Motorcycles and Laptop carrying | GTAMotorcycle.com

Motorcycles and Laptop carrying

mimico_polak

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So was driving to work yesterday and I have my bike outfitted with 2 GIVI E21 side luggage. Bags fit the laptop fine with the bag in it, a little bit tight but doable and not much more room left. My question is whether this could cause damage to the laptop over time from the vibrations on the bike? I used to ride with laptop in backpack but not very comfortable and wouldn't want to fall on top of it should it happen. Any recommendations? Do you think I should add extra layer of padding (i.e.: clothing / rags / padding) around the bag in the case? Thanks!
 
I commuted for 4 or 5 years with a laptop in a top case without problems, but I only transported it when it was completely shut down so that the hard drive was properly parked. I wouldn't worry too much about it as long as you have some foam on the bottom of the bag or case to absorb bumps. If you have a SSD I wouldn't worry about it at all.
 
Just make sure the laptop is actually shut down and not on hibernate/sleep. (Bumps can easily wake it up and you'll have issues if there are moving parts, or if there is no air circulation to cool it down)
Do whatever you can to limit vibration/bumps as it can easily knock components loose. (Clothes, padding, laptop case?)

One of the most common things I have to deal with when people that travel a lot come to me with "No bootable device found" is that the hard drive has been knocked loose. So having a bit of knowledge of reseating the hard drive would be useful.

IMO, the safest way to transport a laptop is a backpack with a laptop slot. That way your laptop isn't flying up and crashing down on a hard surface. If you or your bike were to go down at speed, the case could crack open and send the laptop flying anyway.
 
I toss mine in a tail bag, have never seen any damage, but my bikes pretty good for vibrations.
 
like everyone already said, make sure it's shutdown and not in sleep mode. It's the little moving bits inside the laptop you have to worry about. Some added padding around it to prevent it moving about is a good idea.

I carried mine for a couple years in a top case without issue (it was in a bag, in the topcase as well). It was a Thinkpad so they're a little more durable.
 
Is it a twin? An inline 4? A Harley? It matters.

If I store something in my tail of my bike, it would come out like if it was sandblasted. Make sure you cover the edges & it doesn't shift around.
 
Amazing - I JUST looked this up last week, because I actually have to transport a laptop to and from work for a few weeks (short term project), and dont wanna have to deal with 401 traffic on 4-wheels... pretty much what everyone has said regarding HDDs...

I just used a bungee net and tied down the laptop bag to the pillion seat :p
 
Cool thanks guys for the quick responses! I'll add some padding around (gym clothes will work great) and make sure it's turned off. Typically I leave the work laptop in hibernate mode...oops! But it's working so far (using now). Cheers.
 
you can carry your computer too, easy even with a scooter :)

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I would worry a little about vibration, but that largely depends on what the laptop is being carried in. If there is any kind of cushioning for the laptop you'll probably be fine - if you're using something that does not have any such provisions, you can just get a laptop sleeve. Also nice to stop it from getting scratched up.
 
I've used mine for data logging/tuning. As has already been stated, a traditional hard drive can be damaged if jolted while spinning, so I installed a solid state drive and have no issues riding around with the laptop running in a backpack.
 
The vibrations won't be great for it, but assuming your bike isn't terrible it should be 'ok' to do. Make sure the laptop is actually 100% off (not sleeping). I'd also recommend wrapping it in a shirt or something, and making sure it is packed tightly so it wont' rattle around in the back/luggage.

Also, if you are going to be doing this a lot, get or make sure your laptop has a SSD (solid state drive) vs a HDD (hard disk drive). Hard drives have moving parts that have a tolerance of less than a width of a human hair, and bad things happen if you mistreat them. A SSD on the other hand is like a USB key, which means it can probably go through hell and back.

I know in my case, I actually resurrected an older laptop from work (needed $100-200 in parts) since it fits in my tail or tank bag, and (now) has an SSD in it.
 
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One question. Thirteen answers, all saying the same thing. Lol

Sent from my Le Pan TC802A using Tapatalk
 
Just make sure the laptop is actually shut down and not on hibernate/sleep. (Bumps can easily wake it up and you'll have issues if there are moving parts, or if there is no air circulation to cool it down)
Do whatever you can to limit vibration/bumps as it can easily knock components loose. (Clothes, padding, laptop case?)

One of the most common things I have to deal with when people that travel a lot come to me with "No bootable device found" is that the hard drive has been knocked loose. So having a bit of knowledge of reseating the hard drive would be useful.

