aluminium panier

[marc-grenier]

I would like to install some aluminium panier on my Honda transalp ( 1992 )

Those from TOURATECH are very good but too expensive for me ( more than 600 € ) .

On the net I found this site: http://users.libero.it/elio.man/moto/panniers.htm

This site give a list of the different paniers, most are made in Germany.

I would like to have some feedback on this paniers, wich one to you advise for the honda transalp

Thanks

Marc

[beddhist]

Salut,

Another site in German to help you make a decision: http://www.adventure-enduro.de/alukoffer/

I have panniers from Off the Road, but can't recommend the company, plus the panniers they now sell are not the ones I bought.

There has been extensive discussion here on the merits of various brands of panniers. Any of them should fit your bike with a bit of mechanicking.

[Hindu1936]

Through HUBB forum we have found http://Happy-Trail.comm and after a couple of letters and looking at the specs we think we will go with them. Because Kwang Hee and I are riding a scooter around the world and not getting off pavement anymore than we have to, we probably don't need the durability of the hardier folks who take off across the deserts or the more rugged roads in South America. 2mm should be strong enough. They are considerably cheaper than the more robust boxes offered by the renowned German maker for the simple reason they are not as tough.

We have also been talking to a local box maker here in Korea. He agreed to make the three boxes needed according to our specs for equivalent of $600.00 U.S. The top box would be 60cm x 40 x 40. The two side boxes would be 50x 25 x 44. double reinforced on the upper edges, rolled and channeled for water-tightness and the lids would have tie down handles. They have a lot of experience making boxes for the restaurant delivery trade, but this would be the first time making boxes for a mtorcycle.

Opinions--would 600 bucks be too much when for another 100 I can get much the same thing from Happy-Trail????

[Grant Johnson]

Originally Posted by Hindu1936

Through HUBB forum we have found http://Happy-Trail.com and after a couple of letters and looking at the specs we think we will go with them.

We have also been talking to a local box maker here in Korea. He agreed to make the three boxes needed according to our specs for equivalent of $600.00 U.S. The top box would be 60cm x 40 x 40. The two side boxes would be 50x 25 x 44. double reinforced on the upper edges, rolled and channeled for water-tightness and the lids would have tie down handles. They have a lot of experience making boxes for the restaurant delivery trade, but this would be the first time making boxes for a mtorcycle.

Opinions--would 600 bucks be too much when for another 100 I can get much the same thing from Happy-Trail????

I think that's pretty easy to answer - a resounding YES! There's a LOT more development work and tricks involved in making a set of panniers than you'd ever believe - until you've done it. Question though - does HT really sell all three boxes for 700? If so, what a deal!

The ONLY caveat I'd make to that would be mounting system - who's mounting it? If it's your Korean friends, and they have to make a rack for the HT panniers OR the ones they make, then it's more likely to be a better deal to have them do it all. Think about all the steps involved before making a decision.

hth

[Hindu1936]

Thanks Grant, that basically was our feeling and that is why you could tell we were getting the Hapy Trail. They are 179 each for the side boxes and 279 for the tob box. They are made in Boise and since I will be riding out that way this summer I will stop and pick them up. They responded immediately to my inquiry. As to the mounting system: you are familar with kwang Hee's need for support brackets and those preclude any possibility of a normal mounting system so I have invented my own. It will involve a bit of welding to attach eyes to the boxes and hooks on her support verticals so the boxes will drop onto the hooks and latch in the back. The left latch will be quick release because of the location of the Burgman's gas tank. We will also buy the 13 liter gas can from Teschberndt that fits inside the pannier and for the stretch down out of Morocco will carry that, the full tank, and 2 more gallons. 9 gallons should get us across safely with a big margin for headwinds.

I am buying a TIG welder as soon as I get back to the states and do most of the other work myself. I just won't have time to make my own boxes. The planning stage is over and now it is acquistion time and wait for retirement date. Maybe--there are strong nibbles on two books and if either sells-90 day notice and gone. I don't see anything new about Nigeria.

[Hindu1936]

Well, Old Woman has solved part of the time problem. She fell and shattered her right hip and just came out of surgery 7 hours ago. There will be some time needed for her healing and I will use that time to build the attachment brackets for the Happy Trails boxes. I have a friend who, unknown by me until now, has a hobby of building roll-cages for dragsters. He said he could easily bend and shape the tubing for my proposed brackets and even make hinge setups for the boxes so they come off easily and the left one will swing to allow access to the gas tank filler cap. Something for others to consider--look for a body shop as most of them do tubing fabrication-bending work. Looks like we have just added 6 more months to our proposed departure. Wayne Langrille at www.Hardcases.com builds some pretty good looking sidecases for bikes that are mostly going to be hiway machines. too small for our purposes, but high quality.

[Redboots]

From Bernd Tesch (http://www.alukoffer.de/English/EIndex.html), for €669 you can get two 46 ltr panniers and the rack.

Reason I chose these is that the rack is made of square tubing, (10 times stronger than round), mounts at 6 points (BMW R100GS), and will act as a crash-bar for thoses inevitible spills!

