Tail Racks, Saddlebags, Tank bags & Misc. luggage

Goggles Pisano wrote:

Remember that Borrego rack from Turbo City I mentioned a few pages back? I went and bought one:



It took a little more than two weeks to arrive which was cool as their website says to allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. Shipping charges were a bit more than I wanted to pay - $18 added to the $99.95 for the rack. Still a pretty good deal.

The mounting instructions were a bit confusing until I realized that what they called the "tail section" was actually the rear fender. At first I thought they were telling me to drill through the taillight/license plate assembly...

It is quite stong - but not lightweight. A plus is I now have something to grab onto when I get stuck.

So for it has passed all my tests...

I love it. I've been puttering around in my garage trying to figure out what I want for luggage rack, paniers, and crash protection for my WRR. With my KLR, the Happy Trails SU rack (panier rack that you bolt anything to) with some cheap Cabela's plastic ammo cans bolted on always saved my bike from the ground and me from the bike. So for bike protection I've been thinking of spending money on paniers and luggage racks rather than tail-section tuck kits and rad guards. Since hard panier mounts don't seem to exist for the WRR (that I know of) I've been trying to come up with my own. It's hard to keep the weight down though since paniers need so much support to keep them from getting pushed into the wheel when you drop the bike. So when I saw your great luggage rack, it occured to me that it would be a nice mount point for something that would be like paniers for storing stuff and protect the bike too. Maybe my pain pills are working too well right now (bad back), but I think I could simply use some big diameter PVC pipe for storing stuff in and protect the bike too and not need any support other than your rack and the sub-frame. I'd better get to the point quick, since I might be repeating myself. So take a peice of 6" or even 8" PVC pipe and anchor it at the bottom to the passenger pegs and at the top to your rack somehow. Obviously you would try to make it easy to remove to get stuff in and out of them. Since they would be running along the existing subframe, they wouldn't need any heavy supporting brackets. You could use smaller diameter pipe on the muffler side of the bike than on the non-muffler side to make things symetrical. The PVC pipe wouldn't be bothered by the heat of the muffler. As for end caps for the pipe, just use your imagination. I think this will work out for me. The only thing I tend to carry that would NOT fit in a 6" or 8" PVC pipe is my air compressor. I'll probably be using a bicycle pump for the WRR -- keeping things light. Like other folks have said of their WRR, I want to be able to load it up with lots of crap when necessary, but would like to be able to easily remove the excess weight of the required brackets, etc.

So does this general idea of PVC pipe anchored at the passenger pegs and your rack sound like it's any good as a replacement for paniers on our little WRR? If this sounds crazy, please let me know so I can adjust my medication dose accordingly.

You can get that rack with panniers.

http://www.turbocity.com/popup_image.php?pID=752

To expand on Shewolf's post (with prices, etc.)
http://www.turbocity.com/advanced_search_result.php?search_in_description=1&keywords=WR250R+rack&x=0&y=0

Krabill wrote:

Oh come on . . . if we're just going to throw everything into a single thread again, I might as well go back to ADV and post in that monster. I wanted a separate thread specifically for the ebay rack. What's the point of having an entire forum to post in if you're just going to consolidate everything into a dozen different threads?

I realize you posted this in February, but if anyone else is wondering...

I have two of those E-bay racks sold by "sr8dirt", one for the WR250 and one for a KLX250.

Both are very well made.

The KLX one is a 4 point mount and the rack seems beefier.

The WR is a smaller and uses a 2 point mount with a third bolt designed to keep the rack from pivoting and seems more slender.

The WR rack has a very slight amount of up and down movement when force is applied to it; this is due to the mounting system. It still seems secure; and I have used it for muling about a 10 pound duffel bag around town with no problems.

The WR rack seems more scaled to the bike and looks like a factory item.

The WR rack does not seem sturdy enough to use as a grab handle for picking the bike up, moving it around, etc.

I also have a Wolman Enduro tank bag and a Dirt-Bike-Gear small rear fender bag, both of which are nice pieces of kit. The DBG bag collapses nicely under the rack, when the rack is installed (I use the rack only for specific tasks and leave it off most of the time).

