It finally arrived (shipped by sea and took its time)!
That's the new motorcycle "trunk," mounted on the Italica Bulldog 150.
Let me get the negatives out of the way first, since they're fairly minor:
- No mounting instructions included, just a bunch of hardware to sort through, some of which I used and some of which I didn't. I can see why there aren't any instructions -- every bike is a little different, so the mounting procedure and hardware will be different too. I got it all sorted, but at least some kind of rough diagram seems like a necessity for those even less mechanically inclined than myself.
- Quality? Meh. I would not have purchased this at the standard Temu retail pricing of $35-$45 (depending on vendor). I got one of those "buy $20 worth of stuff, get a big discount on one item" offers, and used it to get this down to $8 or so. That's reasonable, about what I'd have paid for something as nice or nicer at at thrift store or garage sale. It's not terrible in terms of materials or construction. Just nothing to write home about. I expect it to shatter in any significant crash, which is no big deal since I will also shatter in any significant crash and not be worried about the damn trunk.
- Effect on riding experience, only mildly negative, and that's all about it being harder to swing a leg over and get on or off the bike. I don't think the aerodynamics are a problem, as the box isn't really any wider than I am when I'm sitting in front of it. I didn't notice any performance impact, but I only took it out for a couple of miles to see if it would vibrate loose.
The positive:
- It didn't vibrate loose. If I decide to keep the thing on there long-term, I'll throw some thread locker on the bolts and re-tighten them.
- It's big enough to hold my full face helmet (and then some), which means I don't have to keep the helmet in the house and don't have to lug the helmet around every store I go into.
- It locks, so my helmet and other stuff probably won't get stolen unless the whole bike gets stolen with them.
- It's probably big enough to hold most of my things for one- or two-day trips. If not, I can remove the trunk, throw my saddlebags over the rear rack, and re-attach the trunk.
I haven't decided how I feel about how it looks. Kinda big, overpowers the look of a small bike. I'm leaning toward keeping it off most of the time and only attaching it when I really need that particular kind/quantity of cargo hauling capacity.