The web site is not the simplist to navigate, but persevere

John

[Matt Cartney]

Hi,
Check out:
http://www.eibcltd.co.uk/
They have simple alu boxes for £80 a pop. I have just used them on a return trip to Iran and they are good value for money. I used them with a Touratech rack which is very solid. The boxes, fitting kits and TT rack cost about £400 all up. (About 600 euros?)
The boxes are quite thin but reinforced in the base and lid with thick bands of alu. I dropped the bike in the dirt several times causing minor buckling and crashed the bike at 30mph, the pannier taking the full impact on the road. It was pretty dented but stood up for the rest of the trip and remained waterproof. I plan to repair it now I'm home with a couple of alu plates and expect it to last for years to come.
The locks are crap but I believe this is a common fault of many bike panniers for some inexplicable reason.
If you are looking for panniers on a budget you could do a lot worse.
Matt

[JonStobbs]

Originally Posted by Redboots

From Bernd Tesch (http://www.alukoffer.de/English/EIndex.html), for €669 you can get two 46 ltr panniers and the rack.

Reason I chose these is that the rack is made of square tubing, (10 times stronger than round), mounts at 6 points (BMW R100GS), and will act as a crash-bar for thoses inevitible spills!

The web site is not the simplist to navigate, but persevere

John

I can reccomend Bernt Tesch's travel cases having looked at them in detail at his meeting a month ago.Very strong and well built,and the frames are certainly up to the job too.

[Caminando]

Originally Posted by Matt Cartney

Hi,
Check out:
http://www.eibcltd.co.uk/
They have simple alu boxes for £80 a pop. I have just used them on a return trip to Iran and they are good value for money. I used them with a Touratech rack which is very solid. The boxes, fitting kits and TT rack cost about £400 all up. (About 600 euros?)
The boxes are quite thin but reinforced in the base and lid with thick bands of alu. I dropped the bike in the dirt several times causing minor buckling and crashed the bike at 30mph, the pannier taking the full impact on the road. It was pretty dented but stood up for the rest of the trip and remained waterproof. I plan to repair it now I'm home with a couple of alu plates and expect it to last for years to come.
The locks are crap but I believe this is a common fault of many bike panniers for some inexplicable reason.
If you are looking for panniers on a budget you could do a lot worse.
Matt

I agree with Matt here. These are good value for money especially as some box prices are wildly extortionate. I suggest that with the Alpos boxes you should back them where they mount to the frame with another sheet of aluminium; they do need stiffening/doubling at this point. Just bolt or rivet the plates to the back of the box. Cut the plates with an angle grinder. I got my Alpos boxes for half the price of most other boxes, and managed to get smaller ones too (30 litres-ish); I think most boxes are far too large.

PS Some naughty people use roadsigns as a source of ally but this of course is wrong.

[richardb]

I saw some ally LP boxes in my local HMV the other day. Compact, light, and cheap. Probably not very strong. and would need beefing up from security point of view, but they got me thinking.

I had big TTechs before, and was thinking of having some soft ones this time for my new AT. But I like the idea of having something lockable, and want to avoid a top box. so maybe these cheapies would be good, as long as I could figure out how to mount them.

[fcasado]

Denis and Matt,

That's just what I was looking for

I've got the Alpos panniers (36L) mounted on the 1150GS with those SW - Motech frames (4 point fixing) and I'm leaving on monday to the continent on a long (ish) trip and my only concern now is: will they do the job?What if I drop the bike, the frames seem to bend easily...In fact it's already a bit bent on the exaust side as when taking the bike out of the the other day I got that side on the gates, what a stupid I'm I know...

How much weight would they stand up to?

Any help appreciated - Denis, feel free for the p*iss taking 'cos I know you will anyway

Fernando (a very worried man right now)

p.s. - Sorry to hijack your thread Marc

[Matt Cartney]

Hi Fernando.
I'm not sure about the SW Motech frames as I have the TT ones. But, if you have time I'd heartily recommend Denis's tip of reinforcing the inner side of the Alpos pannier with a thin sheet of alu or even steel.
As to the frame, again if you have time, find some way of beefing them up.
Having said that, I didn't and my frames and boxes did the job OK. I'm sure you'll be fine. I put the bike down on a wet road at 30mph, the pannier took the brunt and got pretty badly crushed. It still lasted from Romania to Iran and back to the UK though!
Matt

[fcasado]

Originally Posted by Matt Cartney

Hi Fernando.
I'm not sure about the SW Motech frames as I have the TT ones. But, if you have time I'd heartily recommend Denis's tip of reinforcing the inner side of the Alpos pannier with a thin sheet of alu or even steel.
As to the frame, again if you have time, find some way of beefing them up.
Having said that, I didn't and my frames and boxes did the job OK. I'm sure you'll be fine. I put the bike down on a wet road at 30mph, the pannier took the brunt and got pretty badly crushed. It still lasted from Romania to Iran and back to the UK though!
Matt

I definitely should've reinforced the panniers, but I haven't and possibly won't as the time is running out . But as I'm heading to eastern europe, I might find someone on the way who would be keen to do it...

How do the TT frames attach to the bike? The motech ones have 4 fixing points, but some how they don't seem too strong...

BTW, I read your report and it cheered me up for my trip...Sad you had to come back earlier than expected, but sure it was the right decision.

Cheers
Fernando

[fcasado]

This is how they attach to the bike:
















Note: This photos have been taken from the UKGser website