I use my bike mainly to commute back and forth to work. I would probably take them off for other riding activities. Honestly, I haven't had a chance to use them yet. I've only had them on for a couple of days
I bought the same Shad cases you are looking at. They are big but I like the storage space. I just got mine installed a couple days ago. I have two brothers exhaust installed and the mounting for the side cases are able to be used with aftermarket exhaust.