I'm going on a 3 weeker to Morocco in April and need some soft panniers.
Any advice?
I've read about a few on the site but are any of these better for the XT?

Secondly, do I need any kind of a rack to hold soft panniers away from the exhaust and spread the weight? Iain W did- http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb...ML/000016.html as did Bald Git, who had David Lambeth make him something up… http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb...ML/000096.html

Potential Soft Panniers:
 Chase Harper Dualsport Bags
 Jesse bags
 moto-sportpanniers.com
 Ortlieb http://www.ortliebusa.com/motorcycle...addlebags.html
 Oxford panniers, they only do the sport ones now… http://www.oxprod.com/pages/panniers.htm
 http://www.wolfmanluggage.com/
 Aerostich?
 Touratech?

I am taking Oxford SPorts Panniers with me through Africa.
I have built a rack to keep the panniers off the side panels and exhaust. When unloaded, these racks don't interfere with carrying pillion, but once the panniers are strapped on, you wouldn't be able to pillion anymore.

I can email you pics of the rack if you like, but don't have any yet of the bike fully loaded. (I should have these by early next week)

Geoff

Thanks Geoff, I guess the Oxfords are the easiest to buy too in the UK.

If you could send some basic pics of your rack to jenks1000@hotmail.com that would be great. I may well have to get one- depends how light I pack!

Can you recommend anywhere to build lightweight racks in London?

hello

i completed a london-cape town end of last year using oxford sports panniers and an oxford tank bag.

i got the racks made by a top bloke by the name of colin smith, a master craftsman with the welding machine. he made up my side pannier racks and a top box for holding the jerry cans on the back for £100. his number is 01895251145, give him a call. his workshop is in iver, just near heathrow. the only thing i would say is that make sure you secure the racks by at least 3 points on each side (6 total), and reinforce the attachment points - do not just use the fittings that come with the bike rack, as the jarring roads of africa will wear through them in weeks.

oxford luggage is great, and they have a life time guarantee too. only thing to look out for is the fact that they can be removed fairly easily from the bike (i had my right hand pannier taken off my bike in lusaka) - so perhaps secure them with a padlock through the straps or something of the like.

good luck!

cabron

whoops forgot to say how useful the tank bag was - in case you are thinking about not getting one, don't do it! just get one, you won't regret it. great for keeping your valuables in so that when you stop you can just whip off the tank bag and know that even if your bike gets stolen, you still have your passport, camera, cash, etc.

also, the map pouch on the top is brilliant.



(ps i don't work for oxford, just appreciate good design when i find it)

Cabron,
any chance of a picture of your bike loaded up? I'm doing the 'experimental pack' tomorrow and any tips would be handy.

ALso, you mentioned re-inforcing the fittings which the factory rack is fitted to.
What is the best way of doing this?

cheers
Geoff

Thanks- Oxford panniers and a tank bag it is!

I'm having a test run to Wales in March (Pendine Sands and some Brecon Beacon trails hopefully being a good approximation of the Moroccan trails...without the heat)

So I'll see if I need the rack then- if I do I'll ring Colin- thanks again...

Hi,

I went over to africa myself over xmas and used the same set up that everyone is describing. I had the oxford sports panniers and some simple bars I made up myself to hold them off the side of the bike.

I had to make them in rather a hurry before I left and so it was a trip to B&Q for two strips of steel one sun morning and a serious hammering session in the afternoon.

The results were brilliant. I had a great trip. Oddly enough when I stopped at Dave Lambeths on the way south he had a bike with an almost identical set up that that his mate Matt was using, he also thought it was excellent.

If you want details go to the thread on this page 'David Lambeth rebuilt 1vj for sale'.

Follow the links to the photos and you'll see my bike in both before and after trim with and without luggage.

I certainly wouldnt try using the luggage without supports, but having said that I think a rack is way over the top.

Hope this has been useful

Dave

Excellent- maybe even I can bash a couple of sturdy struts like that together
Thanks

http://www.zen14821.zen.co.uk/xtIndex.html

Just to wrap this one up:

I used Colin Smith who was an great bloke and seems to have done a solid job making a lightweight rack for my XT (£60)

There is a review of soft panniers in this months RiDe magazine (UK motorcycle magazine)- the Oxfords come out well.

Cheers

i made the same style of racks as shown in the pictures as posted and as for soft panniers why not use day pack sized backpacks they all seem to have handle on top tie a strap between the two throw them over the top of the seat so the strap rests on the seat and both backpacks hang over either side a couple of occystraps to keep bags in postition and hold a little weight and your in business bye a 3rd daypack sized backpack strap it to the tank as tank bag one lockable topbox for valuables 2nd hand and for less than 100euros your away works for me

Hi all I know this thread is quite old but can anyone send me some pics of soft luggage racks I am just about to buy some ortlieb or andystrapz panniers and want some ideas for preventing them catching fire on the exhaust. Any pictures of this luggage on a XT600 would be great as well.
email: tobyyoung@talktalk.net

Toby,

I've got Metal Mule racks on my Xt600e which seem incredibly strong and secure and Andy Strapz panniers seem to fit onto the rails really well. Just perfect for Morocco I think (I'm off to Mauritania later this year with mine)

Will post pictures later but both my rack and panniers were bought secondhand - if you are patient, something will turn up on Ebay or here

Cheers for that Dick I look forward to seeing what your setup looks like sound very much like what I will go for. Have you gone for a bigger tank? Thats one thing I am really wondering if I need?

£300 on racks does seen a little overkill if you're not fitting the boxes too !

Touratech ones are about £230 (I think) and are actually the same rings than the metal mule ones.

I use soft bags on my AT and bought GIVI monokey racks (very strong and well built) for £85 NEW !

Its funny how givi can make a similar designed strong tubular rack and sell it for £80 and the "Pro traveller" companies seem to think theirs are worth 3-4 times that..

I can even use givi plastic luggage on mine if I feel like it which I had used in the past and actually survived drops and crashes much better than some very expensive Aluminium boxes I had.

Failing that, £10 worth of steel, a vice and a welder will make you racks good enough to keep your bags from melting.

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