I've read threads and links before about making your own hard panniers, but nothing on fabricating a rack to hang them off. I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for designing and making one.

I've got the idea that mild steel is best to use as it's easy to weld if it gets broken, and round section tube is better than square. I reckon that bolting things together is better than welding, because it's easier to replace a sheared bolt in the wild than weld up a popped join. I've got access to a pipe bender and a drill press so I'm OK there.

So does anyone have any advice they could give me? Number of hard points on the bike you need to fix to, that kind of thing. Any pictures of existing racks would be great too they seem quite hard to google up.

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Hi Alex,

First thing, does anyone already make a rack for your bike or for a similar model ? If they do, buy it and adapt. It will take you serious time to make a rack; if your time is cheap (or like me you enjoy messing about with bits of tube) then crack on.

If your bike is designed to take a pillion, you have a fairly straightforward job; mountings can be found at the pillion pegs and up at the seat. A lot of bikes have a long seat (so a solo rider can move about) but little or no subframe; these will need more thought.

Have a look at where the forces are acting. If you have mountings up at the back of the seat and down near the swing-arm pivot, the weight on your rack is trying to pull the back of the bike off onto the rear wheel, do you need to strengthen the subframe and/or it's mountings to resist this ?

Be careful not to over-engineer, you can use quite light gauge tube if you design it right.

What boxes / bags are you going to fit ? if you already have them, then spend some time hanging them on the bike to check where best to mount them before you start.

Search the net and look at other bikes for ideas. You will see some comercial stuff that is pretty crappy. Also think about where and how you will ride; off road will really punish your luggage.

Regards

BYT

Actually, it looks like a one-piece system (or push-in, maybe?) but I agree the pipe couldn't take much dead weight so yes, exhaust clamp is on the way to hook the end up to the subframe. As it is the silencer is rubber-mounted at the pillion footrest so there is some movement there.
The exhaust clamp also makes a convenient point to arrange the the back brace to the other side. Just found a good bit of galvanised flat bar to do that.

Will see how hot it all gets but I'd be surprised if the wood gets too warm plus the ally is only a couple of mm so I doubt much weight would be saved by drilling.

Ch

Yes steel is the way to go in my book.
I dont think there really is too much difference between round and box section though. I chose box because of the thin wall thickness available, the panniers I made are'nt that big so there wasn't a need for over engineering. Just be carefully that the seam is situated away from the stresses.

You can kill 2birds with the support frame with some brainwork. Triagulating the frame makes the whole bike stronger. This is usually done by fitting a diagonal brace from the front foot peg mount up to the strongest mounting point at the back. It depends on your bike though.

From this you can nut out how to mount your boxes.

The mounting system we have on bike has proved to be strong and secure. I can take the boxes off in under 20seconds as there is only one lock (each side) to close and fit the box to the frame.
This way I can unpack quickly as well as get the bike through doorways with minimal fuss.

Take a look at the bike prep section of our blog.
Any Qs, dont hesitate.
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

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

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)

Guys, interesting reading through the thread and I though it was worth while sharing with you our own experience.

Having trawled through the Hubb for a recommended set of lightweight soft Panniers for my wife's F650gs, we agreed on the Andystrapz Expedition Panniers for our up and coming trip from Buenos Aires to Vancouver.

The next question was where to get a pannier rack which was capable of lasting the 20,000 miles and was sized both for the panniers and the bike, not a simple task!

Fortunately, i met Gabriel Bolton who owns Zen Overland who offered to make up, weld together and powder coat a bespoke rack.

Gabriel is a seasoned Enduro racer and has completed his own rtw trip during 2009. Having a self confessed obsession with making everything Gabriel had previously made his own rack & panniers which are illustrated in full technical colour on his website.

By clicking here you can see a range of photos which illustrate the quality of the finish and the minor details which are fundamental to a robust, soft luggage pannier rack, powder-coated black, canted out at the bottom and provided complete with all spacers, bolts and (common sense) instructions for fitting.

