Giant Loop Possibles Pouch Review

The Giant Loop Possibles Pouch

The Giant Loop Possibles Pouch is a small heavy-duty bag that can carry a variety of gear.

It uses a “MOLLE-like” system of straps on the outside that can be used to attach the bag to various points on a motorcycle or scooter.

MOLLE is an acronym for “Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment”, a standardized system used by military forces to attach gear to rucksacks for carrying.

While the Giant Loop Possibles Bag doesn’t use the standard military-spec MOLLE system, the 16 MOLLE-like straps do provide a variety of attachment options.

The bag — sorry, pouch — is made from very heavy polyester that is coated with vinyl on both sides. While the fabric is water-resistant, the seams are not, nor is the YKK zipper.

Two nylon webbed attachment straps are provided with the Possibles Pouch; the pouch is apparently designed to fit around the “loop” of one of the Giant Loop signature bags.

If you don’t own a Giant Loop bag system, the simple friction straps can be used to mount the Possibles Pouch elsewhere on the motorcycle, although that may sound easier than it really is.

However, the Possibles Pouch actually works pretty well on the BMW scooter but, there’s a catch…

Background

A possibles pouch or possibles bag was a small leather or cloth bag carried by “mountain men” in the old frontier days.

It carried gear that required quick access; stuff like black powder, a measurer for the powder, lead balls and patch, flint and steel for making fire, a hunting knife and other small gear that a wilderness wanderer might need in a hurry.

So the “possibles pouch” name is nothing new, as a simple web search will demonstrate.

For two-wheeled use, the basic idea is still valid — a small, easily accessible bag that holds a few items that might be needed in a hurry, like gloves, a flashlight, cell phone, chain lube, sunglasses, spare ear plugs, a bandanna or balaclava and more.

Or it can serve as a first aid kit, documents holder or even a tool bag. The possibilities are unlimited, of course…

The Giant Loop Possibles Pouch was (apparently) designed primarily to fit around one of the “loops” of the Giant Loop signature bag with its upside-down “U” shape; at least, that’s the way they show it on the Giant Loop website.

Since we don’t have one of the Giant Loop loopy-type bags available, we weren’t able to try this.

Like the motorcycle handlebar bag reviewed as part of this “Handy Bags” series, the Giant Loop Possibles Pouch seems more suited to a scooter than a motorcycle.

In fact, the Possibles Pouch may even be a better storage solution than the BMW tunnel bag (review) on the BMW C-Series scooters.

We found it more difficult to mount the Possibles Pouch on the motorcycle, using four different bike types. It’s sort of a paradox, but the small size of the bag almost works against it.

You think it should be mounted somewhere handy so it could be used like a purse or wallet, but there just aren’t many good locations on the tank or handlebars to mount it.

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Water Resistance

The Possibles Pouch has roughly the same carrying capacity as the Kathy’s Journey Designs handlebar bag (review) described in Part 1 of this “Handy Bags” series. The shape of each bag is quite different, however.

The Possibles Pouch is rectangular in shape, measuring about 9″ by 6″ wide by about 2″ thick. It’s made from a very heavy-duty coated polyester material.

The fabric itself is waterproof but it’s a bit deceiving because the bag construction isn’t.

In an admittedly extreme test, we filled the bag about 1/3 of the way with water and the bag quickly leaks through the seams and through the zipper.

The YKK zipper isn’t a waterproof type, but without sealed seams inside the bag itself, this probably doesn’t matter.

So the coated fabric perhaps promises a bit more than it can deliver in terms of water resistance, but in the real world, I’d guess that the contents of the bag would remain reasonably dry in all but extreme conditions…if the bag is placed flat.

If it’s mounted upright with the zipper side pointing up, the flaps covering the zipper will help prevent some water entry, but not all.

We’re surprised that Giant Loop didn’t use a water-resistant type zipper on the bag — or maybe something like the Gore Lockout closure system (report), although that would probably dramatically increase the already lofty price of the Possibles Pouch.

And it would be nice — considering the price of this bag — to have sealed seams.

