Tank toppers: Best motorcycle tankbags as chosen by MCN

Motorcycle tankbags are a great way to carry your essentials while keeping them all within easy reach. The’re perfect for things like maps, phones, keys, passports and wallets and particularly handy if you’re riding your touring bike fully laden in a country with toll roads.

When most bikers think of luggage, motorcycle panniers most commonly spring to mind – whether that’s the rigidly-mounted hard type or the temporary soft ‘throwover’ type.

Many build on that with a top box, too. There’s also strap-on roll-bags and many solo riders enjoy the convenience of using a a rucksack.

But all of that overlooks another popular motorcycle luggage type that’s brilliant for keeping valuables and day-to-day essentials close at hand, can be easily removed from your bike for security and peace of mind and yet also doubles as a very useful, in the line of sight map holder or place to keep an eye on wallet, credit card or phone – the tankbag.

What is a motorcycle tankbag?

For the uninitiated, a tankbag (or tank bag) is exactly what its name implies – a usually soft, specially-designed luggage bag that is securely fixed on top of a bike’s fuel tank.

Related: Best motorbike waist bags

Due to its position they’re great for valuables and belongings you may need easy access to during a ride – wallet, phone, water bottle etc – plus most usually have a transparent plastic lid or top compartment for maps, directions or a phone running a sat-nav app, which can then be easily viewed as you ride.

Naturally their capacity is limited by their position, making them unsuitable to be used alone for a touring holiday, but they can be surprisingly cavernous and make a great addition to other luggage solutions.

Related: How to stop a tankbag damaging your bike

It’s also true that, by being placed usually on top of a bike’s filler cap, one inevitable inconvenience intrinsic to their design is having to remove them when you fill up. However, most designs feature quick-release clasps or mechanisms to ensure this is as unobtrusive as possible.

The best motorcycle tankbags:

What types of tankbag are there?

Some fix via an arrangement of adjustable straps, which go under a bike’s tank and around the headstock. This is the most secure type, although it’s important to ensure the straps are positioned and tensioned correctly.

But an even more convenient type is the magnetic tankbag which uses a series of magnets mounted in fold-out flaps on the tankbag, enabling the bag to simply be positioned on your bike’s steel tank, whereupon the magnets hold it in place.

However, you must check this type of bag is suitable for your bike. Many tank shapes aren’t suitable, some have plastic tanks, which aren’t magnetic and others have plastic panels which prevent secure attachment.

There’s also a third type of tankbag fixing that has become popular in recent years – those using a special permanent ring mounting attached to the filler cap. These ‘ring’ types enable the best of both worlds: the easy, instant release of magnetic types, but also the secure peace of mind of straps. We’ll deal with these elsewhere.

Here, however, are our pick of the best magnetic and strap type tanks bags.

About the author: After qualifying as a mechanical engineer, Jim Blackstock began working on magazines in the early 1990s. He remains passionate about product testing to ensure readers know what products offer good value and why. He relishes torrential rain to see if riding kit keeps water out and an hour or two to tinker on a project bike in his workshop.

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