Hi everyone, this is my first post and I hope not to bore you.

I recently bought an XT600 2KF and am going to make a rack for it with pannier braces, however, while measuring up and figuring out a design I came across a problem. The exhaust! With the exhaust being high up the luggage rack will need to extend over it and to do that and remain symmetrical it will need to be 18" wide and that is without panniers. Surely that will be too wide. Has anyone made up a rack for this bike and if so how was the problem overcome? Has anyone bought a rack for this bike? How did the manufacturer overcome the problem? A straight forward luggage rack for a top box is not a problem ( I have already made one of those) But I want to incorporate the mounting for panniers. If anyone can give the width and length measurements and if possible a pic that would be great.

Love the bike and so far this is the only problem (once I learned how to start it).

You have a great forum here. Hope to make more use of it.

Dave.

Hi Buzzbum, welcome to the site.

There are a lot of current bikes with high mounted single pipes and it does cause some problems with mounting side bags. However, this is in reality just a cosmetic issue. Having one side sticking out an inch or maybe two more than the other may look odd at first but it makes very little actual difference to the day to day use of the kit when touring. Both of my bikes have this issue, Tiger 1050 and XT250. I don't even notice the difference now at all, you can't see it when you're riding anyway! As for the bags sticking out further than the bars, again they're well within the normal "safety zone" where I feel comfortable riding. If you're dispatching or riding in heavy traffic filtering then it may cause concern but for normal riding it's ok.

My advice, just make them fit the bike, put your camping gear in your panniers and go!

You can make them different sizes or make a recess for the the exhaust. Voilá

ZMW Adventures - Z's Motorcycle Werks - Used KTM 640 ADV Touratech Panniers

RMS - Reinhard Guhr Rennsporttechnik

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Poul
If Life Gets Boring, Risk It !

Hi Flyingdoctor, I agree with the sentiment "get on and do it" and that is why I made the rack for my top box, but I decided more thought was needed to mount panniers as it's not as straightforward as it seemed at first. Making haste slowly is often the quickest way in the end. It's good to know that it is possible to get used to a lopsided look though.

Hi pbekkerh, thanks for the info. I had thought of making the panniers different sizes but was not sure how it would work out, but from these images I now have no doubts. I was going with "soft luggage" in mind for financial reasons but will reconsider that now if I can lay my hands on some sheet ally at the right price. It makes use of the space below the exhaust which soft luggage would waste.

Thanks again and back to the drawing board.

Dave.