I just replaced the rather old and tattered Easy Reacher underseat packs on my Tour Easy ‘bent with shiny new Arkel RT-40 packs:
The retina-burn white reflective tag under the black hand strap is actually a foreshortened view of the Arkel logo.
They’re longer and taller than the old packs, which isn’t entirely a Good Thing: the inside bag gently kisses the pavement during steeply banked high speed turns. The main compartment is slightly narrower, so I bent the license plates (which used to fit neatly on the bottom) to form a hard floor with a low lip on the inside edge. That, in combination with tightening the pack’s internal strap, prevents the foam-core bottom panel from drooping; maybe the edge won’t hit the pavement quite so often.
They also ride much higher on the racks. To install the packs, I had to unbolt the seat to raise it upward, slide the packs underneath, twiddle the clamps onto the rack rods, then reinstall the seat. Those puppies are not getting loose without tools and a struggle!
Because they’re longer, the right pack collided with the HT mount behind the seat:
So I moved the mount up to the middle crossbar:
I’m not entirely happy with that arrangement, as the holder sits snug against the rear packs. So far, I rarely need those in addition to the RT-40s, as each underseat bag can swallow an upright gallon milk jug or two Butternut squashes in addition to all the other stuff I normally carry.
The array of reflective patches and piping and pull tabs probably makes me look (more) like a low-flying UFO at night, but that’s fine with me: the more it resembles a UFO, the less hassle I get.
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 