Thanks for that advice it's great, I'd thought about taking it down to the pillion pegs (yes it does have a pillion seat). It's also already got a rear (top box) rack, so logically those mountings should help a lot. My main reasons for round tubing are aesthetics and also because my pipe bender only bends round tubes.

Unfortunately no, no-one makes a rack at the moment for pannier boxes, I've searched everywhere. Found a couple of places that would fabricate one, but they're very expensive and also a very, very long way away.

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Some good comment above. Round tube is actually stronger than square, but square is so much easier to work with. Thats what I used. I bought a cheap little electric welding machine (£50) and welded up a frame. I meant to improve/replace it because it was a rough prototype, but I just keep using it. The square tube has a nice light thin wall, but this makes it tricky to weld.

I took the carrier down to the pillion pegs. I have mounted my carrier to 6 points in total.

I got my machine in Weldom-should be one near you. It has maybe increased in price as I got mine some time ago. It's a Nordikka. I think you can get these machines in Bricodepot too.

Flat bar can be used as well. If the forces acting on it are across the large flat face. A combination of both will give you the best of both worlds Slim and strong. It needs to hold the weight of the bike because it will fall over!

Here's some pics from the minimilist touring thread on ADV. A nice neat job.

A trick I learned when using round tube, pinch the end a bit rather than try fabricating and welding an angled join on a joint. Also every one welds in a compressive support from teh footrests. but why not a tensive support from on high at aboutthe rear of the fuel tank to the rear bottom edge.

Caminado.. oddly I have a Nordika I bought here also...Nice to weld now without getting shocks

Maybe we have an eye for a bargain!

Here is my attempt: Suzuki DR 650 SE pannier rack

I do have to straighten it every time the bike falls over, though!

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Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

Looks good beddhist. I like the hinge mount, simple, strong, and quick disconnect. Well done.

Wow Beddhist.
Your system is very similar to ours.
Only ours isnt using a door hinge just simply 2 flatbar fingers sliding over the ends of a tube under our rear rack.
The securing post connects the whole lot is bent and is secured/locked with the panniers box lid lock.
Amazing we came up with such similar ideas.

We are happy with this method... Very quick and easy to unpack.

N+A

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Round the world on a Postie bike, 2-up
Bilingual Blog (japanese and English)
http://faster-than-walking.com

I looked in to making racks for my bike but went with premade ones. You will want 3 hard mounting points for each side then a bar to "tie" each of the side together at the back lower end, as there is almost no way to secure this area. As seen in the above pics but the rack in the pics look like SS look good but triky to weld. Do NOT use flat bar stock for the the rack suports, the round frame that the luggage is bolted to can be flat as it dose little suporting. But the rack suports, the parts that hold the rack to the bikes subfram need to vary strong and tuff. They flex with every bump and brake in time or they will brake a weld. If you must use flat bar stock fave a few welded up and have another folded over the bar stock and round rack.

Round tube is the way to go if you can if you see this too hard and need to go square tube (or rectangular) your rack will end up being hever for the same strength. A good weld will last longer then a bolt and it hold up better to the vibrations and hits. Bolting the mess together will be ok in town but on bad roads you may well be replacing bolts every few days the hols for the bolts will enlarge to the point where you will to some how have to find a way fix it. (like cutting it out and welding on a new piece.)

One thing I looked in to was getting square tubing that had a ID (inner dimension) gust bigger the the OD (outer dimension) of the rack. A few little chunks of this will help with any quick fix you may need.

Dont over build the rack I have seen some racks that just do not hold the luggage on the bike. There hever than the luggage (and every thing in it)

I had thought of that. Also, if you have a couple of bits of tube that have been cut open lengthways, they would make a good splint with a couple of hose clips.

I started building a my rack but got a bit stuck on the best lower mounting. Couldn't come up with anything I liked so have walked away. Hopefully when I re-start, I'll have a flash of inspiration.

A good tip when joining tube end to side (T-shape) is to put the tube in a drill press and run a holesaw the same diameter as the tube though it. This gives the perfect fit. The same can be achieved with a small angle grinder and a bit of fiddling. Another way is to crush the last inch of tube in a vice. If you slip a bit of flat up inside so it doesn't crumple, you get a neat fit.

With a tube bender you can get away with having far fewer welds - they are the weak spots. Dont butt weld, if you must have a butt weld of a piece of flat to round, put the round through the flat, weld both sides and grind off. If you use tube then dont weld on the bends. Put a brace behind each bend greater than 45 degrees. Anneal all the bends and welds - having "hard" welds and "soft" tube is where the frame fails. Ideally then harden the whole thing using heat and quenching in old engine oil.

If you are a crap welder like me, then use round bar so that you cant blow through as with tube.

See if you can find some pics of the Krauser carriers for BMWs circa 1980, or the BMW frames from the mid 1980s.

Here is a picture of one I built for my DL650, I built it a little heavy due to using Ammo cans. My battery is about to run down, I'll add some more pics later.