New luggage options for all bikes

[ChchChris]

Hi All, I could be well behind the 8 ball here but after looking into extra capacity for luggage on my bike which included a rack for my top box (very expensive) and getting a friend to make something I found a low budget solution. I have attached 4 boat rope cleats to the lid of my top box, these are cheap from Mitre10 and were easy to attach, now I can put loads more on top box especially long items like tents etc when travelling 2 up. Photos attached.

[Waihou Thumper]

Awesome! Now make an adapter for the petrol cap and install a mast.....
Then you can sail around the south saving fuel my man!

A chair? Geez...come on, lose that, tough it out.
Maybe get a smaller one, I know there are ones available, smaller, foldable.

I went down that track sometime ago, looked for ways to attach things to the Givi's....
If it works that's great. That is the main thing. It's like everything, the more space you have the more you want to carry.
A nice Givi top box, a rolled waterproof Ortlieb bag behind you secured to the rack and saddle, and a small back pack or tank bag, that's about it I reckon..

[bart]

Great idea...but...it encourages you to carry even more weight up high and behind the back axel, making the bike handle badly.

If for open road touring it probably doesn't matter so much.

[AllanB]

Good plan man. I'd recommend a blob of silicone under the cleats when mounting so the bolt holes in the top box stay water tight.

Now just don;t get too carried away and start drilling holes in your petrol tank to add more cleats ....

[Gremlin]

Also be careful of how much weight you're putting in or on the box. It's still mounting in the same way...

[Daffyd]

The best luggage system I've seen was the Hepco & Becker system that was fitted to the Virago I had some years ago.

Made in Germany, it had a rack on which you could strap stuff and included side racks for mounting panniers. You could clip a top box, which had another rack on the lid, on to the rack. So, in effect you had a very flexible system.

Prolly not available in NZ; mine was imported from the UK along with the bike. I believe it was very expensive.

[Night Falcon]

Also be careful of how much weight you're putting in or on the box. It's still mounting in the same way...

lost a top box once on route to 42nd Traverse when we decided to do ride some fire breaks along the Napier/Taupo. Hit a whoop reasonable hard and it just ejected off its mount. Didn't realize it had gone till someone said "I thought you had a top box on the back of the 690?"

[Waihou Thumper]

lost a top box once on route to 42nd Traverse when we decided to do ride some fire breaks along the Napier/Taupo. Hit a whoop reasonable hard and it just ejected off its mount. Didn't realize it had gone till someone said "I thought you had a top box on the back of the 690?"

Yeah, but possibly that might have been from the Monokey not being secured properly? Or was it damaged to show failure?
There is three points of contact to secure them, so very difficult to just pop off?
Marty, you must have had an older one surely? I have a few and they are rigid in place and cannot just 'pop' off....
Home made mount adapted for the 690? or a Givi plate?

[MarkH]

If you aren't 2-up then you could use what I do:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o01_s02
Extra large bag - 110 Litres.

I either strap it to the rear seat of the ST1300 or to the rear rack of the DR650, either way works really well.



The bag is big enough to hold a tent (even a fairly large one) and chair and more.

[Night Falcon]

Yeah, but possibly that might have been from the Monokey not being secured properly? Or was it damaged to show failure?
There is three points of contact to secure them, so very difficult to just pop off?
Marty, you must have had an older one surely? I have a few and they are rigid in place and cannot just 'pop' off....
Home made mount adapted for the 690? or a Givi plate?

I was surprised too I'd have to say mate. It broke from the mounting plate at 2 of the connections - luckily weren't too far from Taupo so went to the Warehouse and bought a big red duffle bag for rest of the trip. The top box shattered on landing so hift it in a skip.

I hit a decent whoop at about 70kph (unexpected) got some good air and landed hard enough to bottom the shock so it wasn't the top boxes fault.

EDIT: did some digging and found a pic of the mounting plate. It was so long ago I forgot it was on my 990 not the 690. The attachment shows where I tried to fix the plate to fit another top box but you can see where it broke.

[JATZ]

A chair? Geez...come on, lose that, tough it out.
Maybe get a smaller one, I know there are ones available, smaller, foldable.

I have one of these well.... not that one, but one similar. Worth it's weight in gold, I'm to old to be sitting on the ground for to long

lost a top box once on route to 42nd Traverse when we decided to do ride some fire breaks along the Napier/Taupo. Hit a whoop reasonable hard and it just ejected off its mount. Didn't realize it had gone till someone said "I thought you had a top box on the back of the 690?"

I've seen a givi smashed of the back of a tenere when it fell over, smashed 2 of the mounting lugs and it was only a little drop, and I had the top box fly off the back of the Triumph when I went over a slight bump in the road, however I may have been going quite quick and I suspect the passenger gave it a nudge when we went from going forward to going down then up very quickly

[Woodman]

I,ve seen a top box fly off after hitting a bump. It went way up in the air and passed the bike. He wasn't going real fast either.

[Waihou Thumper]

Bought a Givi Monokey plate for the DR800s.
I shopped around and got one from Motomail with free shipping.
Once mounted I can use any of my boxes, for any of the bikes as there is one standard system for all. Pretty cool except.....

Damned if I know how to get the original rack off the back? I have to do this to mount the plates underneath with a nut. There isn't enough room to get fingers underneath.
The rack will come off somehow but it looks like I have to remove tail lights, indicators mounted to the rack and side covers to somehow try and access four bolts underneath.
Damn difficult if you ask me....
Might have another look Monday.....
$75 here compared to over $100 USD on eBay...

[GPS MAN]

No top box for me...