Every Miles A Memory
Expedition Leader
Anyone who spends their hard earned cash on a motorcycle wants to keep it looking as nice as possible for as long as possible.
Sure, we love to take them off-road and through the mud, but we also like to clean them up and show them off a bit.
My wife and I carry a light, dual-sport Suzuki DRZ-400 SM on the back of our camper. We travel full time and use the bike for a run around vehicle when ever we're in an area that the truck or camper just isnt feasable to use.
The bike also comes in handy anytime we might need to go scout out a backroad or trail that we might not want to attempt with the truck and trailer connected before we know what we're up for.
After a few months of traveling, we noticed the bike was starting to look faded already from sitting out 24 hours a day. There was no way to cover it up while we were driving down the road, until we found the Dirt Bag Designs motorcycle cover.
Talking with the owner over at Dirt Bag, I told him what bike model I had and that I had a small luggage rack on the back fender of the bike and wondered if the cover would still fit my bike?
He told me he had designed the cover around the KTM frame, but made sure he made it wide enough that it would fit almost any model out there with some slight adjustments.
The cover itself has multiple adjustment straps to keep the cover from flapping while trailering it down the road. It also has snaps on each side of the handle bars to allow the tie-down straps to come through the cover and still allow the cover to stay extremely tight.
There are straps around the grip area and multiple straps that pull the cover tight around the belly of the bike, around the tires of the bike and even from front to back.
Once I got my cover, we fit it over the bike, and even with the luggage rack, and the stock tail light, something on a DRZ that resembles a ugly trailer light, it fit just fine.
The Dirt Bag Cover has openings for your foot pegs to fit through, so the sharp edges of the pegs wont tear through the material from the wind flap caused by driving down the road with the cover on.
At first, I was a bit skeptical that the cover wouldnt stand up to our daily useage. The cover is a pretty thick denier nylon and is water resistant. The zippers and snaps all seem to be heavy duty, and have so far held up 100%
I'll be the first to say that it has withstood over a full year of being on the bike and over 50,000 miles covered on the back of the camper.
To look at the cover now, the top section, the piece of fabric that gets the brunt of the sunlight is a very light gray. The back side that is against the camper is still jet black, like the day we got the cover.
The outside of the cover, the side that is out in the sun, but not as much as the top part is, well, its a shade lighter than it was to begin with, but all in all, every Zipper still works, the straps all still buckle tightly and most of all, the bike below it looks brand new.
Best part about the cover is how easy it is to put on. The first time I started looking at covers, I thought "Ok, if this is a big hassle to get on and off, I'm not going to use the bike as much because of the hassle involved."
Once you've used the Dirt Bag Designs cover a few times, it might take a few minutes to put on, total. Probably the longest part for me is my Dual-Sport has mirrors on the handlebars, and I have to remove them to put the cover on.
No big deal, as I keep a tank bag on the bike, and just keep a wrench in the bag that fits the mirrors and once they're taken off, I throw the wrench and the mirrors in the tank bag
The cover also has a zipper right over the tank, incase you have the cover on and need to get to the tank bag, or throw some fuel in the bike while it's still on the rack.
All in all, if you're going to drop some coin on a bike, spending another $100 or so on a quality cover just seems like a no-brainer!
Just thought I'd pass along a bit of info that we've found to be extremely helpfull! I cant imagine how worn and faded the bike would look if we hadnt had it covered all this time.
For a normal user, one who might trailer their bike to a weekend riding spot, or take it along on a trip or two per year, I'd say this cover would last a lifetime in the blink of an eye.
Well worth the money!
Sure, we love to take them off-road and through the mud, but we also like to clean them up and show them off a bit.
My wife and I carry a light, dual-sport Suzuki DRZ-400 SM on the back of our camper. We travel full time and use the bike for a run around vehicle when ever we're in an area that the truck or camper just isnt feasable to use.
The bike also comes in handy anytime we might need to go scout out a backroad or trail that we might not want to attempt with the truck and trailer connected before we know what we're up for.
After a few months of traveling, we noticed the bike was starting to look faded already from sitting out 24 hours a day. There was no way to cover it up while we were driving down the road, until we found the Dirt Bag Designs motorcycle cover.
Talking with the owner over at Dirt Bag, I told him what bike model I had and that I had a small luggage rack on the back fender of the bike and wondered if the cover would still fit my bike?
He told me he had designed the cover around the KTM frame, but made sure he made it wide enough that it would fit almost any model out there with some slight adjustments.
The cover itself has multiple adjustment straps to keep the cover from flapping while trailering it down the road. It also has snaps on each side of the handle bars to allow the tie-down straps to come through the cover and still allow the cover to stay extremely tight.
There are straps around the grip area and multiple straps that pull the cover tight around the belly of the bike, around the tires of the bike and even from front to back.
Once I got my cover, we fit it over the bike, and even with the luggage rack, and the stock tail light, something on a DRZ that resembles a ugly trailer light, it fit just fine.
The Dirt Bag Cover has openings for your foot pegs to fit through, so the sharp edges of the pegs wont tear through the material from the wind flap caused by driving down the road with the cover on.
At first, I was a bit skeptical that the cover wouldnt stand up to our daily useage. The cover is a pretty thick denier nylon and is water resistant. The zippers and snaps all seem to be heavy duty, and have so far held up 100%
I'll be the first to say that it has withstood over a full year of being on the bike and over 50,000 miles covered on the back of the camper.
To look at the cover now, the top section, the piece of fabric that gets the brunt of the sunlight is a very light gray. The back side that is against the camper is still jet black, like the day we got the cover.
The outside of the cover, the side that is out in the sun, but not as much as the top part is, well, its a shade lighter than it was to begin with, but all in all, every Zipper still works, the straps all still buckle tightly and most of all, the bike below it looks brand new.
Best part about the cover is how easy it is to put on. The first time I started looking at covers, I thought "Ok, if this is a big hassle to get on and off, I'm not going to use the bike as much because of the hassle involved."
Once you've used the Dirt Bag Designs cover a few times, it might take a few minutes to put on, total. Probably the longest part for me is my Dual-Sport has mirrors on the handlebars, and I have to remove them to put the cover on.
No big deal, as I keep a tank bag on the bike, and just keep a wrench in the bag that fits the mirrors and once they're taken off, I throw the wrench and the mirrors in the tank bag
The cover also has a zipper right over the tank, incase you have the cover on and need to get to the tank bag, or throw some fuel in the bike while it's still on the rack.
All in all, if you're going to drop some coin on a bike, spending another $100 or so on a quality cover just seems like a no-brainer!
Just thought I'd pass along a bit of info that we've found to be extremely helpfull! I cant imagine how worn and faded the bike would look if we hadnt had it covered all this time.
For a normal user, one who might trailer their bike to a weekend riding spot, or take it along on a trip or two per year, I'd say this cover would last a lifetime in the blink of an eye.
Well worth the money!