Chadx wrote:

To expand on Shewolf's post (with prices, etc.)
http://www.turbocity.com/advanced_search_result.php?search_in_description=1&keywords=WR250R+rack&x=0&y=0

I found those shortly after my post about the basic small version of this rack. This looks like over-engineering to the max compared to what I'm looking for. Plus, I'll bet it's a heavy sucker. Plus, I'll bet I could drop the bike on that and bend it easy. The whole point of my post was the suggestion that large diameter plastic pipe be used as storage -- one end anchored at the footpeg and the other anchored to the simple version of this rack somehow. None of that extra metal support bracket stuff (weight) would be needed. Plus, my idea would put the weight more forward than normal paniers. Plus the idea is to not spend a bunch of money.

Goggles Pisano wrote:

Remember that Borrego rack from Turbo City I mentioned a few pages back? I went and bought one:



It took a little more than two weeks to arrive which was cool as their website says to allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. Shipping charges were a bit more than I wanted to pay - $18 added to the $99.95 for the rack. Still a pretty good deal.

The mounting instructions were a bit confusing until I realized that what they called the "tail section" was actually the rear fender. At first I thought they were telling me to drill through the taillight/license plate assembly...

It is quite stong - but not lightweight. A plus is I now have something to grab onto when I get stuck.

So for it has passed all my tests...

Hey Goggles, I'd love to see how that mounts under the fender. Would you mind posting some up-close pics of the mounting points? Also, their web site is a little confusing about how much it weighs. They say the actual weight is 3.84 pounds, but on the same page they say the weight is 9.5 pounds. They do have a blurb about UPS shipping weight not being true weight, so I'm guessing the 3.84 pounds is right. Do you think it weighs more than 3.84 pounds?

I'd like to strap a few gallons of gas to that rack.

Hi,

I just found this rack on ebay... looks kind of cool, and no hole drilling in the rear fender...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/08-09-Yamaha-WR250R-X-Dual-Sport-rack-WR-250-WR250X_W0QQitemZ270382521061QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotorcycles_Parts_Accessories?hash=item3ef40ddae5&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245&_trkparms=72%3A1171|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

tjohnson wrote:

Hi,

I just found this rack on ebay... looks kind of cool, and no hole drilling in the rear fender...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/08-09-Yamaha-WR250R-X-Dual-Sport-rack-WR-250-WR250X_W0QQitemZ270382521061QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotorcycles_Parts_Accessories?hash=item3ef40ddae5&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245&_trkparms=72%3A1171|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

Lame, IMO. That thing looks good, but is not strong enough for much of anything- and they even say to not put more than 10 lbs. on it. Remember, this bike actually is capable of holding a substantial amount of weight on the subframe, so a rack that doesn't compliment that idea seems a bit silly to me.

I think the Turbocity one is my huckleberry. Also they have that 1.5 gallon fuel tank you can put on it for only $70 and that is a lot cheaper than $400 for the big tank that might come out in the next millennium.

I'm just debating on the Wolfman enduro panniers and a small tail bag or the Alpha rear bag.

10 lbs?! Even my rack I have on mine will pack double that.

wahilde wrote:

I'd love to see how that mounts under the fender. Would you mind posting some up-close pics of the mounting points? Also, their web site is a little confusing about how much it weighs. They say the actual weight is 3.84 pounds, but on the same page they say the weight is 9.5 pounds. They do have a blurb about UPS shipping weight not being true weight, so I'm guessing the 3.84 pounds is right. Do you think it weighs more than 3.84 pounds?

I'd like to strap a few gallons of gas to that rack.

Turbo City has a 1.5 gallon tank that fits these racks.

4 pounds sounds about right for the rack - I would have guessed 5 or so. It is strong - hauling a case of beer (bottles) is no problem for this rack.

As far as mounting - longer fender mounting bolts are included which thread through the holes in the subframe and the front mounting bracket is attached to those bolts which makes a much stronger mount than just using the four holes at the top of the subframe. I'll go out later, clean off the bike and shoot a photo or two for you...

Here you go...

Goggles Pisano wrote:

Here you go...

Thanks Goggles! Man, I thought you strapped a five gallon gas can on it and dissappeared into the sunset never to be seen again. Been waiting anxiously to get a view under her skirt. So I'm now going to (finally) order a rack, and this is the one.

