Luggage rack for AS soft panniers.
 

Hello, I've tried to search but not found much help.

I am new to this style of bike and I am looking to get some luggage for my R1200GS WC.

I have more or less decided to get soft bags and probably AS Magadons.

I now need to decide on a rack to mount them. This brings questions.
Are any makes better than others, or what do I look out for?

Also will the soft panniers be ok on a rack shaped around the exhaust of does the pannier need to be flat.

The racks I have seen would hold the bags at different distances from the bike, does this cause issues? WOuld the balance of the bike be affected much? Not to mention setting off my OCD about the bags looking odd.

Thanks for any help/ advice you can give.

Hi,

I think you mean, like the one side soft pannier needs to be further out, in order to give sufficient clearance to the hot exhaust?

So in a way, that pannier that sticks out further can be filled with the lighter, bulkier stuff, leaving the opposite pannier which is adjacent to the frame, to carry the more heavy stuff.

I guess it is just a matter of balancing the bike.

vette

First piece of advice - go for the Magadan bags, they're great. I've just got my second set, my wife has them on her bike and during use last year I fell in love with them and when I switched bikes I didn't go back to hard luggage.

As for the racks, any will do the job. Don't worry about uneven rack distance from the center of the bike, perfect weight distribution is not as important as some strange people will tell you it is. Just don't do anything silly like filling the wider side with gold bars and the narrow one with pillows.

It will, however, look a little bit daft.

That's strange- :confused:
AFAIK both the Magadan bags ( Mk1 and Mk2) are both the same volume at 35 litres.

Oh, they are, but the OPs pannier racks are uneven to accommodate the exhaust - hence a wide and narrow side, relative to the center of the bike.