As we all know, travelling these days can be stressful when taking into account delays, cancellations and the dreaded lost luggage that happens all too often.

Recently that lost luggage happened, never to be seen again, to Emily Roberts, as she mentioned in her column (“Baggage, Bye-Bye,” Jan/Feb 2025). I hope someone is enjoying a lovely brand new Ogio suitcase and her full riding gear, wherever it ended up.

So, I will call this Take II for a review of the Ogio ONU-26 luggage.

Ogio has been our go-to bag brand for motorcycle travel since we started Motorcycle Mojo almost 25 years ago. Typically, I’ve used, abused and eventually retired and donated my Ogio gear bag and replaced it with another Ogio. You simply can’t go wrong with the brand.

Ogio began in 1987 as a locker bag which was designed to, yes, you guessed it, fit into a locker to keep things organized. Golf was the second category that Ogio expanded to include. Then the founder, Michael J. Pratt, realized there wasn’t a suitable off-road gear bag, so he developed the Rig 9800, a bag that is tough as nails — but a bit on the heavy side. 

Today, Ogio is now owned by Callaway and continues to manufacturer bags for almost any sport.

With so many travel delays and the occasional lost luggage we learned to travel with our helmets in a separate bag that can be carried on the plane with us, and our suitcase carries the bulky riding gear, boots and any travel clothes required for our adventure. If your suitcase does not arrive at your location (ever), you at least have your helmet, which is expensive and chosen by you to fit and protect your most important body part. It’s not easy to borrow the proper size helmet, but you can usually locate a jacket, pants, gloves and hopefully boots that somewhat fit if needed in a pinch when you arrive without a suitcase.

Made of durable Cordura, the ONU-26 is designed mainly in a black and grey colour called Dark Static. It’s a reasonably sized 70-litre bag with an expanded dimension of 66 cm high x 38 cm wide x 30 cm deep that weighs only 5.3 kg. 

The bag itself is typical of most luggage. When opened up, it features one side that fits my riding gear; pants, jacket, gloves, boots, shoes and a few extras such as quick-dry riding clothes, and is then secured nicely with a compression strap.

The other side of the suitcase contains two zippered pockets that fit all the clothing and travel essentials I need for a 2–3-week trip leaving a bit of extra space if you pack correctly to bring home a few things that you’ve purchased along the way. 

When packing I look for good quality, wicking, quick dry items that can be rinsed and usually dry by morning, depending on where you are travelling. I also tend to throw in a warm sweater or two (my first choice is now a Pearly’s Hugger as it looks nice but is also practical as you really don’t need to wash it) and a light rain jacket for checking out places of interest on non-riding days. As you can see, I did not have to use the expansion gusset and my bag, once packed, weighed 16 kg. 

The bag itself has a 5 cm zippered expansion gusset, which will allow you to squeeze in a few more last-minute must-haves or to bring a few extra items home. There are also five handles — one on top, two on the front, one on the side, and one on the bottom — which are a must when lifting the bag into your vehicle or grabbing it off the luggage conveyer upon arrival.

On the outside of the bag is a small zippered top pocket, which is useful to hold some small items that you may need quickly such as a raincoat, a hat, or perhaps a corkscrew after that long strenuous flight, and the larger pocket on the front is great for any essentials that you throw in last minute — typically an extra pair of socks, a book or smaller items that you may need quickly once you get to your accommodations.

The rugged wheels and extendable handle are an integral part of what makes this a great suitcase for travel. 

The Ogio ONU-26 bag comes with a limited lifetime warranty against manufacturers defects and is available at Motovan.com and retails for $438.95.