I typically carry all my cloths, shaving kit, etc (everything I’ll carry into the motel room) in a Drybag. You can’t quickly access stuff in a Drybag but those items won’t be needed until the day’s over anyway. That leaves the hard bags for rain gear, pull over, water, tools, tinted shield, etc., items I want to be able to easily access.

Here is a Drybag laying crossways on the rear of the seat and luggage rack. It keeps the weight low but to be honest I didn’t like this setup with top load bags because one Drybag strap had to be loosened in order to lift up one side of the Drybag to open a side bag. With side opening bags this works fine. Later I turned the Drybag lengthways across the rear seat and rack which allowed access to the bags. That is the way I now pack when riding solo and staying in motels. I don’t have a picture though.




Camping obviously requires carrying more stuff. I’m trying to come up with a better method but for now I can strap on multiple bags better with the bags sideways like this. Unfortunately I loose the easy access to my hard bags but strapping an end opening Drybag on top helps.




I see a lot of riders packing stuff high and back but that’s one thing I avoid at all cost.

 

I had done it that way on first road trip and took a ratchet strap to hold the big heavy bag on. It's laying flat on the seat. Then took bungies to secure other misc. items to it (tent, sleeping bag, camelbak..). Most recent trip, I had a sissy bar this time. Attached bag to that and it was much better. You can position your bag as a backrest which adds some comfort to the longer days.

 

Understood. A couple of us just presented an alternative which required no setup work -- packing it crossways, leaving the luggage rack available for more stuff.