DRZ pannier frames:

[Steve Pickford]

Just finished building these pannier frames for my partners DRZ in preparation for her trip to South America starting mid-August:









Few more here: DRZ PANNIER FRAMES - Steve's Photos

Started with the Suzuki rear rack and a pair of Givi pannier racks for an airhead GS:



Once I removed all the bracketry, I wrapped some 3mm x 25mm steel bar around the 5 litre fuel can before welding. Once I'd mounted the right hand loop, I lined up the left hand loop before mounting it. I could have kept the width down by locating the frames more rearwards but wanted to keep the centre of the frames in line with the rear wheel spindle. The two main mounts on each side are made from steel tube, 16mm OD with a 1.5mm wall thickness with 10mm stainless capheads passing through, secured with Nylocs.
I then turned down some steel bar to match the internal diameter of the 16mm tube & then drilled 8mm holes through. In to 20mm sections of tube, I welded 5mm lengths of drill steel bar. Four of these provided the mountings for the mounts on the footpegs & the frame on to which I'd already welded a 6mm thick lug. By mounting to the frame itself, I've used the pannier frames to brace the subframe. Stainless 8mm capheads slid easily in to the front mounts.

I also incorporated a Tooltube for Tyre Levers etc, a bolt through the cap plus an O'ring will prevent the cap coming loose. The final part was the rear brace, 16mm tube used once again in conjunction with 10mm stainless capheads.

The Givi frames cost £50 & I reckon I spent another £50 on 3 metres of steel tube, flat bar, welding gas & wire plus stainless bolts. So far I've spent between 30 & 35 hours on them, they still need to be removed, blasted & powdercoated. They'll be fitted with waterproof Ortlieb panniers. Total width is very slightly wider than I'd like but the weight distribution is much better for it. She'll be riding away from the cities, mainly in Argentina & Chile so width is not that big a deal as she won't be filtering through heavy traffic.

We'll be fitting blue bodywork from the other DRZ plus a Clarke tank, rad guards, Wolfman tankpanniers & tankbag plus a front mudguard brace. I've already fitted Talon lowering links & 'bar risers to allow the forks to be pushed through by 20mm. Rear preload is on max at present which is why it doesn't look that low. Once new chain & sprockets, pads & more suitable tyres are fitted, it will be pretty much ready to go.

Thanks to Louisdut for the idea for the additional can.

[Mickey D]

Great prep on the DRZ! Five Stars!

I have seen these Happy Trails racks used with some success.

Suzuki DRZ400S Original Side Racks - KLR650 & Adventure Touring Motorcycle Luggage and Aluminum Panniers

They tuck in a bit closer but won't allow for the inboard storage you've devised. Sounds like she'll be well loaded for a year or
two camping trip! Safe riding y suerte!

[*Touring Ted*]

EXCELLENT WORK !!!!

Much better than my 20 minute effort !!

I don't know why I never thought of using donor frames !

[Steve Pickford]

Thanks for the compliments.

The Happy Trails look as if they only have two mounting points per side:



I also don't like the fact that the rear of each frame is unsupported i.e. lacks a cross-brace. Also made from 0.5" tube (12mm) where most other frames are 15mm minimum.

My welding leaves a lot to be desired IMO, I don't practice enough to get good at it. If in doubt, I pile the weld on..... All welding was done with a cheap Clarke 100amp MiG welder that I bought nearly new about 12 years ago. Now thinking of investing in a tube bender & a cheap TiG welder that will allow me to do steel, stainless & ally welding. I bent the tubes for the DRZ frames in a vice around mt MiG welders gas bottle.

[*Touring Ted*]

Steve !! I just noticed that you havn't fitted case savers to the clutch and generator covers ! (not that I can tell anyway)

This is a MUST with the DRZ400. The cases are very very thin. In a topple, the brake or gear pedals usually smash through them.

Available widely for about £20-£30


Are you fitting a bigger tank too ????

BTW, the rads are pretty weak too. Neil (my riding partner) has an Aqualine tank and dropped his bike last week and the seams split on the rad. UNIBIKER make GREAT guards for the DRZ (see on my blog below).

I welded a 3" square onto my side stand too. My DRZ loved to sink into even the hardest of dirt.

I hope i'm not trying to teach my granny how to suck eggs here, you obviously have a talent for prep !

[Steve Pickford]

Thanks Ted, well spotted but......

Awaiting delivery of rad guards.

I'm making case protectors out of 2.5mm thick ally sheet as I've done on my 950SE, already holed a clutch cover when the brake pedal went through it.

I'll either make another case saver around the front sprocket out of 6mm steel or use the similar one I've made previously that's fitted on the other DRZ. Ela holed an engine last November when a chain snapped, left a 25 x 5 mm vertical hole in the clutch arm/shaft housing. I cleaned it out, shaped some ally to suit & had a friend weld straight over the top, worked a treat at no cost apart from new chain, sprockets, rear tyre (soaked in oil) and several oil flushes & filters, wish I'd taken a pic of the damage before & after the repair.

Got a large (14.8 litres?) Clarke tank in blue in the garage awaiting fitment, will be fitted along with the rest of the blue bodywork from the other bike in due course.

