Choosing a suitable luggage system for my Triumph Tiger 800

I understand the Triumph original accessory for side mount and panniers is about for 1 Lac.

BHPian MileCruncher recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Folks, I recently got recently got a pre owned 2016 Tiger 800 which didn't have any luggage system installed. I need to get hard case top box and panniers installed.

I understand the Triumph original accessory for side mount and panniers is about for 1 Lac. While they are significantly expensive, also given the age of the bike, they may not be available as well.

Have been looking at options from Givi and SW Motech but unable to make any sense. Hence requesting some expert advice on what my options are over here.

Also where can I get them in Mumbai. Aluminium Top Box is an immediate priority.

P.S: I had gone to the Bikester Global and the local hardcase pannier had generic mounts which don't fit the tiger.

Here's what BHPian Axe77 had to say on the matter:

Here are my inputs on this:

1. Dont buy OEM even if you get it. Givi makes the luggage for Triumph. But they have slightly different mounts so they can’t be used as easily when you change bikes.

2. Buy from a good third party brand instead of OEM. You’ve bought a 7- 8 year old bike. It could well be that you spend a bomb on luggage and go and flip this bike in a couple of years. Your investment in the luggage system should be capable of being used on the next ADV as well. You’ll lose the pannier mounts of course but at least the basic luggage can be moved to the next one.

2. Buy from a good quality brand - both Givi and SWM are excellent and you could well restrict your search to just these two.

For Givi, the best source to search is Bikenbiker Bangalore (talk to Sreejith - he’s excellent). For SWM, it’s big bad bikes in Bangalore (talk to Sean, again excellent). Both have excellent online catalogues of their stuff.
You could also talk to Piyush at Pathpavers, Delhi. Again, an excellent franchise and I’m sure he stocks SWM and I think he also stocks Givi.

Any of these folks will advise you on models and will also ship it out to you.

3. Between Givi and SWM, I feel Givi has the much broader range of top boxes to choose from. So that alone could be one reason to pivot to Givi as an option. I also personally found the Givi box I used on my Tiger nicer to operate than the SWM on my Multi.

If you want to see the SWM system on an ADV, you can refer to my post here.

If you want to see Givi luggage mounted on a Tiger, you can check this post from my long term review here. This was the Triumph OEM though but it’s made by Givi. Givi branded will be exactly the same.

4. For side cases, the biggest gating question is whether you want hard cases or semi rigid. Both have their own pros and cons and it completely comes down to personal preference. If you had to see only one video to help you understand the difference, I hugely recommend Bret Tkacs’s YouTube video on this (link below). It sums up the pros and cons perfectly.

5. Decide up front if you want Givi or SWM but don’t choose top box from one and side panniers from another. It could create conflicts in the pannier mounting systems. Kriega makes excellent soft side bags as well and these will work with either Givi / SWM mounts AFAIK so can be combined with either top box.

6. Other brands you could consider are Shad and Hepco Becker but I think Givi and SWM have the best support and sales in India. You could just restrict your research between these two.

Bret Tkacs video on soft vs hard luggage.

BHPian MileCruncher replied:

Thanks Axe for the detailed post. I had gone through your detailed post on your soft luggage on Multi. I used to have soft luggage- saddle bags (ViaTerra) on my Duke and I know of the disadvantages But the SWM and Kriega ones looked more closed and dust proof.

I spent considerable time on BikeNBiker website last night to shortlist some Givi models like the Outback and Outback trekker series but they are working to be prohibitively expensive.

Its sad that there is no direct dealer for Givi and SWM in Mumbai.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.