Michnus and Elsebie Olivier have travelled the world
on two Suzuki DR 650’s through some of the most
spectacular and rugged terrain you can think of. They
have packed and unpacked their bikes thousands
of times. One night, on a beach in Mexico, they met
up with another couple from the Netherlands, Peter
and Leonie, who were also traveling the world. As
the conversation turned to the lack of functionality
and especially the cost of luggage systems, the seed
was planted to develop their own brand of luggage.
They contacted Piet Human, another South African
who lives in the USA, and together they started on the
development of Turkana gear.
They started off with the essential three items. Two
saddlebags and a duffel bag. Being South African, they
also named the products as some form of wordplay on
African animals. The Duffel bag is either a 40 L or 25 L
unit called the Duffalo.
The two saddlebags are called
HippoHips. A lot of thought went into the design and
the main feature across the entire range of bags is that
they all incorporate the Modular Lightweight Loadcarrying Equipment (MOLLE) system. This basically
consists of rows of heavy duty straps called PALS,
short for Pouch Attachment Ladder System. Any MOLLE
product can be attached to the HippoHips or the Duffalo
bag. Turkana already has two pouches available. One
is called the Oxpacker, which can hold a tool tube or
water bottle.
The other is called the BushBaby, which is
a square pouch that can hold essentials that you want
easy access to.
Other products include the PelliPouch, which Elsebie
calls a fannypack for your bike.
It attaches to the
handlebars, and can hold your wallet and other items
you need to access without getting off your bike. The
products are obviously made to be extremely hard
wearing and to take some abuse. The philosophy at
Turkana is KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. They will also
help you out, should you have a mishap with their
unique “Oh bugger!” warranty.
The most exciting development, however, must be their
newly developed rack-less system called MadMules.
It
is fully adjustable, and can fi t on almost any bike. On
the Suzuki Weekend away, I fi tted a MadMules set to
the Suzuki GSX-S 1000 GT and it worked a charm.
The system consists of a base that can easily be
adjusted for width and angle of attachment. To that you
can attach a variety of bags, either 5, 10, 15 or 20 litres
each.
Each bag has its own waterproof inner bag and
also has the MOLLE system on the outside. The whole
system is incredibly versatile and modular. I prefer this
system, as you don’t need any scaffolding on your bike
and it is transferable between bikes.
Even with all the products already available, the crew at
Turkana is hard at work on a modular tank bag system,
and further refi ning the existing product line. All the
products are manufactured locally, and when you see
on the label “Please don’t handle with care”, you know
you are dealing with people who understand their
products!
www.turkanagear.com