About a year ago I ordered a new soft baggage system for my bike. NMBL and I had been to the 2016 Vancouver Motorcycle Show in January where we came across a booth with some very interesting looking gear. Turns out it was a little company from Washington State called Mosko. They were showing their soft baggage systems for adventure touring and one item in particular caught my eye. It was an integrated yet modular pannier system they called Reckless. It was basically a holster setup with dry bags on each side and one on the top. This particular Reckless had been in a low-side accident and was still serviceable. Scraped up but usable. I was looking for a good luggage setup and knew right away that I wanted to give it a go.
At the time Mosko was readying their next version of the Reckless, the Reckless 80 v2.0 baggage system, which included improvements based on real world use. It meant a bit of a wait from my order date to my delivery date. Finally the shipping email came in and within a couple of days we were on our way to Point Roberts to pick up the Reckless 80. New gear! Woohoo!
First Impressions
We rode our motorcycles down to our post office box in Point Roberts where I opened the box from Mosko right away. Sent in a simple cardboard box, the Reckless 80 base comes in three pieces and some basic hardware to put it together. There are also three waterproof PVC dry bags, an extra nylon dry bag, and a heat shield. There’s a simple instruction sheet to show you how to put it together. The two holsters, legs as I call them, attach to the base of the Reckless with the hardware and Loctite provided. The big benefit of the Reckless is that it doesn’t need metal racks to mount it on your bike. Once it was put together it just had to be strapped to my bike.
The instructions that came with my Reckless didn’t include mounting instructions. However it didn’t take long to figure out. There are three webbing straps on the top piece to attach to the pillion bars on the bike. The legs each have a webbing strap that attaches to the pillion foot peg mounts. The first time mounting it took me about 20 minutes. Overall we spent 40 minutes to get everything properly set up, checking mounting points and the hardware attachments to make sure nothing would move. On the FZ6 the heat shield was not required so that was tucked into the to Stinger 22L dry bag which fits on the pillion position. Overall the setup was good. Once I was confident with the way it was mounted I felt like I could load it up with gear and have no worries about securing it to the bike.
Use in the Wild
The Mosko Reckless 80 v2.0 is very easy to mount and remove from my bike. I’ve got the attachment time down to a couple of minutes, same with removal. I use two of the three top mounting points as my FZ6 only has side bars on the pillion. Both bottom leg straps are easily attached to the foot peg mounts on either side. The leg straps are very long so I run them back up through the bottom of the leg and tie them down on the outside to one of the external straps.
The two leg dry bags are our kitchen, food, and fire making storage. They fit our stoves (we carry two), pots, water filter, hatchet, and various other related items. For me it keeps the more weighty items lower on my bike. Each of those bags has a webbing loop on the bottom to help you pull it right to the holster bottom, and each holster has a small hole built into the bottom for this purpose. The Stinger 22, in the pillion spot, holds my clothing which itself is all stored in nylon dry bags.
The beaver tails, used to strap the Stinger in place, have packs integrated into them for carrying various items. We keep a first aid kit in there for quick access. I also keep a spare pair of shoes in a bright yellow nylon dry bag strapped between the two beaver tails. It’s an easy place to keep dirty shoes and creates a hi-viz add-on. The back of each leg has a roll-top pouch for storing items. Mine have a 1L bottle of white gas for stoves, chain lube, a tool kit, and a roll of duct tape. Because if the women don’t find you handsome they had better find you handy.
Mosko’s Reckless side bag roll tops attach to the holster via a fastex buckled center webbing strap plus two fastex buckled straps on the sides that attach to the roll-top buckles. This creates very secure attachment points to the holster system that is quick and easy to use. I just check my straps at random stops, gas, food, whatever, to make sure everything is as it should be. It takes seconds to ensure continued good attachment.
We’ve recently picked up a few molle packs for on our Mosko gear as well (we have a couple of Mosko Scout bags too) helping us expand the capacity of the Reckless by a few litres. Every bit helps!
Pros & Cons
The Mosko Reckless 80L v2.0 is a lightweight, quick to mount, versatile pannier setup that gives a touring rider the flexibility to add more storage as needed. Its easy to use straps solidly secure everything to the bike. The ability to strap other items into the top position plus add molle compatible bags to the beaver tails and legs expands the 80L capacity of the system.
Another pro of the Reckless is that it’s rackless. There is no need to install a metal rack system that then has to stay on your bike even when the pannier is not in use. Once it’s off your bike there’s no evidence you’ve ever had a pannier system attached.
On the down side the straps do need to be checked regularly for security and wear. This is no different from any other pannier system as a rider has to check the security of attachment points. However the webbing straps can be more susceptible to wear and loosening during use. Webbing just will not hold up to wear-and-tear like a metal rack and lock system. I expect to be replacing my webbing after another season of riding based on current wear patterns.
The Last Word
I am very fond of my Mosko Reckless 80. It has been my baggage system for two seasons now and has made every trip in that time. It’s durable, malleable, and gives me options to expand that a hard bag system just can’t. According to Mosko’s website we can also add their Tracker 10 & 20L bags to the top of the Reckless. Being able to easily expand capacity through modularity is a very big feature for the way NMBL and I travel. On a weekend trip we’ll take fewer items than we will on a multi-week trip. Expanding or contracting that system based on need is a treat.
My one critique aside I recommend motorcycle touring riders take a look at the Reckless for their needs.
DES out
Motorcycle Hammock-Camping 
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