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Life Without a Car: Legend Gear Makes It Possible

“Mom, can I borrow the car for six weeks?”

Yamaha SCR950 as a construction truck, thanks to Legend Gear.

Hmm. It’s summer, and I’m smack in the middle of a home renovation project. And that means trips to Home Depot, the paint store, the tile store, then to Lowe’s for the stuff that I forgot at Home Depot.

Still, it’s: “Of course you can borrow the car, honey.” And it’s all okay because our good friends at Yamaha have loaned us an SCR950 that I’m just itching to ride as my daily steed.

The Legend Gear LR2 tail bag carries a whopping 48 liters.

Plus, it means I get to try out new luggage. Specifically, that’s the SW-MOTECH Legend Gear LR2 Tail Bag, which offers 48 liters of usable space – heavy emphasis on “usable.” The 9-inch-tall center compartment sits on the passenger pad; the bag straps on easily to bridge the seat, dropping down either side to form twin 7 x 12 x 9-inch saddle bags. It’s all contiguous open space so it handles bulky items like a champ.

Which I quickly discovered on a home improvement shopping spree. I kept adding items to my cart at Lowe’s, thinking I could get everything I needed for painting and tiling in one trip (and finish my project today so I could go riding tomorrow!). Then wheeling the cart to the lot, I mentally prepared to bungee the toddler-size bag of grout to my lap and wear the telescoping paint roller handle like a samurai sword.

Home improvement without a car? No problem.

To my surprise, however, everything fit onboard: I tucked a gallon of paint into the left side bag, then balanced the load on the right with another quart of paint, a quart of urethane, a can of Rust-Oleum, and a bottle of Brasso. My 25-pound grout babysat in the center, spanning the top seat compartment, and I snugged my adorable new, sunshine-yellow miter box up against it. Brushes and drop cloths filled the remaining space. The telescoping paint-roller handle? Not telescoping enough, so I strapped it on top. Never leave home without bungees.

I ended up keeping the tail bag in place for most of the summer. What do I care if its size made me and the Yamaha look more like a hoarder than a minimalist millennial? Actually, SW-MOTECH has done a great job with this bag, spiffing out the deep black, wax-coated canvas skin with ribbon elastic and sturdy buckles; it fits right in with the SCR style. I could stuff in all my gear – helmet, boots and jacket – change into spiffy work pumps and cruise into a meeting, undetected as the two-wheeling rule-breaker who’s constantly taking the scenic route back to the office. And if you think it’s too big, there are other options, including the LS1 9.8-liter saddlebag, the LS2 13.5-liter saddlebag, or the LR1 Tailbag/Backpack.

The conclusion: it worked, even during a season of ambitious home improvement. Love the SCR950, for sure, but I couldn’t have done it without the bag.

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