The price and features are just right.
Seat bag convenient for anything in the touring scene. Doppelganger is rapidly expanding its share of the seat bag market. How amazing is it that in six months or so it's one of the top five most popular brands?
In this article, I'll be looking at Doppelganger's Tarpaulin Drum Bag, which is the most popular and most useful of their seat bags.
- A soft bag for any motorcycle
- Capacity is 30L, ideal for a day trip or overnight stay.
- It's also quite expandable.
- It's tarpaulin, so it's waterproof!
- Installation is a standard 4-point stop
- I've put it in a lot of different vehicles.
- It won't shift when I ride! It doesn't move!
- They come in two colors, black and storm khaki!
- Cheap! The cost performance is good! Good function!
A soft bag for any motorcycle
The first thing to note is that this seat bag is not square. Until now, the most popular bags were characterized by their soft, yet form-fitting bottoms and sides, and their apparent resemblance to a box. However, the tarpaulin drum bag in this case is a drum bag that looks like it can easily change shape.
First, let's review the benefits of this shape.
Some flexibility in the shape of the luggage.
The most significant difference from the box type is that the bag side can be adapted to the shape of the luggage to some extent. If you think of a backpack, it's easy to understand, but backpacks are made of soft materials, so if the size of either the length or width of the backpack sticks out a little, you can squeeze it in, right? That's it! However, it is not necessary to load it excessively.
No matter what the design of the motorcycle
What do you think? It's not bad, and it looks pretty good, don't you think? The silhouette of the bag is closer to that of a street bag than a touring bag, so it fits a wide range of motorcycles from adventure to neo-classic and street motorcycles!
This would look great on the recently announced Meguro K3!
Easy to carry
A seat bag is something you load, but you need to carry it with you when you get to your destination such as an inn. The advantage of the drum bag is that you can carry it naturally with one attached strap even in such a situation. When it's not loaded, it's just like a regular drum bag, so it looks natural to carry around!
Capacity is 30L, ideal for a day trip or overnight stay.
This tarpaulin drum bag has a capacity of 30L. The 30L is just the right size for touring from a day trip to two days and one night. If it's summer, you'll have less stuff to pack, so you could probably go for a couple of nights!
The bag's construction is simple, with a roll-top opening, a large main pocket, and the top covered by a distinctive floating top flap.
This top flap also has a pocket with a zippered opening. With the wide opening, the main pocket is quite easy to put in luggage, and I had the impression that it was easy to put in large items. And Chuck's big handle makes it easy to use with gloves!
In addition, the roll-top construction allows you to roll more when you have less luggage to compress the cargo space, and roll less when you have more luggage to prevent the luggage from shifting inside the bag. Often, with box-shaped bags, if you only have a few small items below the capacity, it can be annoying to move them around in the bag, but this bag doesn't have that problem!
The front and rear lengths are also reduced, allowing more seating space for the rider, even on sportbikes with smaller tandem seats. If you put a bag on, you can't concentrate on riding because the space to sit is too small.
It's also quite expandable.
One of the unique features of this bag is the floating top flap that covers the top, which is quite innovative. Other companies' seat bags that I've reviewed have hooks for attaching nets and cord-like loading equipment to allow you to load more than the capacity. This flap is a different shape than any of those.
It's easy to use, simply extend the length of the connecting belt to the bag body at the front and back of the flap. Then, a space is created between the flap and the bag body like this, so you can load the bag in between, and finally adjust the front and rear connections again to hold it down.
For example, you can add your regular backpack, rain gear and clothes here. If you can master this flap, you'll have the nostalgia for longer tours than you can take on with a 30L capacity, not to mention camp touring!
Of course, there are D-rings and daisy chains all around to attach nets and hang things, so you can expand your load with nets.
It's tarpaulin, so it's waterproof!
Tarpaulins are used in harsh outdoor environments such as banners and tents, so their waterproofness is well established! Since every part of the 360° is made of tarpaulin, rainwater, as well as splashes and mud splashed by the motorcycle, will not pass through. In addition, the fact that it is resistant to water means that it is easy to wash. Another point is that you can clean it immediately even if it gets dirty.