IMO, the safest way to transport a laptop is a backpack with a laptop slot. That way your laptop isn't flying up and crashing down on a hard surface. If you or your bike were to go down at speed, the case could crack open and send the laptop flying anyway.
Wearing a backpack and riding is stupid In my personal opinion. Seems to be mainly a sport bike thing here in nth America. Europe /Australasia tend to have racks that can be easily removed. They do sell one here.. Forgot the name, but it's hard to find.. And like I said the nth American is all about the look.
Been in this discussion so many times over the years.. Just strap the back pack to the rear seat with a bungy.

A backpack could be unbalanced which would affect riding and handling through the turns also add to the "sail effect " with wind forces on the rider..

I've seen riders go down with a back pack.. During a slide, it will cause you to tumble and depending on what's inside.. Break your back and or contents.

Interestingly there is a ton of discussion on the subject on the www.
 
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Wearing a backpack and riding is stupid In my personal opinion. Seems to be mainly a sport bike thing here in nth America. Europe /Australasia tend to have racks that can be easily removed. They do sell one here.. Forgot the name, but it's hard to find.. And like I said the nth American is all about the look.
Been in this discussion so many times over the years.. Just strap the back pack to the rear seat with a bungy.

A backpack could be unbalanced which would affect riding and handling through the turns also add to the "sail effect " with wind forces on the rider..

I've seen riders go down with a back pack.. During a slide, it will cause you to tumble and depending on what's inside.. Break your back and or contents.

Interestingly there is a ton of discussion on the subject on the www.

I used to ride with a backpack (Alpinestars Tech Aero) occasionally, but rarely do anymore. Part of the reason was getting a tankbag to extend my storage beyond just the tailbag, but also after spending an hour on the bike, having the luggage mounted to the bike vs yourself is MUCH more comfortable. Never really had a 'sail' problem because the bag had both chest straps and a waist strap to keep it stable.

I also worried about the 'what if' scenario, so I'd only put flat things or soft things in the backpack. Just a thin laptop 'should' be ok compared to some of the stuff others likely carry, and if you add in a CE level 2 back protector, then in theory the laptop should spread the load over it. If riding squid then all bets are off, as always.
 
Wearing a backpack and riding is stupid In my personal opinion. Seems to be mainly a sport bike thing here in nth America. Europe /Australasia tend to have racks that can be easily removed. They do sell one here.. Forgot the name, but it's hard to find.. And like I said the nth American is all about the look.
Been in this discussion so many times over the years.. Just strap the back pack to the rear seat with a bungy.

A backpack could be unbalanced which would affect riding and handling through the turns also add to the "sail effect " with wind forces on the rider..

I've seen riders go down with a back pack.. During a slide, it will cause you to tumble and depending on what's inside.. Break your back and or contents.

Interestingly there is a ton of discussion on the subject on the www.

I get that riding with a backpack is uncomfortable, but how is it stupid from a commuting standpoint to the point where you're "Off balance"?

Yeah, if you let your backpack hang to your *** like a high-school kid, it could shift around when cornering, but how "off balance" could you realistically be where it effects riding in a straight line in Ontario?

Top boxes would be preferable, but it comes down to $$, and usually a few hundred dollars at that.

I have no idea where you're coming from in regards to the "North American look"... Who actually WANTS to ride with extra luggage...?

As for going down with a backpack... Please refer to the video posted of me going down with my backpack. A laptop would simply be crushed if the rider should land on it. Falling on the street, there are a lot more that you can collide with that can break your bones than whats in your luggage. (Unless you decide to carry sharp or small/hard objects - ie. screwdriver).

If the argument is contents breaking, having a backpack with a bungee net wont save it, carrying it in side cases wont save it, and the only option is a large enough top case.
So far every person I've seen go down with side-cases, had them crack and open up throwing things everywhere while going less than 40km/h...
 
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I've used mine for data logging/tuning. As has already been stated, a traditional hard drive can be damaged if jolted while spinning, so I installed a solid state drive and have no issues riding around with the laptop running in a backpack.

To the point of leaving the laptop running in the backpack:
The Hard Drive isn't the only thing to worry about when running the laptop in a case/backpack.
It's the amount of heat the laptop generates with no airflow that will damage components. If you've ever touched the insides of a computer after it's been running for a 10+ minutes, you'll know how hot it really gets in there..
 

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