I upgraded my kit and tested all the stuff over the months and feel confidant about writing about them now. I blame a lot of this discovery on Adventrue Rider Radio as they first brought much of this to my attention.
Lets talk about straps for a second and how they secure the load and how having that load properly secured if piece of mind. I started out like many other people with bungie cords and normal straps all too soon I found out just how awful and undependable they could be. I then upgraded to elastic cargo nets which were a little better. Then I discovered Rok Straps and thought they served me well for many years. I tried Giant Loop Pronghorn straps for a while but found them cumbersome and never really trusted them and went back to ROK Straps.
I have found something better something much better and eaiser to use – Green Chili Adveture gear “Mondo Straps“. Let me start by saying it was good to meet the Green Chile people at Overland Expo and they set me straight on what straps I needed and provided guidance on how to fasten my load without creating pivot points. The first thing I appreciated about the Mono Straps is they are available in multiple colors so I was able to get blue ones. [when all your friends tend to use the same gear as you – color is important to color coordinate and not everyone just have black in everything]
What make these the best straps and the only straps I now use? First off the couplers are not plastic, and there is no loop back tension system. Direct Metal fastening system – very simple – very fast – very secure. The elastic bit is also better because its not directly exposed to sunlight or wear – it is within a nylon housing that helps reinforce the load by providing redundancy as well as protection to the elastic.
Dont just take my word on it – take a look around. When I was at Overland Expo I looked at a lot of other bikes and some of them are very well known bikes. I noticed that many of the high mileage bikes had Green Chili straps on their bikes. Without dropping names I will let you know that there is a couple out there that have done at least 80 countries with 500,000 miles and when I looked at their bikes they used these straps.
I have been riding with these new Mondo Straps since May and I have found them to work outstandingly well. It takes me less time to setup and breakdown my gear. My gear has stayed in place. I have tossed all my old straps and am now trusting all my GS Shenanigans’ to Mondo Straps.
TheMotoLizard