If, like us you find yourself looking for a rack for your soft panniers, Gabriel may be able to help!


All the best,
Chris & Chloe
BUENOS AIRES to VANCOUVER | Chris, Chloe & two motorbikes across South, Central & North America

Now it's been thoroughly tested, I'll throw this rack into the mix.
Made from 15mm copper water pipe with Yorkshire fittings, it was constructed by the previous owner of my TTR.
Not being sure whether it was at all strong enough for trans-Africa, I thought - what the hell, it looks so elegant, I'll just go with it.
Do you really need heavy steel?


The rack as it came with the bike, moved forward so the front sits on the pillion seat.
Plus Nonfango base fitted.

The jubilee clips that maybe you can see, hold 22mm plain solder fittings (an elbow and a tee), sawn in half and clamped around two joints.
That was my attempt at a bit of strengthening. It looked a mess, so probably wasn't effective, so I removed them before departure.



With second-hand box.



Rack loading, London to Khartoum (photo in Sinai). The Nonfango box is in there somewhere....



Rack loading, Khartoum to Cape Town (photo at Cape Agulhas)

20,000 miles in total, including a few hundred miles of dirt, sand and stones in each of N. Kenya, W. Tanzania, and Namibia. Plus bits elsewhere.
Plus the 40,000 tarmac miles the previous owner did, before I bought it.

It's still in use, carrying (slightly less) weight, and no signs of splits, cracks, breaks or anything else you can think of. A credit to the constructor. (ex-British Rail).

Do you really need heavy steel? I don't think so.
Quality of construction is key.

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TTR250 - London to Cape Town

Copper tube, I like it, but would it work on the side holding boxes and dealing with crashes, or even as a platform?

I was looking into doing a similar thing with thin steel EMT (electrical conduit) but it required threading the ends to make right-angle bends - another tool I'd use once. Were it possible, soldering (like copper joints) would have been easier.
Avoiding welding does stir up the creativity.

Oops.... you just beat me to it Chris.

I don't want any flack for omitting this.....
It's right out of sight, so I always forget when singing the praises of this rack.
The pipework is filled with epoxy resin.
It makes all the difference. - Quality of construction.

I had a few offs, fully loaded, in Africa (generally on soft ground).
And more since returning home (green lanes).

But nothing serious - and I hope not to test it along such lines.

I continued the constructor's philosophy for attaching it to the bike, he used only zip ties.
If the rack gets hit, it moves and the zip ties give. (Or break).

When I moved it forward so a lot of the weight was placed on the pillion seat, I reduced the number of zip ties to the minimum that I thought was necessary.
When I inspected stuff on return home, I found just one had broken.

As far as holding anything on the side is concerned - I don't know.
But the entire weight of the Andy Strapz panniers is held by the rack, where it sits on the pillion seat.

So to say the least, I'm pretty pleased with the whole thing.

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TTR250 - London to Cape Town

I have a feeling I've seen the copper pipe rack at the Ace Café Adventure & Overland day, if it was yours I was very impressed. I didn't realise it was epoxy filled though, I wonder how much difference it makes.

Welding always seems to be the bugbear for DIY rack creation, and blokes who'll do a bit of welding for money seem harder to come by these days so maybe copper is the answer? Still got to learn how to braze though.

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Yes, I like an excuse to have lunch (or breakfast) at the Ace. I think it's a great bit of heritage.
And yes, I think the epoxy filling in the rack makes the whole thing practicable. I don't think it would work without it.

This isn't the only copper-pipe rack, I've seen another a few weeks ago, somewhere around London, but can't for the life of me remember where.

Can copper be brazed? I thought soldering or silver solder were the only options for joining it.
Or does silver solder come under the heading of brazing?
If you can solder with a flame and separate flux, silver-soldering isn't too difficult. But practicing can be expensive.....

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TTR250 - London to Cape Town