If your bag is not waterproof, you will need to put a special rain cover on it, which is honestly very tricky. The natural order of things is that a waterproof bag is easier to use from the start than a non-waterproof bag that requires you to stop to put on the cover and always has the possibility of flying off due to wind pressure.
Installation is a standard 4-point stop
To load the bag into a vehicle, four belts are attached to the vehicle side, which are then combined with the buckles on the bag itself. This loading method is simple in format that allows many vehicles to take loading points, making it easy for new riders to load.
In this case, I installed it on a Yamaha MT-09, and I were able to achieve a secure loading without shifting just by adjusting the tension. The bottom of the bag is relatively flexible, so it conforms to the shape of the vehicle's seat and seat cowl.
The excess belt can be banded like this.
The overhang won't sag!
One of the most common seat bag problems! The problem with those bags sticking out of the tail cowl and hanging down! It's very common, and the softer the bag, the more it suffers from this phenomenon, but this bag surprisingly doesn't sag! It's a soft bag, so I thought I'd have to work around it in some way, but this one defied my expectations. Of course, it does not mean that it does not drip at all, but if it is this much, it is enough to pass the test.
I only put soft clothes in this time, so I didn`t try to pack hard things to make it stiff for shooting.
The secret is the PE board skeleton in three places inside the bag that prevents it from losing its shape! It also clears the problem of too little rigidity, which is a demerit of soft bags.
I've put it in a lot of different vehicles.
Again, I've tried to match it to various vehicles, and it looks pretty good. Whether it's the compact YZF-R25 around the tail, the good old CD125, or the Vespa, it looks great! And it can be mounted securely.
Good with the side bags too!
I put it on with a Doppelganger side bag, sold separately, and it's pretty neat to see the unity! I think it's quite possible to unify with Doppelganger because it is easy to get together at a reasonable price!
It won't shift when I ride! It doesn't move!
Now that I've installed it, I'm off to the mountains for a little touring! This time, I loaded up more clothes and ran because I was afraid of the temperature change.
Ugh, it's stuck!
The first time you use a seat bag, you might want to make some adjustments to the way it's secured, but on this day, I didn't have to! In other words, I was able to load the motorcycle perfectly the first time. Either my skill has improved or the seat bag is great. I'm going with the latter. That's because there was no sign of shifting from the loading stage.
The bag does not sway from side to side while riding, giving the impression of being very stable.
It was cold on the mountain, as expected, which means we had to take our stuff in and out frequently, which is pretty easy to do thanks to the wide opening! And easy to find my stuff!
Since I'm praising it so far, I'll raise one part that caught my attention. That is the ease of use of the G-hooks that are often employed in Doppelganger bags. This is a unique hook that is used in the opening and closing part of the bag, and it can be fixed just by hooking it. A typical bag has a one-touch buckle here.
It's generally easy to use, but I had to pull and unhook it when it was packed full of stuff, which took a while. Of course, there is no danger of dropping out, or of it opening on its own, so this is an area I was curious about with a strict score. This is expected in the future.
They come in two colors, black and storm khaki!
The color lineup includes the standard black and the lighter Storm Khaki. The black design features orange throughout, including the Doppelganger logo. Storm Khaki, on the other hand, is a creamy shade with blacked-out G-hooks and logos that are quite chic.
Black is still the most popular, but when I personally see the real thing, Storm Khaki is stylish! It's a color you don't see very often, but it goes well with a variety of motorcycles. I think the most stylish way to wear Storm Khaki is to match it with a classic black motorcycles.
Cheap! The cost performance is good! Good function!
This tarpaulin drum bag is quite easy to use. In fact, it's a hit product that's boasting tremendous popularity right now, and the secret is that you can get all of the features we've introduced here for less than an astonishing 10,000 yen. This is too cosy.
When I actually used it, I understood that I could use it in quite a variety of situations when I had one because it was the size that was most active. Can be highly recommended as a touring bag with the strongest cosmetic point.
