My DIY rack and panniers. Pics and details.

I recently sold my car and the tractor is now my main form of transportation, thus I needed to increase its cargo capacity. Being a pretty odd and old bike (1996 Honda VFR750) the only commercial option I saw were the Givi cases and mounts. Even the most basic set up would cost me over $600. So I decided to make my own.

Making and mounting panniers for under $50, little to no tools, and almost zero fabrication experience.

First, I set out to look for the actual boxes. After much research and indecision at various stores I settled for US Army ammunition cans. The 11X16X5 in 60mm mortar ones. Why ammo cans?

* Cheap at $10 per box
* Airtight and durable
* Come in a variety of shapes and sizes
* Many places to get replacements

So here are the said cans.



I then continued to see how they would fit on the VFR by using bungee cords.





Satisfied with the looks I now needed a sturdier replacement for the bungee cords. Thus I pulled off the plastics and was surprised to see two holes in the frame already pre-drilled and threaded.





Obviously, the plastics of the bike would not allow me to attach the panniers directly to these holes, so I decided to make L -shaped brackets from aluminum (aluminium). Scroll down to the test fitment part if you're impatient.

I went to my local hardware store, in this case, ACE Hardware and picked up some aluminum square tubing, L - shaped door brackets, and nuts and bolts to hold everything together and WASHERS. Lots and lots of washers. I can not stress the importance of those enough when putting together anything that requires tension.



I chose aliminum vs steel because it was cheaper, much lighter, and a lot easier to cut and drill. Steel would be weldable and stronger.

Using a folded sticky note as my 45 degree angle I started making the actual rack. The pictures below are out of order, but the point is to test fit as many times are you can.















A few things happened on the way. First, the plastics would not go on over the brakets, so I ended up having to cut out bits and pieces of it to make it fit. The whole thing looked crooked and did not line up properly. Turns out - the plastics were not on straight and the previous owner that installed the turn signals and tail light also but it on croocked.









I tested the whole thing by trying to break of the racks with my weight, but they worked out just fine.

To attach the ammo boxes, I simply drilled holes and used very large washers along with rubber ones to spread the stress.



They were then bolted to the bike.








Here is the final product. I added a flex-bar to prevent the cans from bending inward .The front is supported by the passeneger pegs.

 

Tres cool!

 

Fugly bags, but man, what a great job! I'm impressed, I did notice in one picture that the wires to the computer may rub on one of the brackets.

I might steal that idea, and put some on my DT175, it's a Yamaha enduro.

Good job
Robert

 

Very cool, nice job.........would look great if you painted the rest of the bike Army green.

 

Look out Touratech...redux is chasing your market share
Simple, durable, effective, not too wide and oh yeah... CHEAP! Probably even crash proof.
Bet I could fit some of these in similar fashion on my FZR1000 - seeing as Givi doesn't offer a bag option.

 

I had written a friendly critique all written up... then I noticed that you addressed the the things I was commenting on... namely the rear cross-bar and the connecting the boxes to the passenger pegs. So... Good job!

 

So a month later, how have they held up?

 

I actually had the misfortune of crash testing the set-up. Dropped the bike trying to park on under-funded streets.

They held up just fine and acted as frame sliders. Nothing was bent, just some scratches. The seals work well - no water in them even in the pouring rain.

I am trying to make a quick-release mechanism as having to under 4 bolts every time I am taking on a passenger is annoying.

 

Love it! Has some serious attitude. I am definitely stealing this idea if I ever need more luggage than my top case.

 

You think they could be mounted to accommodate a pillion? Nice job!

rick

 

nice work, my only criticism is that you should have gone with the 20mm ammo cans so they could have been loaded from the top instead of from the front.

 

nice work but wouldnt hold enough for me ill stay with givi

 

Creative, but not my cup o' tea....

 

Now, all you need is a mount for your red mountain bike.

 

Hi, I think I saw this on another forum somewhere, and I think you stated that you no longer consider this rig safe? I'm just curious. Is that still the situation? I was going to attempt to construct a similar design, but instead of using those door frame L brackets, I was going to have a buddy weld all of my seams. I was also considering some sort of tube frame design.. My main interest would be in building a luggage rack for the rear. Something clean and discreet, which does not exist from what I've found for 96 vfrs

 

Homemade luggage

Here's what I learned doing my own adaptation of Krausers from an 80's BMW.

Good mounting points on subframe. Another good point is the bolt hole on each passenger footpeg.

I used 1/8" X 1" SS strapping from a hardware store. Tough, bends grudgingly and drills, but hard and resilient.

On your removability question, try dzus type fasteners. 1/2 turn on their gone.

Like the ammo cans, but you do need olive drab paintjob to go with it.

Larry

 

I want to see the wicker basket modded to the front cowl!

 

:biggrin::biggrin:looks great... did you reupholster the seat as well??? I like the matching ductape stripes on seat very cool....:wink: i have some old metal trashcans i wonder how that would work??? definetly help out with the storage issue...:thumbsup::thumbsup: