Sorry late reply, I have been away for a while..


I started with an older Jesse system. But had to change the locks on the lids, reinforce the boxes and change the way they mount to the frame. The boxes themselves are pretty robust with lots of bends – witch makes them stronger and keeps them away from you feet.
The old Jesse frame is thrown away, when designing a new one I would say the important factors are:
-Keep the boxes as close to the frame as possible
-Minimize the length of horizontal tubing for attachment points to the frame (remember Newton)
-Use rubber dampers to minimize vibrations
-Make sure that the boxes doesn’t flex inwards (solid tube from one side to each other and solid mounting to rear foot rest)
-Three mounting points at the top
-Use circular tubes (forces go in all directions)

I don’t have a lot of pictures, but here is one. The right side is a bit difficult to make on my BMW because the cardan is big




Yes I know, but sometimes it’s not doable.


I guess it depends on how you use them. A friend used some Givis (I think) on Iceland and they were far too wide. When he was leaning the bike over the panniers hit rocks. The mounting hardware was a bit flimsy and he had to secure the boxes with belts. The system lasted pretty good for the trip but I think it would have made a lot of problems on a longer trip.





I don’t know Smellybikers problem, nor do I know much about the 650 or other “newish” BMWs. I stick to the older ones. Mine has 190kkm on the clock and will last for many years, I also have one with less then 30kkms and it will probably outlive me
Every bike has issues. We had to rebuild the top-end three times of a Honda XL on a trip, enginemounts break on the tiger when it’s stressed, a friend had to change cam-shaft on his DR twice a year and the list goes on forever.
Can you believe that on some bikes you have to remove the engine to do some top-end maintenance?




Next weekend I will drive an Ural with 2WD and sidecar…. That's fun!!!




I have to admit that I have started to think of building a touring bike based on the HP2 and the 900RR tank and front, but it will probably never happen….

Thanks Ali for the great pics and reply.

Pelikans on the way....GIVI racks going it for re-build! ($100)

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Patrick passed Dec 2018. RIP Patrick!

i've always travelled with soft luggage but i'm about to go for the hard stuff due to the fact that its just easier! with soft luggage it's easy to steal and everything has to go in waterproof bags.
anyway, whilst i'm out and about everybody seems to be using TT's on their bikes. i do 3ooo km's a week in my truck and i'd say 9/10 bikes that overtake me with alu panniers are TT's! so surely they cant be that bad!
i'm gonna try them out though as the price of €700 compared to £700 for MM's is a big difference! lets just hope that touratech in france are better than in britain! going in 6 wks!
if i'm wrong i'll cry and then let you know!

Note the lack off distance between the boxes and the ground:


Things are getting harder (note that the boxes have touched the ground close to the bottom of the picture)


The left box touches the ground and lifts the bike:


He is okay but the bike is wider then my BMW!!

Metal Mule don't make panniers or frames for the Dominator.
So that ended that.

Ortlieb make great waterproof and dustproof soft panniers (no need to put everything in bags in the panniers).

A Dominator friend (good work Davey) rode to India and had hard alu panniers custom hand made for him for 5 pounds. He still has them (post crash(es)).

Potterton's cases make a great option too (thanks to Lois's research).

Ammo boxes are also a great option.

I researched options for ages and really like the Metal Mule concept. But their lack of willingness to make them for Dominators put me off. Ortliebs worked perfectly for me.

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