Since any precipitation we’ve been getting over the last couple of months is in the form of snow or ice rather than rain, we can’t know for sure how the bag will perform during a rain storm.

But in the end, the “Bucket Test” is notorious for revealing any and all weaknesses…

Adventures in Attachment

The most noticeable feature of the Possibles Pouch is the 16 MOLLE-like straps sewn to the outside.

The idea is that you can thread the included webbed straps through any or all of the MOLLE-like straps on the outside of the bag and attach it to various hard points on the bike.

The bag includes two 28″ (71 cm) straps which are very simple, with a plastic friction-type buckle at one end only.

To attach the bag, the straps are looped through a point on the bike, then the bare end of each strap has to be threaded through the buckle and tightened.

We found that it can be difficult to get the bag cinched tight enough with the included straps.

However, the MOLLE-like connector system can also be used with one of the modern types of bungee cords like the “Fat Bungee” described in the webBikeWorld Motorcycle Tips from Readers.

A loop of material has been sewn on either side of the bag for theoretical over-the-shoulder carry.

We think this would be a natural carrying position for this type of small bag; it could be carried over the shoulder while riding and the bag would be readily available. Unfortunately, no shoulder strap is provided.

It would be nice if Giant Loop would supply an adjustable shoulder strap with safety hooks on either end that could be used to shoulder carry the bag by the side loops. The straps that come with the bag aren’t long enough to do this, nor are they designed for the job.

As an option for attaching the bag to a motorcycle or other luggage, something like a ROK Strap or the Andy Strapz “Flat Strapz” or “Smart Strapz” might also work to hold the bag.

We can imagine a set of small, thin straps with a tiny ratchet, similar to ratcheting trailer tie-down straps, for use with motorcycle luggage. Anyone know if there’s a product like that?

It’s something of an irony that the Possible Pouch actually works better on a scooter than a motorcycle. We discovered that it attaches very nicely attached to the tunnel of the BMW scooter.

We first tried attaching it to the scooter’s luggage rack and it can be done, but it’s difficult to get the straps tightened securely, which leaves the Possibles Pouch with a slightly loose fit and a lot of extra strap length to deal with.

Since we’ve been on the lookout for a better tunnel bag system than the poorly designed BMW OE tunnel bag, we had an idea that the Possibles Pouch might just be the ticket.

The BMW tunnel bag (review) attachment brackets were still mounted on the BMW C 650 GT scooter and they appeared to be just the right width to fit the straps of the Possibles Pouch.

We looped the strap through and then again through one of the MOLLE-like loops on the bag, pulled tight and…presto — it works!

The only trick to this, of course, is finding a set of the BMW attachment brackets without having to buy the entire BMW tunnel bag.

That’s actually a pretty significant obstacle to surmount, but maybe somebody somewhere makes a set of the brackets? Or, some handy scooter owner with a machine shop (or very nicely equipped garage) could fettle something together.

When used as a tunnel bag, the Possibles Pouch works, although it is a bit difficult to use the zipper, which is located on one side when the bag is laid flat.

But zipper access is a bit of a problem on this bag anyway when it’s mounted flat anywhere else also.

Conclusion

The Giant Loop Possibles Pouch is an interesting design but we haven’t really found the “perfect” use for it on a motorcycle.

It’s also rather expensive for what it is and we’re disappointed that it’s not waterproof.

We think an adjustable shoulder strap or perhaps some type of belt loop might be a good option for the bag, which would allow off-bike carry.

If you’re looking for a small bag to carry a few “possibles” on your BMW scooter — and if you have the BMW tunnel bag mounting brackets available — the Possibles Pouch is a possible option and this may actually be the best use for this intriguing small bag.

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Owner Comments and Feedback

From “G.S.” (June 2017): “Just read your review of this product and wanted to alert you that they are indicated as 100% waterproof on multiple websites.

In your review, you indicate that they are not waterproof which led to some confusion on my part!”

Editor’s Reply: When this review was published in 2014 the item wasn’t waterproof as we noted in our “Bucket Test” comments. Perhaps they revised the design since then.

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