So I'm planning this trip in the not-too-distant future and have been reading lots of ride reports here and on advrider. I'll be going with my KTM 500, so carrying minimal luggage. Nonetheless I was not too keen on hanging it off the subframe. Opinions seem to differ on the usability of the 500's subframe for luggage, and generally it seems fine - especially looking at more recent reports of people using the giant loop bag.
Nonetheless I decided to make a frame for my luggage, as I'll be carrying 10L extra fuel too.
A few years ago I made my own pannier racks for my 1200GS, using 8mm roundbar. That pannier frame worked beautifully, but for this I decided to use 16mm pipe with a 2mm wall thickness. Being someone that spends most of my time in front of my computer my DIY pooratech skills are somewhat lacking, so this is not a thread to show how beautifully I can work with metal. Quite the contrary. Those purists among you will cringe, I know, at some of my handywork. But I can type beautifully, at least. :lol8:
First up was a means to bend the pipe. For this I pulled out the basic bender that made to bend the roundbar with, but this proved not to work too well with pipe.
Ok so next step is to google some basic pipe benders. The cheap ones you could buy would be too weak for 2mm steel pipe, so I'd have to make my own again. After grabbing some scraps, flatbar and an old bottlejack I put together this basic bender. It does not look nice, but luckily it works a lot nicer than it looks. I was getting nicely perfectly rounded bends.
I went from bends like this...
...to this.
Nonetheless I decided to make a frame for my luggage, as I'll be carrying 10L extra fuel too.
A few years ago I made my own pannier racks for my 1200GS, using 8mm roundbar. That pannier frame worked beautifully, but for this I decided to use 16mm pipe with a 2mm wall thickness. Being someone that spends most of my time in front of my computer my DIY pooratech skills are somewhat lacking, so this is not a thread to show how beautifully I can work with metal. Quite the contrary. Those purists among you will cringe, I know, at some of my handywork. But I can type beautifully, at least. :lol8:
First up was a means to bend the pipe. For this I pulled out the basic bender that made to bend the roundbar with, but this proved not to work too well with pipe.
Ok so next step is to google some basic pipe benders. The cheap ones you could buy would be too weak for 2mm steel pipe, so I'd have to make my own again. After grabbing some scraps, flatbar and an old bottlejack I put together this basic bender. It does not look nice, but luckily it works a lot nicer than it looks. I was getting nicely perfectly rounded bends.
I went from bends like this...
...to this.
