Hepco & Becker -Experiences ?

[*Touring Ted*]

Seen these on Ebay. New !!

£350 a pair. Now that is cheap !

I could kit out my XT for less than £500 with the rack which is £350 cheaper than the Metal mules I was looking at.

So, any thoughts on these ??

Chees.

eBay.co.uk: Hepco & Becker 43 Litre Aluminium Alu Panniers (Pair) (item 190111762516 end time 08-Aug-07 09:27:04 BST)

[Walkabout]

Seems competitive, especially for the delivery charges which are "silly money" for the weight of these things.

A thought is; does anyone make a poor set of hard panniers nowadays? - or put another way, isn't the main competition in the pricing and minor detail in fixings and the like (for which patents have a role to play)?

I would think a search of Hepco and Becker in here and the rest of the WWW would soon find some opinions.

Dave

[*Touring Ted*]

Originally Posted by Walkabout

Seems competitive, especially for the delivery charges which are "silly money" for the weight of these things.

A thought is; does anyone make a poor set of hard panniers nowadays? - or put another way, isn't the main competition in the pricing and minor detail in fixings and the like (for which patents have a role to play)?

I would think a search of Hepco and Becker in here and the rest of the WWW would soon find some opinions.

Dave

Does anyone make crap boxes !! YES !! ZEGA Touratechs !

Wrap some sandwich foil round a cardboard box and your on the right track *awaits abuse*

[Stagbeetle]

Yo Ted the Great

I got a set H&B panniers and frames on ebay for my f650 at the bargain price of £150, and the vendor, Carl, threw in an ali belly plate, light guard, stand foot and Toratech tank bag. Bargain

The rh box had slight damage on one corner and a broken lock, (replaced for £16 at Motobins, they even sought out a lock with the same key number ). It looks to me as though the mounting plate on the rh frame is a little out, and the overlatch is not pulling up tight, and the box fell off at some point. A little elongation of the holes fixed that and they performed well on my trip to Los Amigos at Mannheim, Germany, a couple of weeks ago.

The frames appear to be strong and sturdy and the boxes tough enough. The only other thing is that the stuff you put in them rubs against the inside, and gets a dark grey deposit off of the ali on it. I shall overcome this by putting 'fablon' or some other self adhesive plastic sheeting on the inside. I used a couple of pannier inner bags I had handy on my trip, but they are awkward and take up much needed room.

The boxes make excellent camp table and chairs too, as well as keeping 'nickable' stuff safe around the tent.

Anyway they get my vote

Best of luck with the bidding, I missed an unused extended volume petrol tank still in original packing for the f650 though, when I bailed out at £210, don't suppose anyones got one for those for sale have they?

[forestry]

I bought a set from this seller through his website, 2 H & B alu panniers and rack for XT660 ( Inc Top rack ) for about £520, took about 2 weeks delivery had a slight problem with one of the catches for locking panniers to frame, tried to phone him but no response to my message, sorted problem myself. All in all a reasonable buy but let down with customer service.

[Stagbeetle]

Originally Posted by forestry

I bought a set from this seller through his website, 2 H & B alu panniers and rack for XT660 ( Inc Top rack ) for about £520, took about 2 weeks delivery had a slight problem with one of the catches for locking panniers to frame, tried to phone him but no response to my message, sorted problem myself. All in all a reasonable buy but let down with customer service.

Not sure which seller you mean Forestry:confused1:

If it was Carl at Carnforth you got them from, then he works at the nuclear power station on odd shifts and has no access to phones. Not making excuses, he should make it clear that comms may be a problem. I went and camped in the Dales to pick mine up.

Curious though, if he has made panniers a little side line then he may be getting them from a bike scrapper in Lancaster that he mentioned. Can't remember the name, sorry.

If Motobins, then I have had nothing but good service from them, by post and in person. I can only speak as I find.

[forestry]

Stagbeetle i meant i got them from the same seller on ebay as Ted Magnum, sorry for misunderstanding.

[Matt Cartney]

Hi Ted,

They look the same as the Alpos boxes sold by EIBC for roughly the same price. I got the boxes, but used the Touratech rack (EIBC didn't do a XT rack) which bumped the price up a bit to £400.

They are a bit thin but reinforced with thick bands of alloy round the base and lid. Mine had a few drops and one reasonable accident (30 yard slider into the back of a van) and, after patching up are still going strong. Frankly the Metal Mules are nicer, stronger (probably) and easier to get on and off, but these are a LOT cheaper.

Matt

[*Touring Ted*]

Yo Matt !

I was tempted by the price but I think im still going to go with the Metal Mules.

Im just finding it really hard to hand over £850 quid for some tin boxes
lol

Originally Posted by Matt Cartney

Hi Ted,

They look the same as the Alpos boxes sold by EIBC for roughly the same price. I got the boxes, but used the Touratech rack (EIBC didn't do a XT rack) which bumped the price up a bit to £400.

They are a bit thin but reinforced with thick bands of alloy round the base and lid. Mine had a few drops and one reasonable accident (30 yard slider into the back of a van) and, after patching up are still going strong. Frankly the Metal Mules are nicer, stronger (probably) and easier to get on and off, but these are a LOT cheaper.

Matt

[Matt Cartney]

Woah!

I just re-read the post! Didn't realise £350 was sans rack!

Ted, that isn't that cheap for those panniers! The EIBC boxes which I swear look just like those were £160 for the PAIR! (When I got 'em)

Touratech racks plus EIBC poly block attachments took the total to £400.

Matt

[forestry]

Ted is your bike an XT660 ? If it is you cant fit metal mules withiout change your exhaust to a two into one , adds another £500 quid !!

[Matt Cartney]

Originally Posted by tedmagnum

Yo Matt !

I was tempted by the price but I think im still going to go with the Metal Mules.

Im just finding it really hard to hand over £850 quid for some tin boxes
lol

Ted,

I think if I had the money or was going on another big trip Metal Mule is the way I'd go too!

Matt

[mustaphapint]

Originally Posted by Matt Cartney

Woah!

I just re-read the post! Didn't realise £350 was sans rack!

Ted, that isn't that cheap for those panniers! The EIBC boxes which I swear look just like those were £160 for the PAIR! (When I got 'em)

Touratech racks plus EIBC poly block attachments took the total to £400.

Matt

I think these Hepco panniers are better quality then the EIBC boxes. The Hepco panniers are advertised as 1.5mm ali. If your EIBC boxes are the same as mine (we paid about the same price) they are only .8mm I've beefed mine up a bit with some extra sheet but they are nothing like the quality of metal mule.

[MarkLG]

I've got the Hepco Gobis on my KTM (there's another thread on here discussing their shortcomings), and their alu boxes use the same lockable latches to secure the boxes to the rack.
It's a very convenient mounting system, BUT it's not at all suitable for off road use - the area the latch is riveted to distorts and a heavy drop will break them altogether. You'd need to fix them using TT mounts or similar.

I've looked into the EIBC/Alpos boxes and it seems the guy who ran EIBC has wound things up, so they're no longer available.
Another cheap and cheerful option is the Darrs boxes (about 90euros each plus mountings):

DÄRR - Trefferliste - Motorrad

[*Touring Ted*]

Originally Posted by forestry

Ted is your bike an XT660 ? If it is you cant fit metal mules withiout change your exhaust to a two into one , adds another £500 quid !!

Iv got the XT600E mate !