Pannier Rack Questions
Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2006 5:16 pmI'll resist the temptation to tell the long story, but suffice it to say that I loved my Tourmaster Cortech soft saddlebags when mounted on my Baghira with the homemade stand-offs that I bent from 1/4" steel rod. Well, now that my cool stand-offs have been twisted into an evil pretzel shape, one bag has a 6" gash in it from following the stand-off into the rear wheel, and the other bag has a hole the size of a quarter burned in it from landing on the muffler, it seems I'm looking for a new luggage set-up.
Anyway, even if I do manage to get the bags repaired, I think I'm done with homemade solutions. So I've been looking for a professionally made rack that I could either use with my repaired soft bags, or mount new hard bags to. So far, I've seen the SW Motech rack that Twisted Throttle sells, and the Touratech rack.
Both racks strike me as overkill, if I'm just going to put my soft bags on it, although they both look great if I go the hard bag direction.
Question(s) 1: Does anyone have the Touratech version? Does it fit anything but the Touratech cinder blocks... uhh... I mean, panniers?
Question 2: I just installed the Baja Designs tailight/fender replacement (which, thank God, survived the saddlebag debacle unscathed), but haven't yet cut off the "hoop." It looks like both the Touratech and SW Motech racks have a support that bolts to the stock rear fender. Do those attach to the hoop, or do they just bolt to the plastic fender (in which case, I'm already screwed)?
Many thanks for any info/ideas/opinions offered.
At least winter's coming up, so I can commence looking for replacement plastic for the damaged tail and sidecover and (hopefully) have the bike ready for spring.
Anyway, even if I do manage to get the bags repaired, I think I'm done with homemade solutions. So I've been looking for a professionally made rack that I could either use with my repaired soft bags, or mount new hard bags to. So far, I've seen the SW Motech rack that Twisted Throttle sells, and the Touratech rack.
Both racks strike me as overkill, if I'm just going to put my soft bags on it, although they both look great if I go the hard bag direction.
Question(s) 1: Does anyone have the Touratech version? Does it fit anything but the Touratech cinder blocks... uhh... I mean, panniers?
Question 2: I just installed the Baja Designs tailight/fender replacement (which, thank God, survived the saddlebag debacle unscathed), but haven't yet cut off the "hoop." It looks like both the Touratech and SW Motech racks have a support that bolts to the stock rear fender. Do those attach to the hoop, or do they just bolt to the plastic fender (in which case, I'm already screwed)?
Many thanks for any info/ideas/opinions offered.
At least winter's coming up, so I can commence looking for replacement plastic for the damaged tail and sidecover and (hopefully) have the bike ready for spring.