I've put this up on the Chain Gang and ADVrider sites as well, but thought it to be relevant here as well.

On our last trip we used the Metal Mule panniers. They only came in 2 sizes back than. Large and Xtra large. We actually bought 2 TT and 2 MM panniers to try and see which one was better. We preferred the MM pannier because of it’s locking system. In the end we found them both crap because they are just too wide. This is mainly a safety issue for us as you don’t really anticipate the rear width if it’s not in your view. So last minute manoeuvring (very common when riding in poor countries) becomes a hazard. It also doesn’t help the stability of the bike or the ease of packing.

So I packed up all the crap I wanted to take on the next trip and bought some cardboard to build a prototype.



For the packing I actually based it on Eagle Creek pack-cubes to stay organised on the road. I hate having all my crap flung around. In the end I actually ended up with another brand, but it’s really only to set dimensions anyway. So the width became 135mm. The length is based on 2 pack-cubes pack side by side which turned out to be 520mm. The depth is the lengths of these pack cubes which is 355mm.

On the outside I wanted the angle of the areas to impact the ground or a leg to be 45 degrees, but the inside angle needed to be 90 degrees. So I came up with a double bottom design which I turned into a tank for water.

This is the CAD drawing.


I CADed it all up in 2D for the sheet metal folders to get it all cut and folded. A mate of mine welded it all up because there was going to be a bit of fiddling with the taps and filler and breather fittings.

We ended up welding a bit of 5mm square aluminium plate to the boxes and drilled and tapped them out.

This is the tap I used.




The most tricky thing actually became the mounting brackets. The compromised between ease of construction, strength, ease of removal and it not rattling too much became a headache. I tried a few things, but because I modified the luggage rack (of our old XT’s) to be as close to the bike as possible I didn’t have much room to play with. This is the result, but doesn’t show the U-bolt which really secures it to the rack. I don’t really plan on taking it off at a hotel stop anyway.

I used some galvanised RHS and steel strip


Again, getting the alignment equal on both sides was a big challenge, but I came away good overall.
Below shows the setup I had in mind with a securing pin through the rack and the brackets at the top and a rotating bit of plate half way down. Unfortunately the tolerances of the used materials and the slight buckling of the sheet metal after welding it meant that it rattled too much.


So I ended up with a U-bolt as well to tighten it all up better.


This is them with the fittings and tape. I used rope for handles.


Quick access pouch and bottle holder


Filler tube at the rear


Resulting look


All up each pannier holds about 2.5l of liquid. I could put fuel in it, but having water conveniently available is more important to us. Hate having water bottles and other crap strapped on. We have liquid containment fuel bladders with us for extra range, but will probably not need it.
The stability of this setup is amazing. Because the centre of gravity is really low and close to the axis of the bike you hardly notice the weight until you come to a halt.

Now I’ve got to get the bikes to a weigh bridge and see how much weight I’ll be battling with.

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Tacos Tyring Travels.com

Great job mate!!

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2000 Africa Twin
http://two-up-ona-twin.blogspot.com

great idea

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I’m not afraid to go fast, it’s the crash and burn part that sucks.

great job with the panniers. I have a question about the liquid containers vs the turtlepacs? any reason (apart from the price) why you chose them and not the turtlepacs? tnx

Paul at liquid containment lives locally plus I liked the look of them better. Good dimentions as wel, and if you ask nicely he can knock up something custom if you need it.

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Tacos Tyring Travels.com

I also wanted to find out how you rate their safety compared to the turtlepacs. double price, double safety, different materials? they somehow look very similar?! could you post a pix of your fuel bags on the web? thanks

I don´t know the turtle packs, so I can´t really compare. Do a search on the bags on ADVrider (especially the Aussie section) and you should find all the info you´ll need.

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Tacos Tyring Travels.com

Great job mate,
if your intrestied I will buy the cardboard ones from you. They cant be any worse than the Touratech ones !

great idea.. good job.. the only probem might be water contaminating. do you use water container cleaner for the water tank?

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ozhan u.
website under construction

Not to worried about that. Ive asked Bernd Tesch about the tanks he has made for years and looked around online a bit. But its not for drinking straight out of. Boiling at the most. We fill it with tap water. In saying that, you don't really know what gets used by contractors building water supply networks.

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Tacos Tyring Travels.com

Home made aluminium boxes

saw this web page thought I would someone might want to look.

That is realy cool man. Would just like to know did you treat the metal with someting to prevent it from rusting from the inside?(sorry if this is a dump question) but I'm not sure of what tipe of metal sheet metal is made of.
Do one have to treat it with somthing if you use it for fuel?

Aluminium has been shown to have a link with dementia. hence the popularity of stainless steel cooking utensils and drinking bottles. Personally I wouldn't want to be drinking out of an aluminium container if avoidable. I think I'd rather just source a stainless steel container and carry it in the pannier.

I'd like to see the paper on that link and who funded the research. I've researched the topic a little bit and found no conclusive evidence of bad health defects.

Either way, we didn't use that water for drinking. Mostly camping so hygiene really, washing up etc. Tea was made with water from a bottle because local water out of the tap usually tastes crap.

Has anyone ever studied what he long term health defects are from water pipe lines in the ground? The stuff that grows in our pipes is amazing. A friend of mine told a story of one of his mates that only wanted to drink from his own rain tank for that reason. Only to find out when he cleaned the filter that a frog with the legs spread was using his dead body as a filter. He'd been drinking the water that flowed through this dead frog for months. Pretty funny and ironic really.

Most plastic bottles still have BPA's in them which is carcinogenic. Everything will kill you one day.

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Tacos Tyring Travels.com

Ok. I agree evidence not conclusive. Aluminum and dementia - Alzheimer's Society

however many advocate not exposing yourself to aluminium in diet Aluminum tips and advice
Dementia (Alzheimer's Disease) And Aluminium In Drinking Water : May Be A Devastator Correlation | Pharmainfo.net
Alzheimer's and Dementia - The Cause and Alternative Treatments

I know that there are all sort of toxins around us in the environment, especially when we choose to ride a machine using petrol with all of the stuff in that, but I can't just live the life of a hermit and avoid all that stuff.However it is an easy change to make in order to avoid exposure to aluminium and for me when the views are so mixed I'd rather err or side of caution when its such an easy change.

Those panniers look good though.