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Photo by Hendi Kaf, in Cambodia

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Hendi Kaf,
in Cambodia



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  #1  
Old 24 Feb 2013
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Panniers for 1974 Honda CB550

Hi all
Having ridden from north Queensland clockwise around australia and made it to Perth i have cheap leather saddle bags was wondering if anyone knows any alternatives to saddle bags or any good websites as i will be needing something more steady for the journey from Australia to Ireland beginning in September, i also made a make shift back rack which has served me well so far apart from a few repairs from cracks, does anyone know any good designs for this or were i could buy a aftermarket one???

Thanks in advance for any help

TheDonkeyandMe
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  #2  
Old 24 Feb 2013
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Back in the day (1974) cutting edge rack design came in the shape of stuff from Craven Equipment. I used a lot of their racks on a number of bikes and never had one break. Of course they're not a ubiquitous now as then but the design is easy to duplicate. I don't have any pictures of one on my 550 but here's one on on my 400/4 -



The side arms consist of loops of tubing with bespoke brackets to fix it to the bike - you can see it a bit better in the ancient picture below. Easy to make as the rack doesn't have to be particularly accurate - the attachment brackets will take that up.



No idea what panniers to put on it - probably not Craven ones as the classic enthusiasts have pushed the prices sky high.
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Old 4 Mar 2013
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Thats great ill see what i can do, a wonder can you buy them i wouldnt mind spending some money for the right ones
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Old 5 Mar 2013
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You can certainly buy Craven racks secondhand relatively easily in the UK but in recent years they've been at a bit of a premium as the classic Triumph / BSA / Notrun scene wants them for period originality. The one on my 400/4 came from the US and cost nothing.

For your 550 I suppose it depends how much effort you want to put in. Even if you buy a rack you'll probably still need to make the brackets that fix it to the bike but they're only bits of bent strip steel that you can shape with a hammer.
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