I have been enjoying Ian Schmeisser 's latest articles . I do off pavement multi-day trips with friends that ride a KLR , 650 GS, and an 800 GS . I have 10.5 " Happy Trails panniers that I never fill up . In any case they go ahead and I lumber along behind them with the 1150 . I am not going to forsake the hard panniers but I don't need them all the time . I bought a set of Wolfman Expedition Dry saddlebags . Most everything looks good ,but I need a heat shield and an exaust deflector to make the soft bags work