Here's what I like and don't like about this rack just from what pics I've seen and stuff I've read and what my plans are for it.
* The front mount point is as far back as it can go and still be on the main triangle, so it's gonna be able to support all the weight the suspension can handle and more. This is good.
* The rear mount point is pretty much at the only place you can put it -- quite far back behind the main triangle which is weak compared to the front mount point. However, if you want to increase the weight-bearing capability of the rear part of the rack, you have options. Since the front mount point is very strong and the rack itself is strong, you add another support that leads from the front of the rack somewhere to somewhere farther forward on the subframe, i.e. from the front of the rack to half way between the front of the rack to the foot pegs on the subframe. The general idea can be demonstrated like this: Imagine you take a crowbar and wedge it down through the front of the rack and try to pivot the rack on the front mount point, thus lifting the rear of the rack. That's the general idea with an additional support that is trying to rock the rear of the rack up, which would give it more weight-bearing capabilities. I probably won't need to to this, but the point is just that the rear load bearing capability could be pretty easily increased by welding or somehow mounting a "rocker" bar to the front of the rack and forward on the subframe. This is good that the rack will support this option if you are creative.
* I kinda wish the rack was wide enough to completely protect the stock rear signal lights from getting trashed when the bike is dropped. For many people this might be a negative. For me, it will actually work well since I'm planning to mount some large-diameter PVC pipe to the side of the bike between the footpegs and the front of this rack. The PVC pipe will make a great bouncing board to protect the bike in a fall and will serve as storage for all kinds of shit. Heavy stuff will be good in the PVC because it will be low and forward keeping the bike from getting top-heavy or waggy.
* It looks like you get to keep your helmet lock with this rack. Hmmm.... Where is your's Goggles? Anyway, this is a good thing.

Looks like a winner for my intended purpose. I'm ordering one right now. Shit, I hate the idea of waiting weeks for delivery, but in theory I shouldn't even have a new bike yet. Loving it.

Any idea if that cross bar interferes with dirtbagz brackets? Left side looks like it won't be an issue. On the exhaust side, it looks like the bar crosses the area that the right dirtbags bracket spans. If they play nice together, this rack might be the solution I need for my rotopax 1 gallon gas can mounting plan.

That bar would go right through the mounting bracket for the dirtbagz. Check this rack for mounting the rotopax...
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9895430#post9895430

Here's my setup, scout dirtbagz with a wolfman enduro tankbag, EB's tail rack.

Thanks, Skierd. I considered biguns side rack, but don't think I'll use 2 gallons often. Course, I could just hang a 1 gallon pack from his side rack. I'm actually looking at getting biguns tail rack and modding it for my rotopas mount. I have a double stack rotopas mount, so I'll be able to put the 1gallon tank on the tail rack or have the option of stacking two 1gallon tanks. Though two 1 gallon will start getting heavy on the tail, I'll likely only use both tanks for really long road trips or just getting to a trail head. Then I can stash one or both tanks plus any other gear I don't want along on the rough and come back to fetch it before heading home or setting up camp for the night.

Does anybody recognize these panniers?



Wait, I think he does!



That's right, I went for a ride today and used my dog's hiking panniers to haul my gear. I'm planning on a Giant Loop bag in the future, but probably not for a little bit yet. I hate carrying tons of weight in a backpack, but I pack like a boyscout so I needed something to carry all this stuff in. Worked great. My Enduro tank bag only holds so much.

Hi all. First post here.

Here's my version of the cutting board rack.
Attached via four 6x70mm bolts and nylon spacers.

I found the blue cutting board at the local restaurant supply. Its not quite a match for the Yamaha blue.
I also added some nylon straps to secure a soft bag or backpack.

I've just gone with the Wolfman Explorer Lite tank bag and the Kriega US-10 Pack Add-On / Tail Bag (without any rack) for now that you cinch both on to the bike. I'm lucky that I live only a few miles from Aerostitch and they carried both and they have a 10% discount (off regular retail price) for walk-in purchases too!






