[uktw125]

I have made a hard luggage system that others may be interested in making, it's pretty easy if you can weld and use a drill.

The boxes are small Pelicase available in the USA, but hard to find in the UK so I bought from America.

The pictures will explain better than words, so lets hope these work. I am never very sucessfull at pictures so here goes.

A small padlock through the lych pin holds them secure and would stop a casual thief but not anyone very determined.

Crikey success.

 

[805gregg]

Nice, I love those Pelican boxes, how much does the windage slow you down?

 

[peruano]

Looks good; I like the somewhat rounded corners and the plastic structure - It should be relatively dustproof, durable, and mighty convenient storage. Congrats. tom

 

[Gerry]

Very nice. I am interested in seeing a cleared (another) picture of your top connect system. Seems you have a protrusion the enters a hole. Is it locked by inserting a pin or a rotating toggle? Gerry

 

[lonedave]

Hey, I like your front rack. I am thinking of making a very similar one and mounting it as you have done I think. Have you got a close-up picture from the side and front you could share? Thanks.



Dave

 

[Whiplash]

Ditto on the front rack! Im picking up steel to build both of my racks today and I was thinking about the same design you have there. The hard bags look great and should function very well

 

[uktw125]

Thanks for all positive comments on the luggage.

To answer some questions.

The windage is no problem for me, it does not slow me down at all because I only ride at 55MPH or so and I am small and light. The total width is 33 inches or just 1 inch wider than my handlebars (renthal high bend).

The top attachment is a trailer tailgate latch (we call them lych pins in the UK)like this with the threaded bit cut off and welded to a mounting plate.

The front rack I made years ago and needs repainting or powder coat. There is only one verticle leg as I ran out of tubing, but it is plenty strong enough like this because if you put anything heavy on there it upsets the steering quite badly. It's ideal for a one piece waterproof suit or a bottle of water,sandwiches, etc, anything light that you want easy access to. Here are the details.

 

[Tirebiter]

Great ideas. I like the idea of having hard bags with solid mounts but quickly removable. Thanks for posting the pics.





I bought some ammo from Cabelas a month ago and they threw in some of these dry storage boxes. They might be an option to the Pelicases. They were on sale for $8 recently.

 

[UKJ]

Looks really good

, I couldnt decide between the 1430 boxes you have or the 1520 that I eventually decided to run. The 1430s are much easier to open/close but not quite as big - I couldnt get my tent poles in the 1430s which swayed my decision. Did you sit them equal distance either side or the exhaust side wider?

 

[uktw125]

Looks really good

, I couldnt decide between the 1430 boxes you have or the 1520 that I eventually decided to run. The 1430s are much easier to open/close but not quite as big - I couldnt get my tent poles in the 1430s which swayed my decision. Did you sit them equal distance either side or the exhaust side wider?

UKJ, I spaced them equally. Although the rack looks similar to a Cyclerack it's actually my own home made copy and I had already made it before I decided to add the boxes, but it does not look odd or lop sided from behind. I'm quite pleased with the look really.

Also I don't think the 1430 boxes would be big enough for your coming epic journey. You must be getting excited or nervous or both.

Are you going to have an online blog.

 

[UKJ]

UKJ, I spaced them equally. Although the rack looks similar to a Cyclerack it's actually my own home made copy and I had already made it before I decided to add the boxes, but it does not look odd or lop sided from behind. I'm quite pleased with the look really.

Also I don't think the 1430 boxes would be big enough for your coming epic journey. You must be getting excited or nervous or both.

Are you going to have an online blog.

Either a blog or Ill run a thread on advrider or similar I think, some of it - sahara, kosovo, serbia etc are a bit nerve racking but on the whole can't wait to get going. Approx 1 month today

-



I ended up spacing my panniers out a little more on the right to clear the exhaust, you cant really tell from behind but I wanted to keep the bike as narrow as possible. Its a shame no-one makes a top-opening plastic pannier box, the 1430s are close but a little bit too small/wide.