home made aluminium paniers

[thetimkirby]

I just introduced my other half to the idea of a trip through Portugal on the @. She looked at the size of the top box and panniers and said 'I don't know how it works with bikes, do you send your luggage on ahead?'

Tim

[sixtring74]

the joy of ali panniers. Break the bank and ya legs.

[Paul-S]

Hi to everyone !
I want to ask for your opinion about the dimensions that I want to use for two aluminium paniers for my AT:

lenght x height x widht

45x40x30 cm - for the left panier
45x40x20 cm - for the right panier

What do you say, are these too big or not ?
Thanks !
Dan

36 ltrs and 54 ltrs will put a lot of weight on your bike and with those width dimensions will be wider than the handlebars so you would need to be careful when overtaking or filtering

Did a trip to Romania and back a few years ago and stayed in Sighisaoura for a few night looking for all the twisty roads in the mountains - fantastic time

[jonspan]

Trying to convince my good lady that we should ride home (UK) from Thailand - current offer is that she drives the back-up truck with the luggage - no pannier is big enough

[raymo]

I must say, with respect, that these boxes are much larger than they need be. The bigger they are, the more you'll take. These are gigantic.

I think every travelling biker should first be a backpacker.

agree the boxes are getting huggggeee these days and are too high up

I know its best to have them the hight of the seat to provide a wide bed fro a large loose bag with all the 'software' but modern bikes are so high at the rear these days that we are puting weight where is should not really be..

agree with the back packing ethic .. when you get back from a trip take it all out and dump what you did not use (excluding tools)

try to keep the bike no wider than the bars..

remember following a 1200GS with fully expanded boxes... funny funny .. he tw@ted so many things those things

[antony]

Hi mate

I have also been thinking of getting some panniers made up, as the sizes I would like are not available, I want to keep the capacity but get the width down as I have some zega panniers 35ltr - 41ltr at the moment on my @ and its too wide. I am going to get the rack taken in, I have measured it and can lose about 80mm without any problems and the panniers I'm going to get built are 500L x 450H x 200W right / 230W left overall with a sloped front this brings them in by approx 150mm . I have spent a lot of time on this subject and these are the best sizes for me, unless I decide to bring them both in on the width by another 10/15mm

[Krtek]

They don't seem too bad.
The (steel!) panniers on my XL600R are 23 x 38 x 45. But then, I had to 'live in them' for 6 months.

Oh, and mine are waterproof, lockable and very well made thank you very much

Mine are very close to the bike though... the whole thing is just under 80 cms which makes the panniers no wider than the handlebars. Try to keep the whole thing as narrow as you can, for better handling.

[Jim Davis]

I much prefer soft bags and minimal at that.

Here's some photos of my latest acquisition for the VStrom, should work on the Vara:

Saddlebags

For the Africa Twin, a bag on the rack and soft bag across the rear seat is my max. Travel light, have fun, carry a couple credit cards.

Here's an idea for clothes - either send them home dirty and buy new, or simply burn to start a campfire, buy new as you go. I don't get the need for all those clothes on an ADV trip.

Oh ya, I don't camp by bike any more. If I want to camp I take the car and dogs, chairs two tents, stove, cooler, etc. Nothing worse than camping light, sleeping on rocks, hauling all that crap, going hungry etc.

My idea of roughing it is a cheap motel.

[AIRWOLF]

Make em yourself mate.

heres some i made earlier;
http://www.xrv.org.uk/forums/africa-...ack-boxes.html

[gemsx]

20cm depth can result to much narrow, 22-24 should be better!
if you ride with a passenger take into mind that the corners can hurt the legs!