How to protect your gear from turning black from Aluminum?
 

I have an aluminum top box, anything you put inside it gets blackened from the bare aluminum.

My attempts:

-Lined the inside with a self adhesive clear poly film which was about 6mil thick. This works but the the film wears through quickly from items bouncing in the box and didn't last.

-Spray painted a rubberized coating that is used for automotive applications. As with the film liner, it wears quickly and has started to peel where it has worn.

-My goto is an old helmet bag, I put items inside the bag to protect them and not worry about the bag. This works but you can't find things as quickly if they were just in the box.

Anyone have luck with a particular product to coat the inside of an aluminum box or pannier?

thanks
brian

Maybe try a cheap closed-cell foam sleeping mat that you can get for a few bucks? Cut a bottom and a long piece that you use to line the walls. It's soft and chushioning, should do the trick!

Are you able to get it powder coated in a clear lacquer? If there are no plastic parts it should be doable - you may have to mask off certain parts. Beware of trying to powder coat over paint - it really doesn’t work and if you have any doubts then use a spray lacquer coating.

Lining aluminium panniers
 

I solved this problem by using thin strong mat, sold for car interiors. Cut to required shape and glued in place. make cut-outs for bolts. For the bottom I used a removable piece of an old sleeping mat on one side. The other bottom I used a thin plywood, with a finger hole, covered with a bit of car mat. this makes a false bottom, which has proved very useful for hiding that which must remain hidden. The whole job was much less hassle than you would think, and has worked very well.

Peter, in Oslo, and it's snowing today

Great ideas. thank you all. I never considered making a false bottom, I can see it being useful.

thanks
brian

If you are gluing a false bottom in or spraying a clear lacquer or powder coating it then preparation is key - sorry, I couldn't resist the pun - and that means ensuring that the surface is grease and dust free - the results will last longer and will look better.

Alternatively use a bin bag or make some pannier liners with handles - these will also make unloading at a hotel / hostel a lot quicker and will reduce any issues if there is a slight leak in the pannier. Liners look a lot classier at reception than bin bags though!

Anodizing is a very simple, dirt cheap and easy process - also for the DIYer (I have never tried anodizin large aluminium items). It will leave a thin layer that is much harder than the aluminium. It doesn't crack or chafe, nor does it rub off or "rust".

You will need:

• a simple and cheap battery charger that will not easily turn off the fuse.
• A large non-conductive container (plastic) to house the item to be anodised
• A anode (your item to be anodised) and one or more sacrificial cathode (i.e. lead plates sourced from an old car battery - thorughly cleaned and sanded (poisenous - cover up and wear a mask)
• Conductive liquid (electrolytes) with cleaning and etching propertie, i.e. a caustic soda and water mixture
• a non conductive prop (wooden stick) and something to suspend the item to be anodised in the liquid filled container (steel wire)
• some copper wire want to

Method:

• Suspend the item to be annodiced in the non conductive and liquid filled container
• Suspend the cathodes at approximately equal distances on all sides of the item to be anodiced - in your case one on each of the short sides, and one or two on each of the two long sides, and one or two inside the case
• Hook the positive lead to your anoode, and the negative to your cathode. You will not want to subemerge valuable leads below the liquid, but instead use a copper wire - this as you don't want your charger cables to be neither sacrificed or annodised

You could if you want, anodice the item with color - i.e. in the color of your bike.

This method can be used to remove paint or rust from metal - leaving a rust protective layer - which is the only thing I have used this method for - even on items as large as a pannier. I have never anodiced aluminium.


For your intents and purposes, you might only want to anodise the inside of the pannier. In this case you would drop the container and only fill up the pannier (which you would have to set on a non conductive material, like a rubber mat).

I don't think lining your bags with anything that is not perfectly smooth, puncture free or waterproof - is a good idea. Water, smells, oils, dirt - will be absorbed into it - and cleaning it will be a hasstle.

Another option is to look into "helicopter tape" (automotive protection film).
This stuff was invented to put on helicopter rotors leading edge to preserve them for all the dirt and grit that pass through them on landing and take offs - significantly reducing the frequency for which rotors need to be replaced. It is tough, is applied and removed easily, and stretches to contours. You can buy it in sheets or tape forms. It is clear. It's not prohibitively expensive. Personally, I think I would have tried this route first - unless you can find a very thorough instructional video on anodizing panniers - and that is easily replicable to you.

If you go down the anodizing route - be very certain that you do not hook up the wires incorrectly - or you will sacrifice your panniers and be left with a beutfylly anodised led plate.

If you go down the anodizing route - the mix of electrical output, time or ammount of electrolyte will vary. If power or electrolyte is weak, you will require more time. It can therefore be a good idea to start easy and add a stronger solution of electrolyte and/or increase electrical output if you see no results after a day or two, and even more on day three or four, and so on. Maybe you have a perfect result in a matter of hours, maybe it will take a week. In any case, go onto youtube and research.

Thank you Wheelie, but it sounds like anodizing is well beyond my ability and facility to do the work. Good suggestion about other methods holding smells or dampness.

I do like the idea of helicopter tape. I will research this idea.
brian

Whatever your solution, please report back and let us know how it worked out. I have always had OEM bags 7nside, so never had the problem

After checking pricing on Amazon for Helicopter tape, I found a used BMW top box liner on Kijiji for less.

Going with the BMW liner..
thank you all
brian

The built in panniers on my 1800 GoldWing don't have the problem as they're some sort of moulded plastic, so you can stuff things in without them getting marked or discoloured. The problem comes at hotels where you're faced with carting armfuls of loose items to your room as the panniers don't come off. Using fitted bags is impossible (without halving the capacity anyway) as there's too many nooks and crannies. We bought a couple of net style laundry bags in Walmart to try and keep it all together as you can distort them into the corners and max out the capacity, but walking into a hotel reception with a couple of those over your shouder - particularly the one with the dirty laundry - makes you look like Dick Whittington's country cousin.

Given how much effort goes into producing hard panniers, nevermind how much aftermarket versions cost, you'd think the manufacturers would go to the trouble of anodising the interiors but it would seem we're all seduced by the outside, with the inside reduced to the category of 'functional space'. I have two sets of old glass fibre panniers amongst my collection and the insides still stink of resin years later. Put any clothes in them and they come out smelling of resin even inside plastic bags, something that never used to go down well with female pillions. Who wants to change into clean clothes and smell like a glass fibre foundry for the next few hours.

In the absence of any volunteers for the "eau de glass fibre" perfume can I ask how you store the panniers? If you keep them closed then perhaps store them open? I have two sets of 30 year old BMW panniers and one set was in regular use and the other set was not. Given the way that the regularly used ones ended up smelling I suspect that the option of glass fibre may be the preferred choice....

On my Moto Guzzi the panniers are alumium and they have been coated on the inside - plus they have lining bags that are excellent.

Normally they'd be stored closed, which, as you imply, won't help, but one of the panniers underwent 'automotive percussive rearangement' (it fell off and was run over by a following car) some years back so the lid is now stored inside pending repairs. There's still not much difference between it and the other intact one from that pair with a lid that fits. It may well be that the smell from the open one will eventually decline but if it does it'll have been a long time coming. My plastic Givi ones don't smell at all.

I've always wanted black gear.
Shaft.
John Shaft.
Right on.

Buy 1-2mm plastic sheets. Very cheap.

Cut them out to fit your box and glue them in with contact adhesive.

Problem solved.

Or buy/find/make a bag that fits inside your box that you can just lift out. That's what the manufacturers usually sell as a solution.