[glas482]

So I've been putting the miles on my new to me TW and thought it would be nice to be able to carry a lunch or have a place to strap my jacket if I wanted. I have seen all the great racks in the pics here but they are a bit pricy for me. (Read that as I'm cheap) I was looking at many of the pics submitted here an on another TW fourm and saw some for a rack made out of flat steel stock. I'm sorry I couldn't find them again to give the guy credit for the idea but I based my rack on his and took it a bit farther.



I had some 3/4 flat stock in the garage and basic welding skills so Here's what I came up with.



I started by bending a rear support to mount in the turn signal holes and up and around the fender.

Then I made the front supports that bolt under the seat.

Added the sides and mocked it all up.

Protected the bike for welding and clamped.

After much grinding of my welds and some paint the finished product.

It took me about 3 hours to do minus the paint. Used material on hand so the cost was nothing. In hindsight I wish I had made it bigger but I used what I had and can always extend it in the future. For flat stock it's very sturdy and I like that I can still still fold a jacket or whatever under the rack on the rubber pad. Anyway for now it suits my purpose great.

 

[Rainman]

Nice job on your rack. Looks great.

 

[busyweb]

Just want to say, "Cool !!!"

Nice rear rack !!!

 

[Gerry]

Those 90 degree bends look to be very clean and right on the 'money'. Generally I use a vise and mallet to help me out but have trouble getting a number of bends one right after the other in a row. How did you do yours? Gerry

 

[davidsonsgccc]

yea that looks really good. you have nice metal working skills.



shawn

 

[FnMag]

And you're going to sell them for how much to those of us that can't weld ??

 

[glas482]

Gerry,



I use a post vise and heavy mallet to make the bends. You have to be sure to flatten the metal against the top jaw of the vise to get a good angle. The post vise (black smithing vise) I have is smaller with narrower jaws from the top to the bottom if that makes sense. That seemed to help making multiple angles in a short span of the flat stock. I don't think I would have been able to do it on my machinists vise. Also the jaws don't mar the work like the more aggressive ones on the big vise. It's also handy to have an anvil or other heavy duty object around for touch ups. I was thinking even if someone doesn't have a welder available you could always drill and bolt the the pieces together.



Matthew

 

[FnMag]

Gerry,



I use a post vise and heavy mallet to make the bends. You have to be sure to flatten the metal against the top jaw of the vise to get a good angle. The post vise (black smithing vise) I have is smaller with narrower jaws from the top to the bottom if that makes sense. That seemed to help making multiple angles in a short span of the flat stock. I don't think I would have been able to do it on my machinists vise. Also the jaws don't mar the work like the more aggressive ones on the big vise. It's also handy to have an anvil or other heavy duty object around for touch ups. I was thinking even if someone doesn't have a welder available you could always drill and bolt the the pieces together.



Matthew

True! Good thing I work at The Home Depot.. gonna poke around tomorrow while at work

 

[Gerry]

Matthew, thanks so much for the insight on the Black Smith vise. I as well have a machinist vice and it seemed to wide to produce what you made. I seem to enjoy bending flat stock for various projects, but have noted, bends in close proximity to one another can be a challenge. Thanks again, Gerry

 

[glas482]

Hello All, First let me say thanks for all the nice comments about the rack. This is a great site. Second, while looking around tonight I found the post that got me going building my own rack and want to give credit to TrailWhale for the inspiration. His idea and pics were a great jumping off point. Thanks TrailWhale.



Matthew

 

[TrailWhale]

Nice rack, Matthew. I particularly like the "solid" crossbar across the back over the turn signals, which should add a significant amount of strength. FWIW, the reason I used a chunk of wood for the "body" of the rack is that it's a good bit less likely to take a slice out of my leg. Whenever I can, I like to climb steep hills - great adrenaline rush. However, the bike and I often end up either sideways on the hill (bike on top of me), or sliding back down the hill together (again, bike on top, or at the very least one of my legs underneath). I really feared that if I used any horizontal metal in the rack it would simply be prone to give me a nasty slice in a bad place. Since the "cutting edges" at the side of my rack are 3/4" thick wood, there's much less chance of anything getting cut. Specific task = specific design.



General lament: Unfortunately, here in south central Pennsylvania, it's really getting hard to find a good (legal) place to ride offroad and/or hillclimb. What land isn't heavily populated has been "preserved" for farming. And farmers get sued if some idiot gets hurt on their land (just like anyone else), so unless you're at least their third cousin once removed, you don't get to ride on their land. The only "riding club" in the area is 2 or 3 hours away, costs about $500 a summer, and is just full of "tweakers" zooming around with 50 or 60 horsepower on gouged out "enduro like" "marked areas only" "one way" trails. Last time I did a Google Earth search of my surrounding area for likely places to ride offroad, I "discovered" a huge area less than 20 minutes from home that probably measured 10,000 acres(?) with trails, fire roads, streams and all kinds of elevation changes. To my great disappointment it turned out to be part of the PA State Game Lands, privately preserved by the state's hunters for hunting, in which no motorized vehicles are permitted (the limit is one horse-power)! So I'm shortly going to need a trailer to get to areas which allow riding offroad.

 

[srs713]

Your design is close to what I did to mount my Action Packer. I think we got the inspiration from the same thread.

I created 3 brackets. Figuring I could mount a rack, a plate, a board, or the box I finally decided on.

I have a chunk of aluminum tread plate I want to add later for extra versatility, but for now I just have the box.



Front bracket, z shaped to bolt to the frame under the seat. Small plate inside with washers & lock nuts.

Back/right bracket. Another plate, washers & lock nuts inside.

 

[aktw200]

I refuse to tell another guy "Nice Rack!"

So, that's a nice place to tie your manly stuff to.

 

[admiral]

aktw200, You and Petrus have some good humor! Guess I'll have to watch how I say things or I may get hit by the humor community!

 

[Hendragster]

Ohsome job glas482! I like everything about DIY

especially when the money says NO MORE SPENDING

cheers...

 

[TK200]

Plan on trying to make one this weekend out of some rebar, anyone done this yet?