How should I mount panniers on my KLR?
 

Hello all. I just ordered a set of Touratech 35L Zega's and Touratech universal mounts. I plan to have the racks made, and they'll be styled after the happy trails racks. My question is, when I go to mount these, how should I go about it? It seems like every one does it differently. Some are tilted forward, some are level, some are higher than the seat, some are lower than the seat by a few inches. Some are below the turn signals, some move the signals back and put the panniers in the blinkers former locations. So, what's best? I'm putting these on a KLR650 if that matters at all. Thanks in advance for your help.

Wade

It's largely a matter of personal preference and requirements. I have a Touratech 35L and 41L on my KLR, mounted roughly parallel to and a couple of inches below the top rack, with the turn signals relocated.

Mounting the panniers high gives you more ground clearance in turns, which is quite important since the panniers usually stick out quite a bit. Parallel to the rear rack/seat was mostly an esthetic decision for me, but I thought it might also come in useful if I ever wanted to distribute load across both the panniers and the seat and rear rack. It's probably best to mount the panniers as far forward as possible, but the more forward they are the more they're in the way of the rider's legs, especially when trying to walk the bike around while sitting on it. Leaving enough space for a passanger's legs is another consideration. When you balance these out, I think you'll find there isn't really a lot of leeway in how the panniers can be mounted. Relocating the turn signals is pretty much unavoidable, in my opinion.

Cheers,

-Lujo
'99 KLR650