Top box or side cases?

[tobes]

It's just not possible to do the miles and miles of lanesplitting on I-880 with side cases attached, though, so they stay home during the week.

Same here. They've left us with very narrow lanes on the 405 and 101 here in LA.

[ShinySideUp]

It's just not possible to do the miles and miles of lanesplitting on I-880 with side cases attached, though, so they stay home during the week.

Same here. They've left us with very narrow lanes on the 405 and 101 here in LA.

Since the side cases are not wider than the handlebars, exactly how do they get in the way? I split lanes on 101, 280, 880 with the cases on. If the bars go through, the cases will.

What am I missing here?

[jess]

Since the side cases are not wider than the handlebars, exactly how do they get in the way? I split lanes on 101, 280, 880 with the cases on. If the bars go through, the cases will.

What am I missing here?

Bah! Logic!

Actually, there are some factors that make your logic -- sound though it may seem -- not so cut and dried. When you're cutting diagonally across the front corner of a car in the next lane (to jump from one staggered gap to the next) your handlebars are going to go through at one point, but the gap between you and the car is shortening while you're doing it. So by the time your but goes past the front corner, it may or may not clear. Ideally, you'd have enough room before attempting such a stupid maneuver. In practice, though, sometimes it's your only escape.

Plus, there's the lean factor -- you have control over the bars in front of you, and can lean this way and that (tweaking the bars in the process) to squeeze past mirrors on either side of you. It's much harder to control your ass-end as you go by, since you can't see it or rotate it as you can with the handlebars. And while you're leaning the front end to make the handlebars clear, you have no idea what your rear side cases are going to hit.

There are literally a whole bunch of gaps that I could not, would not go through on 880 with side cases that I happily attempt without.

[Caroanbill]

I'm with Jess - I can lane-split far more often without side cases.

I think about half of it (with cars anyway) is that most cars a significantly wider at mid-door-height than at mirror height. I frequently filter with a bar-wiggle around cars' mirrors ... on looking down I often see that my mirrors are actually wider than the "gap" would be at mid-door height. I'm only getting through because the cars' glasshouses are narrow enough at mirror height - I'd never get through those gaps with panniers on (and yes, I have ... umm ... bumped and had to push myself back ).

[r12gecko]

I've got top & sides, but if I had to choose I'd go sides - the make for a bigger target that's easier for drivers to see and they allow you to pile all manner of stuff on top of the seat or rack if you have one. I travelled cross-country last summer with only sides & soft luggage strapped on top & it worked nicely. Trying to do that with just a top case would have been impossible.

[Stef.]

I have both and use the topcase pretty much exclusively (apart from touring). I had never had a problem with mine and it fits all I need.
Stef.