Luggage for your Royal Enfield? Why not a suitcase?

Why not attach a real vintage suitcase to your Royal Enfield?

Saddlebags or panniers are the traditional luggage of a Royal Enfield motorcycle. But when I jokingly suggested using an ugly milk crate instead, reader Alan LaRue responded that he had tried a more interesting idea: an actual suitcase.

"I mounted a late '40s or early '50s J.C. Higgens suitcase (Sears and Roebuck imitation of a Samsonite) to my Royal Enfield, and got a little bit of negative feedback. But I think it was better than a milk crate. A few guys on the Royal Enfield board suggested that I should have mounted a wicker basket."

Alan did indeed take a ribbing on the Royal Enfield USA Community Forum.

Holds anything but a helmet.

"Friends don't let friends mount old suitcases to their Enfields!" one member joshed. Another suggested that the hidden bolts holding the suitcase to the rack meant that other motorists would continuously expect the suitcase to fall off.

Maybe so, but I happen to think it's a very cool idea. In fact, in 2009, Community Forum member Uncle Ernie made a similar suggestion:

"For the rack, shop Habitat For Humanity, Goodwill, etc. and look for a small olde suitcase and attach it with fender washers."

"Olde" is the key.

I can't find it now, but years ago I saw a vintage picture of a couple traveling the world on their Triumph. The motorcycle was draped with containers, including twin gas cans lashed to the front sides of the crash bars (crash and burn?). One particular touch was a dainty old suitcase attached to the typical Triumph tank rack of the day. It looked great.

Here are some other notions about motorcycle luggage options.

Would you mount a milk crate on your Royal Enfield?

The Invisible Milk Crate from Aerostich is completely invisible.

Royal Enfield motorcycles might end up sitting on a milk crate while they're being repaired, but at least I've never seen a picture of a milk crate mounted as a luggage container on a Royal Enfield motorcycle.

The ugly black milk crates were a fixture of motorcycling when I was young, especially around any college campus. Text book were heavy enough not to bounce out and milk crates were free.

Milk crates cost nothing because, of course, you had to steal them. They came with the name of the dairy on the side and there are stories on line about guys who knew guys who got tickets for possessing stolen property.

Today, you can legally buy a brand new milk crate from Amazon.com for only $5.50. Doing that, however, would remove the essential ingredient of larceny and thus the fun of having the milk crate on the bike.

No one could can deny that the milk crate was functional — at least in theory. In practice, your foot slammed into the thing every time you wanted to get on or off the motorcycle.

That might not be as much of a problem with the new "Invisible Milk Crate" offered by Aerostitch.  Since it is electronic, it can be adjusted to take up no more room than necessary: from grapefruit size, to even bigger than a standard milk crate, depending on the load you want to carry.

It's far more attractive, too. I mean, given that it's invisible.

It is pricey, however, and one customer review points out that its emissions make you visible to Federation battle cruisers when you're cloaked.

Motorcycle luggage: panniers, boxes and bags

The old Royal Enfield Military model came standard with metal pannier boxes, often referred to as "ammo cans." These answered the question "where are you going to put your stuff?"

For other models (and other motorcycles) a set of saddlebags is the standard answer. But motorcyclists and motorcycle designers are inventive, and many other possible solutions were on show at the Mods vs. Rockers event I attended recently. Here are some of my favorites:

If you need a trunk, why not just attach a trunk? This handsome, square cornered box looks impressive on the back of a scooter. It disdains streamlining and therefore offers the perfect perch for a helmet.

At the other end of the spectrum (of usefulness) is this neat glove compartment integrated into the boxy design of the 1971 Velocette LE. The Velocette itself is a box, as seen below. All corners and angles.

Two streamlined Honda Pacific Coast motorcycles loom in the background, and here again is a solution to how to package everything. The Honda, too, is a box, with everything including luggage compartments neatly sealed up. Yet it is not boxy in the least.

Indeed, a neighboring Pacific Coast sported the "Body by Tupperware" badge below. The owner cheerfully reported that many people believe it's real. It is believable.

Another Honda, styled as a rat bike, went the route of the Royal Enfield Military, but this time with actual Army issue boxes as panniers. According to the labels, these were meant to hold night vision devices. I would guess they're padded inside, or were.

In my opinion, the modern tank bag, with its zippers and Velcro and plastic map windows just plain looks wrong on a classically styled motorcycle.

But I will make an exception for this tank bag, whose owner thought to add a period cheesecake picture. Yes, that is just fine, thank you.