The Wolfman Explorer Lite bag is larger than the Enduro bag and doesn't seem to get in my way and also fits very well on the R². It's easy to move aside when fueling by just unclipping the aft clips and moving it over. I wanted a bag that could hold my camera and easily reached items and found that I carried too much for the small Enduro bag. Since I've really not decided on the Dirt Bagz or the Giant Loop bags I've just cinched on the Kriega US-10 bag for my tools, pump, patch kit and tube. It's low enough to hold a lot of gear and easy to throw your leg over when getting up on and off my R² and it's built like a dry bag so I know it's going to be very waterproof. The Kriega US-10 bag has plenty of extra strap too to cinch it down good either close to the seat or further aft if you need a little more room to move around like I do. I don't have short arms like SheWolf so the first mod I did immediately when I got my R² home was to cut off that annoying strap on the seat!

I'm really waiting to see if Giant Loop comes up with a workable quick disconnect for their bag as their one now requires a few minutes to put it on and take it off now. And if they do come up with this, I know it will be easy to strap the Kriega US-10 bag to the Giant loop bag. I'm just not sold on a metal frame that bends when the bike goes down so I'm not keen on doing it with the Dirt Bagz. Even without a quick disconnect I may end up buying the Giant Loop bag anyway as it just seems like a great design.

smolvar wrote:

Here's my version of the cutting board rack.
Attached via four 6x70mm bolts and nylon spacers.

I found the blue cutting board at the local restaurant supply. Its not quite a match for the Yamaha blue.
I also added some nylon straps to secure a soft bag or backpack.

How did you make the slots for the straps?

Quote :

How did you make the slots for the straps?

I drilled two holes and connected them by pushing the drill bit sideways, but the results are far short of perfect, cosmetically.
I would suggest a router if you have one or access to one.

SheWolf wrote:

Ok, pics of the other side of the bike with the Red Bags.

I really love the simplicity of just throwing some "saddle bags" over the seat like this. I'm thinking of getting two cheap day packs from Walmart and connecting them at the shoulder straps so I can throw them over the seat and anchor the forward corner of each bag to the footpeg mount area.

Has anyone had any problems with the stock muffler/heatshield melting soft bags that rest directly against it (i.e. no bracket to keep the soft bags away from the muffler)?

My stock setup didn't melt anything with those bags on it. Not sure about the Q4, guess I'll find out.

The Q4 get's warm enough to ruin the day of a chocolate bar but it doesn't seem to get hot enough to even burn your hand, too hot to be comfortable but not hot enough to melt anything
How come you dont have your Q4 on there yet Wuffie?

MeefZah wrote:

I have two of those E-bay racks sold by "sr8dirt", one for the WR250 and one for a KLX250.

Both are very well made.

The KLX one is a 4 point mount and the rack seems beefier.

The WR is a smaller and uses a 2 point mount with a third bolt designed to keep the rack from pivoting and seems more slender.

The WR rack has a very slight amount of up and down movement when force is applied to it; this is due to the mounting system. It still seems secure; and I have used it for muling about a 10 pound duffel bag around town with no problems.

The WR rack seems more scaled to the bike and looks like a factory item.

The WR rack does not seem sturdy enough to use as a grab handle for picking the bike up, moving it around, etc.

I also have a Wolman Enduro tank bag and a Dirt-Bike-Gear small rear fender bag, both of which are nice pieces of kit. The DBG bag collapses nicely under the rack, when the rack is installed (I use the rack only for specific tasks and leave it off most of the time).

Re: E Bay rack

I just returned from a 4 day, 1200 mile dual sport ride around the U.P. (See ADV's Cannontrek V ride report if you are interested).

The E bay rack hauled about 10 pounds of camping gear secured in a dry bag, with ROK straps, and it did it just fine. The gear stayed secure, and the rack remained intact.

I did lose one of the 3 bolts holding it down due to vibration, but other than that there were no complications.

The route took us over a good bit of dirt, gravel, offroad, and washboard road, so I think it was a good test of the rack's durability.

Second post. Also, I'm really starting to like this place.

Here's my story:
I have been searching for a tail rack for my bike, but I have failed to
find a decent rack in my price range. So I decided to make my own.
A friend of mine perfected, programmed, and machined the part, but I
sketched the basics. It's 6061 aluminum, and it's very light.

Outline:


CNC Machine:


Finished Product:



Completely custom designed, I have an original rack. All I have left still is Powdercoating. I ususally tie random things to it. I have yet to find the awesome tail bag for it. I think I found it though in this thread (Wolfman Peak Tail Bag).

For the basics, I have a Joe Rocket magnetic tang bag. I found some sweet spots for it to attach the magents.