Re: sidestand: not making any mods until the bike's fully loaded as I may need to shorten the stand a little, if so, this is when I'll increase the footprint.

Did you use a standard shock or a heavier spring or re-valve etc?

[Mickey D]

Originally Posted by Steve Pickford

Thanks for the compliments. The Happy Trails look as if they only have two mounting points per side:



I also don't like the fact that the rear of each frame is unsupported i.e. lacks a cross-brace. Also made from 0.5" tube (12mm) where most other frames are 15mm minimum.
My welding leaves a lot to be desired IMO, I don't practice enough to get good at it. If in doubt, I pile the weld on..... All welding was done with a cheap Clarke 100amp MiG welder that I bought nearly new about 12 years ago. Now thinking of investing in a tube bender & a cheap TiG welder that will allow me to do steel, stainless & ally welding. I bent the tubes for the DRZ frames in a vice around mt MiG welders gas bottle.

I'm no welding expert but I thought your work looked pretty damn good! Main thing is that it don't crack!
For soft bags its the cross straps across the seat that is really supporting all the weight. In my experience with soft bags, the racks are mostly there to attach to in order to keep bags from flopping about, out of the rear wheel and off the pipe .... most the stress is on the cross straps hung over the seat & rear rack.

I like the tool tube idea. Good to keep heavy things low and central, never behind the rear axle. Happy Trails racks put the bags well forward.

Originally Posted by *Touring Ted*

Steve !! I just noticed that you havn't fitted case savers to the clutch and generator covers ! (not that I can tell anyway)
This is a MUST with the DRZ400. The cases are very very thin. In a topple, the brake or gear pedals usually smash through them.
Available widely for about £20-£30
BTW, the rads are pretty weak too. Neil (my riding partner) has an Aqualine tank and dropped his bike last week and the seams split on the rad. UNIBIKER make GREAT guards for the DRZ (see on my blog below).

Plus One on Ted's suggestion. I punched a nice hole in my left side case. Remember, covers are Magnesium! I used Chewing Gum to plug the hole! The aftermarket covers a definite must. I also bent my Rads (My DRZ-E was my dirt bike) but never busted one open. Guards are well advised, pricey bastards though. Mine could do about 60 mpg
(US gallons) (in cruise, non dirt mode).

[gixxer.rob]

Nice work and description Steve, be sure to post a picture of the finished bike. I and many others i'm sure, would love to see it.

[Steve Pickford]

Pics of the finished item will be posted in due course.

Re: rad guards, when I first looked, they seemed to be quite expensive until I found this guy on Ebay:

SUZUKI SMS RADIATOR GUARDS DRZ 400E RMZ 250 on eBay (end time 18-Apr-10 22:05:26 BST)

£40 buy it now price inc. postage. I put in a bid of £30 & won the auction. I know they're intended for a 400E but if they're different, I'll make them fit at that price. They're due to arrive imminently, I'll post if if the fitting is any different to the 400S.

Using Ortleib panniers, I'll thread the closing strap through the small loop welded to the top of each pannier frame. The Ortleibs attach across the seat with 2 x 3" wide velcro straps, I'll also be threading another strap across the seat that threads through the carrying handles & snaps together.

[*Touring Ted*]

I'm using the standard shock with 11,000 miles on it.. No leaks or squeaks that I can see.

I'll wind up the preload just a touch. I road tested it and it was fine !

I've got to the point where I dont want to spend anymore money.. Enough is enough !!

[Steve Pickford]

My only gripe with the standard shock is that it's a PITA to adjust the preload. Anyone know of a reasonably priced aftermarket shock that comes with a (remote?) hydraulic preload adjuster?

[Mickey D]

Most modern aftermarket shocks for the DR400S can be ordered with the option of having a remote pre-load adjuster: Wilburs, WP, Elka, Ohlins, Penske all offer remote preload on many of their shocks for most bikes. Costs extra of course.

I have an older (10 years) Ohlins on my DR650, no remote preload adjustment. I don't ride two up so pretty much, once it has been set, I'm done.

It does have easily accessed compression and rebound adjustments ... and they actually work! One thing I really like is the RIDE HEIGHT adjuster on my Ohlins. Very handy and easy to raise or lower rear ride height by about 1 1/2 Inch. There are a number of reasons why a ride height adjustment is good to have. I am pretty sure ALL the above companies offer this as well.

If it were me, I'd have the stock KYB item re-valved and re-sprung and set up to appropriate weight/load and riding style, set preload (manually) and leave it.

A local suspension company (Aftershocks) modified our DRZ-E suspension this way and transformed the handling of the bike. (for enduro riding and Baja)

[jim lovell]

Hi Steve rack looks great. Draper have got tig welders on offer at the mo, stock no 43954 looks pretty good for the money £273.90
Cheers Jim

[Steve Pickford]

Thanks Jim, the cheaper TiG's tend to be only capable of welding steel. I'm thinking of spending £500+ on one that's capable of welding aluminium.

[JoeHilo]

A couple of years ago I was setting up a DRZ for an ATW trip. I was asked to write a note on my preparations. Here the link to ADVrider. Maybe this might be of some help

Setting up a DRZ for ATW trip - ADVrider