taking a trip.

The one problem I have had is the mounting plate for the top box. It had some stress cracks after about 20K miles. They have updated the mount to a new version, which is actually the old one with an additional piece of metal welded on where the stress cracks are occurring. Even on the new version (which they replaced the old one with for free), I went out to the hardware store and bought some large washers to help try and disperse the stress loads on where it mounts to the bike.

I would buy them again. Customer service is good, and when you call, you actually talk to the people who know what they are talking about. The only thing I would do is look to see if there is a better top box mounting system if you are looking at getting the top box. Also, a quick disconnect system for the top box when you are on a trip and can actually store it somewhere.

Mark

 

[Wncrider]

If you go to the 'What did you do to your Tenere?' thread under the General Discussion forum, I posted some pics of some mods on April 14th, which included a shot of my 10" Odyssey bags.

My biggest complaint with the Jesse's is that the instructions truly suck, complicated by the fact that they sent me an old set, not for the current mounts! However, at one point I got a helpful call from Al Jesse after leaving a terse email complaint and got a helpful hint from a member here on the No. 1 issue I was having.

That said, after installation was done, I like them a lot! Loading for camping is easy, the bags are tough and secure. I took off the passenger grab rails to reduce the width of the 10" bags 2", making them the width of the handlebars.

I would not use them, or any hard luggage, for real off-road or dual sport work, but then I have a WR250R for that. But for what I want, traveling with the occasional Forest Service road, they should be great.

If you get them, PM me for some suggestions to make installation easier!

 

[jeepinoutwest]

Thanks guys for all the great info and links. I will call them today or tomorrow to see if they are still in production and what are the differences between travelers and odyssey, etc.

 

[Don in Lodi]

The Odyssey will always be there. The Safari is the one they stopped producing apparently. I suppose there could be old stock still. Their drop down doesn't show the traveler for the Tenere. Neat concept, but Rotopax still seems to be the cleanest fuel carrier for our bikes. Oh, and they have a great price on the Odyssey right now.

 

[Pterodactyl]

I had a conversation with Al Jesse at a rally two years ago. He had just learned he had over 70 sets of luggage for the R100GS that had been sitting at a subcontractor for several years. He would send the subcontractor the parts for luggage to be welded and Al had lost track of the cases. So you never know what they may dig up.

 

[maddog5150]

I would buy the Jesse bags in a heartbeat again. I've loved mine for >80k miles


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