Lane Splitters with Hard Case Panniers - Give Me the Low Down

[bigpoppa]

I used to commute on a Victory Cross Country Tour. Pretty big beast. Since my fairing/bars were wider than the bags, as long as the front could get through, I was pretty sure the rear was getting through with no issues.

In general, the bigger/wider the bike, the slower you want to split. That being said, I've been behind some riders on Goldwings who split like madmen leaving me in the dust even though I was on a much smaller and narrower bike.

Just ride within your comfort zone and if you have any doubts, slow it down and wait if needed.

 

[Whammy]

Measure the width of your bars and the width of the boxes so you can guestimate your clearance. You'll have to chose your gaps a little bit more carefully with the boxes mounted.

This ^^ you have already assumed you would be wider not much more to brainstorm here. If the bags are on you have to limit your splitting or you'll find some angry cagers wanting blood for damaging their cars.

 

[nedro]

I lane split ("Share", for the semantically rigid) on my 2004 Gold Wing all the time. 1800 cc opposed 6 cyl. with hard cases. Not sure how much wider anything else is.

 

[NorCalBusa]

Do as you see fit, but I'm not a fan of "slow" splitting. The longer you are in the squeeze zone- the more likely your detailed calculation about fitting/not gets altered as the left or right vehicle changes lane position.

Vision needs to be farther ahead so you can make decision about altering your line. Cars on either side- well they are already history by then, so focus on the next pair or two ahead. Depends, but a safe delta/dependent on conditions I find far better than inching by.

 

[Wrider]

I'll always use the top case if I can to make life easier. But it's no problem to split with my BMW GS Vario cases in the "narrow" position. In the expanded position, it's a little trickier. I'll sometimes put a piece of blue painter's tape on my handlebar to remind myself they are there. And I always abide by the rule, "If you don't fit, don't split!" I don't want to scare or scrape anyone. Moto diplomacy.

 

[norcalkid]

Lane splitting with the V-Strom and side boxes sucks balls. Riding in the dirt they are also loud and less safe.

IMO the VStrom is a street bike and I really don't ride in city traffic other than on the way to Baja, the metal boxes are fine. If I had something more capable in the dirt like an AT, T7, etc I'd go with soft side bags and maybe a lockable Pelican case under a top bag???? Even if I had a full set of soft bags I'd want a small lockable box of some type for passport, camera, docs etc

 

[Hank Wong]

Give you the low down on panniers. Here is the low down. The panniers are mounted low and down so if your mirrors clear the other guys' side mirrors, you are clear all the way unless you are splitting a Ford GT exotic car.

 

[cal scott]

As with most things, the answer is it depends. Where you are doing the majority of your riding/splitting?

I have largely a freeway commute on a V-Strom that more often than not has side cases mounted. The mounted cases are slightly wider than the handlebars. Having the widest point behind you definitely make splitting through tight spaces more challenging - not only the additional width but also the fact that there is no direct visual input on whether or not the gap is large enough to fit through.

I find on the freeway this is not an issue as the traffic is more dynamic - you may have to pause until a wide enough gap opens up but it invariably does. If you are splitting/filtering on city streets, the side cases become much more limiting. The lanes are narrower and the traffic less ordered resulting in more bottlenecks that the wider bike can't fit through.

I leave my top box on 100% of the time but will take the hard side cases off depending on my needs - takes ten seconds. If you need to store items on a bike you are leaving unattended, having lockable, secure hard cases is essential in my book.

 

[cal scott]

Give you the low down on panniers. Here is the low down. The panniers are mounted low and down so if your mirrors clear the other guys' side mirrors, you are clear all the way unless you are splitting a Ford GT exotic car.

Highly dependent on bike and mirrors. This is not true for my setup.

 

[reasonable_max]

I used to commute daily (SF to Berkeley) with panniers, and after a few times where I bumped them into cars (oops lol) I learned to gauge the width and haven't had another problem.

I think the roads here are pretty wide and if you avoid very narrow splits you'll be good.

 

[Cabrito]

Calling Cabrito to the white courtesy telephone...

I won't do it, I'm just not comfortable splitting with panniers. The one time I did do it I popped the rear fender flare off a Toyota 4Runner on 101 South just past Candlestick.

Haha, @HeatXfer had to painfully watch me split all the way down 80 through the Sacramento area with my big ass side cases..

Even when they are wider than the bars like mine are it's still doable in many situations, but certainly not everywhere. You get used to it and it becomes like anything else we do - a non-issue.

One thing to be careful of when splitting with cans is when you cut into a lane or around a car your cases might come into contact with the vehicle. Ask me how I know.

Your muscle memory works for going straight, but if you start zig zagging to get around cars in stopped traffic to get to the wider lane your case can scrape the bumper of the car. It happened to me once or twice. Hope that all makes sense.


Edit:
Funny story. Following my friend splitting on the Golden Gate Bridge his side case hit the mirror of a car and broke it off. The mirror landed on the hood of the car and my friend grabbed it and put it in his jacket. He stayed with the car and got off the bridge with them. He was able to pop the mirror back on and the driver of the car was so impressed he just laughed it off.. Cool right?

 

[HadesOmega]

I split lanes with my KLR with pelican cases but it's not that wide. You just have to get used to them and be able to judge if you are going to fit or not. It sucks trying to split in SF with these. I split lanes all the time mostly on the freeway.

Just try to get the most narrow ones you can get or just run a top case. Top cases look dorky but I will take function over form.