A popular adventure motorcycling bag on Amazon is the Wild Heart saddle bag. We recently paid up to use this on our own bike.
Our thoughts are based on now owning this for 4 months and having used it on several occasions. Like you, we did read the reviews of Wild Heart ADV bags online first before deciding to make a purchase.
Let’s begin.
Wild Heart Motorcycle Bag Review
This bag is quite affordable compared to the $500 bags we commonly see in the adventure motorcycling space. Then again, does it live up to expectations?
We’re going to cover multiple facets of this bag. This includes:
- The build quality
- How waterproof it is
- The strength of the straps
- Suggested improvements
Keep in mind that this is an unbiased Wild Heart review. We’re not associated with this company.
Build Quality
The build quality is very strong and they use high-quality tarpaulin material. The seems are quite well done and the stitching is excellent. While the Wild Heart bags are made in China, they do live up to expectations and you can’t get a locally manufactured bag for the same price.
It’s not quite “up there” with the likes of Klim and other products, but it doesn’t pretend to be. Wild Heart has made the affordable alternative for those who don’t have silver-lined pockets in the adventure motorcycling world.
It’s evident that this bag will last several years and not be simply thrown in the garbage after 2 weeks, unlike many Amazon products these days.
Waterproofness
We tested this bag in the rain and it held up well. As the other reviews highlight on Amazon, no water entered inside this bag.
The zipper is waterproof as they use a plastic seam. We wouldn’t go throwing this in the swimming pool, though it does the job just fine to protect against rain and thunderstorms when riding.
While no rain got on the inside, most ADV riders are likely to use interior waterproof bags as well. This is something we would recommend especially for a sleeping bag. When those get wet, well your night won’t be so comfortable.
The Straps
The biggest pitfall for most bags is the straps and it’s also the biggest fear of adventure riders. Losing your luggage on the highway is both frustrating and embarassing, but also quite dangerous for other road users. You could be riding for miles before you even realize that it’s missing.
Unfortunately, the straps aren’t as thick as we would expect in the adventure motorcycling world. They just don’t have a high GSM and while they are wide, we would also love to see them thicker too. Even the buckles themselves could be made stronger, especially as the average rider would load up with 40+ pounds of gear for a weekend or extended trip.
Suggested Improvements
As we’ve noted, the straps could be stronger…but what else? Well, have segregated areas within the bags would be very helpful as well as 1 or 2 exterior products.
We would also love to see better colors since what they have available (bright yellow) doesn’t really go with most bikes, though it is a good visual reminder for other road users on the highways. It’s just terrible for stealth camping.
Then again – for the price you pay, this is a reasonably good bag and such improvements could increase the price significantly.
Going forward
Would we recommend the Wild Heart bags? Sure! For the budget-conscious individual. On the other hand, you can get brand-name bags like Klim on Craigslist and Gumtree which have been used but are in great condition for less than these prices, so a great alternative to consider.
Catch you out there!