I quizzed the dealer about panniers yesterday at length here in the U.S. He showed me some photos of how the panniers attached. They attach to brackets/frames that are somehow attached to the underside of the rear seat. There is no connection whatsoever to the sides of the bike. The bags (sorry, have to use the American word) are expandable, have zippers, and are not lockable as far as I can tell. Dealer claims they can fit helmets. In any case the brackets do not appear to easily detach from the underside of the seat. My guess is that you can unbolt them, but you can't detach them without tools. This is a negative to me as I imagine I will rarely have the bags on and I have no desire to have naked brackets messing up the look of the bike. I am actively searching for a non-Ducati solution to the storage issue, since I'd like to do some light touring with this beautiful machine. If you buy the bike before April 30th you receive 20% off the bags and the touring windscreen. In the U.S. that brings the price "down" to $1300. Ducati kills me with the prices of their bags.