Hows your rack?
 

Hi Ozzee,

We are just starting to think obout racks for out two Mastiffs and were wondering how yours worked out? If it's good could we have some pictures to give us a start on ours? We are planning to get Alpos alu boxes.

Cheers,

Matt

Where did you source the Ammo boxes, they're pretty neat...

What about soft bags?
 

Which type of bags are best when you hit the ground or dirt?
Comments?

If you are trying to find what’s best you have to define what you are going to use it for. For shorter or “light” trips I don’t necessarily use alu-boxes but if we talk about major trips I do.
The quality of alu-boxes (and racks) differs a lot, as always: use good equipment.


I guess my setup weighs a lot more, but even if weight is a factor it I feel that all the positive aspects with the boxes is more important. My bike carries this weight very good.

I park my bike everywhere. Outside of the boxes I have GPS, camera, tent and sleeping bag.
GPS: If the place is dodgy I put in my luggage/pocket. On longer trips I mount it so you need tools to remove it.
Camera: I carry it with me or store it in my luggage
Tent & sleeping bag: Bulky Items which are left on the bike

Soft bags can be opened quite discrete with (or without) a knife.


I don’t have valuables in my tent. If someone wants to steel it they only expose theirself to the guards (if there are any) the few seconds they use to enter and leave the tent. It’s also possible to fabricate an excuse for walking into a tent. It’s not easy to fabricate an excuse for using large tools to open the boxes. Opening them also requires a bit time….
For me it’s not a problem to leave the bike somewhere for a few days.

Usually people don’t plan to steal your stuff. They just pass it and see that it’s easy to steel. If they have to use tools (other then maybe a knife) they will often pass by.


I take what I need, if the place is dodgy I cover the bike.

I find it better to crash with alu-boxes, if they are proper build with a good rack.


I think you have missed a couple important factors here.

Volume:
Soft bag are great for small trips but usually you are not able to carry the same weight/volume. On longer trips I carry up 15 liters of water and 15 liters of petrol and food for a few days. I store some inside the boxes, some outside. This comes beside camera equipment, tubes, clothes and all the usual stuff. It’s hard to do this with soft bags.

Longevity of your equipment:
Your gear has better chance of surviving in a box. Why do people use Pelicase for the camera-equipment and not plastic bags?
I have crashed more then 100 times in speeds up to 110 km/h and have never ruined my gear.

Weather protection:
Alu boxes normally offer better weather protection, especially after a few months of hard use.

Usability:
The boxes can be used as table, chair or you can use it to lift your bike of the ground. Quite a few people get tired of sitting on the ground every evening.

Stickers:
Where to put all the nice stickers? :-)

Conclusion:
For me the positive aspects outweigh the weight on longer trips, 10-15 kg is not an issue on my bike.

Whilst I did also have roll bags on board, I would personally still err towards Ally, compared to soft or plastic.

For me the main reasons that are not dependent on the human element are waterproofing, and strength. Whilst most soft luggage is water proof to begin with, it only takes one thorn etc, to compromise this and we all know how much water can get through a small puncture over few hours in the rain: many a set of waterproofs binned for that I expect.

Then there is the durability aspect: they are likely to come off better in an off, especially as an off is more likely on dirt where the abundance of ripping objects is greater. Weight saving is definitely an issue, but when all was said and done, with two people on board, the advantages of saving 10-12 kgs was out weighted by the advantages above.

Then there is always the risk of fire.

Whilst not 100% secure, it is more of a task to get into a locked pannier than lifting soft stuff off the bike, in a convenient easy-carry package for the thieving git....

For me it also means that stuff that we could live with loosing more easily or cheaply (clothing, towel, travel pillow etc) could stay in the rollbags, stuff like the stove, camera kit, tools could be safely tucked away in a metal box.

Plastic for me, may have many of Ally's attributes, but it is simply that one off can crack them and the are then pretty useless...

For those who manage to travel really light, then soft may be the best option as you can almost keep everything on the bike rather than dangling down the sides.

As it happens I am going to try something new for my Ural: I hope to make plywood, stitch and glue storage for the rig. These are said to be nice and tough, whilst being pretty light too. Being on a side-car, they are less likely to take the full force of a bike falling on them as might be the case on a solo (unless I get it very wrong).

That said, I have read about people making these for their solos and, apparenetly, being very pleased with the results!

I have used plywood covered with a thin Alu-sheet. They plywood worked okay.

http://home.no.net/morndu/alibaba5.jpg

Too much gear here.
total including tools.

No I don’t know… My setup also has a very solid and heavy subframe.
In a few weeks I will have my lighter rally-subframe finished and then I will check the difference in weight between the touring setup and the light setup.
My guess is that the difference will be close to 20kg.

I happen to like dodgy places, maybe because I grew up at a dodgy place

First rule is that the box has to be full all the time. If it’s not full then get an inflatable pillow to make it full (no weight and even great for sleeping).

I see the point about less weight and sure I agree it’s a good thing.
On most of my “bigger” trips I write articles and I usually have a fact-route where I write down number of punctures, number of crashes and so on, that’s how I remember the sum. In Africa I had 66 crashes in a year and I was always able to keep on driving.


Yes it’s good and bad. I don’t carry a lot of stuff but sometime I need to carry loads of petrol and water. I simply don’t know another way to drive 500-750 km unsupported.
This is for one year:
http://www.actiontouring.com/pic/alt.jpg

Hard question… It depends on where he will go and how much he needs to carry.

Well I wrote something like “The quality of alu-boxes (and racks) differs a lot, as always: use good equipment.”
I have had a lot of problems with my previous rack; it was the weak point on my bike for many years. Now I have a setup that works, so it is possible…

The rear subframe has to be capable to do the job and as you say a lot of bikes have weak subframes. That goes for most singles and even if you modify the subframe the handling might be bad. That’s one of the reasons I prefer twins…


This is an old pic (before rebuild)..
http://www.actiontouring.com/pic/park.jpg

Let me guess, worst case: Bike 205 kg + panniers 15 kg + Water 15 kg + Petrol 40 kg + luggage 40 kg = 315 kg. If you include the driver we have 400 kg, still 20 kg below maximum allowed weight. Bike was packed for one years travel.
Normally I don’t carry the tent and the backpack that high on the bike but because of extra petrol and water I had to do it for a few days.
The weight-difference between soft and hard bags is maybe 10 kg, or 2.5% of the total weight.

The bike still rides good. A few people said it was impossible to drive “graveyard piste” with a bike like that. (Route is now described in Sahara Overland as A2)

Well, it doesn’t sound like my kind of bike… A lot of singles perform great in dirt, but not with luggage.

On the other hand I’m planning a desert trip without alu-boxes. I think the setup will be:
-43 litres of fuel in the fuel tank
-A small bag with food, firstaidkit, pump, tubes and a pair of socks
-Tools stored on bike
-7.5 litres water in an integrated tank
-2 litres water in camelback
-3 additional litres of water stored on bike
-Sleepingbag (no tent or mat)
-Camera in custom made small tankbag

It will probably be enough for 2-3 days raids, maybe not touring but it’s nice to try something else.

Front rack
 

Lovely work! Love the front rack, what a great idea... I may have to steal that! :innocent: