Wolf-Trap Vs. Eclipse Cargo Bra
WOLF-TRAP VS. ECLIPSE CARGO BRA
A PAIR OF SAFETY NETS TO KEEP YOUR CARGO STOWED ON BOARD
MOTORYCYCLING, LIKE MANY ENdeavors, has its own tests, its own rites of passage. And one of them has to do with learning—usually the hard way—how to carry a load. Unfortunately, the lesson’s not a one-shot deal, for it gives you the opportunity to relearn it every time your cargo tumbles down the road.
A Wolf Products Wolf-Trap or an Eclipse Cargo Bra, though, can make that initiation purely optional. Both the Trap and Bra are designed to
stretch over and conform to cargo of various shapes, and lash it securely to the back of a saddle or to a rack.
Yet while they both share the same purpose, they differ considerably in construction. Eclipse’s Cargo Bra, for instance, uses a strand of 0.25-inch bungee cord, spliced together with three metal crimps covered with electrical tape, to form the perimeter of an area roughly a foot square. The bra itself is a piece of black perforated nylon, sewn over the bungee front
and rear; and on each of the bungee’s two sides is a pair of plastic-covered, rubber-tipped hooks separated by a plastic grab handle. The Wolf-Trap covers approximately the same area, and it also uses a single length of bungee cord, although of slightly smaller (0.20-inch) gauge. But the Trap’s bungee is cleverly knotted into a net, fitted with six hooks.
The Wolf-Trap and Cargo Bra part company again when it comes to doing duty as your personal stevedore.
Of the two, the Trap has the best qualifications for the job because of the sheer variety of items it can shoulder without faltering.
In fact, as long as the cargo isn’t so small that it can squirt through the pet, or so big that it crowds the rider off the saddle, the Trap probably can ^handle it. And the Trap pulls off that trick because it stretches in its entirety over a load, surrounding it in a f\veb of bungee and pinning it to a saddle with a tenacity that Hulk Hogan would envy. You almost need the Hulkster to batten the Trap down, too. The bungee’s high tensile strength makes the Trap a bear to I stretch over big loads, and it can be biutal on easily crushed items. Still, it’s the Trap’s “stretchiness” that makes it so versatile, and that keeps fcargo securely attached.
Eclipse’s Cargo Bra, on the other hand, isn’t any easier to deploy, but it’s not as hard on fragile objects. Moreover, the Bra matches the T¿ap’s monkey grip on medium-toHarge cargo. When it comes to toting small items on some bikes, though, the Bra seems positively butterfingered. Because if the hooks aren’t anchored far enough apart (front to rear) to stretch the Bra’s sides tightly against the saddle, small items flop ^Found or slip past the bra like water.
One size doesn’t fit all, then, but the Cargo Bra still comes out second%est to the Wolf-Trap in terms of versatility. The Trap’s capabilities are reflected in its higher price, too: $ 19.95 (in red, blue, black or yellow, frèm Wolf Products, 3243 Arlington ’’Ave., Suite 203B, Riverside, CA 92506; [714] 840-8960), versus $12.98 (black only, from Eclipse Inc., P.O. Box 3701, Ann Arbor, MI 48106; [800] 521-3092) for the Bra. On the right bike, though, either the Wolf-Trap or the Cargo Bra can give >ÿour cargo safe passage, better than a pair of bungee cords would, and more cheaply than soft luggage. Besides, no one should work without a net while learning one of motorcycling’s more difficult balancing acts. 0
