► Hard luggage--panniers and topboxes

  • Thread starter Thread starter EmmettC
  • Start date Start date
I too don't like to wide a bike...
I made some panniers that are only 7" wide
Big enough i recon..Here is a pic so you can compare how much narrower they are compared to the Touratech ones on a 1200
You should be able to get some bespoke ones made for a reasonale price and use the Touratech mounting kit
 

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F800 Rob said:
When you listed out the Trax bags, what version were you quoting? The 37L or 45L?
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Rob: I was basing it on Terry Ryan's measurements of his 37+45 system.

Civil: you have a long memory, I saw the prototype in January 2006 I think. I haven't seen a system since and I guess that's what impacts market penetration--people tend to buy products they've seen in real life. I'm intending to spend some time wandering around all the bikes at the HU meeting at Ripley in a couple of weeks time.

GarryH: the 31-litre 'skinny' mules that Elvie has fitted are 7 inches wide but even though she has the Scorpion narrow silencer the overall width on the F650GS is likely to be more than the bike in your photo.

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Tim
 
Crikey! What do you guys put in your panniers to need such large ones? I've suffered enough jokes in my time re kitchen sinks and handbags :potkettle tables are turned methinks!

Admittedly I don't go camping two up, but then I don't think the 800 is the best bike for that anyway. I'm prepared to pay for quality and what I want and have gone for Metal Mules balanced system with 31L skinny panniers & Vario topbox. OK its expensive but the panniers are no wider than the handguards and plenty of room for my needs. They are narrow for bulky stuff - our sleeping bags are too fat for them & go in an Ortlieb bag- so perhaps the standard size would be better. It gives me loads more space then on any of my previous bikes. I just chain my lid to the bike if it's dry, have to take it with me in the wet but it's not a big deal.

It doesn't look it in the photo but the panniers are the same width as tip to tip of the handguards, an inch or so wider than the bars.
 
Tim yes they do fit the 100 well and are narrow
But what i am also saying is at the end of the day they are only aluminium boxes and need not cost a fortune to get made :rob
The aluminium for mine cost me £40 ( and that was cut to size :thumb ) They are 2.5 mm thick so are as strong as hell
I made the mounting kit and got the catches off a old box i had...
Once you decided on a spec it's worth going to a fabricator and get a price. You may be surprised how cheap you can get a set made
 
Tim Cullis said:
I had a more detailed look at the vario pannier mounts earlier this week. Basically there's a bottom support bar on each side and at the top the cases are locked onto mushrooms on each side of the grab rail.

Then I noticed something really stupid. The grab rail is different depending whether or not you have panniers. If you want to add panniers the existing grab rail has to be taken off and a new, slightly different, grab rail installed. What a waste of material and workshop time!

Why on earth doesn't BMW ship the bikes with the vario grab rail already installed? This would
- save the planet :rolleyes:
- maybe halve the £144 cost of subsequently buying vario mounts
- halve the dealer workshop time to install the panniers mounts
- thus encouraging more owners to buy vario panniers

Maybe I should be in product marketing. :augie

Tim
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Hmmm, I'd like to have paid less but it would concern me that I would be donating less of my money to the chaps in Munich.

Anybody wanna buy an "as new" standard grab rail?
Black, low mileage....:blast
 
F800 Rob said:
Tim,

I was told by the US importer for SW-Motech that the F800/F650GS didn't need an offset case setup. You could run two 37L cases without it looking odd.
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yep I just been told that tonight as well they made the fames so they offset the look of the pannier on the exhaust side I dint remember reading that info on there website ?????

but it still don't look odd with a 45 and 37 litre just wider
 
F800 Rob said:
So we would be looking at the following measurements with the Trax Bags:

Dual 37L: 1068mm
Dual 45L: 1153mm (or exactly 2/3 the width of your average Chevrolet Chevette :D)
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Mine are just over 800mm and i still struggle :blast

Think i would be looking at a big top box on a 800 :augie
 

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Garry's picture demonstrates how having removable pannier lids such as those found on Zega panniers would be useful to dig through snow drifts to allow us wider riders through. ;)

I visited Metal Mule yesterday and had a close look at the new S2 panniers--impressive. Judging by the number of the 'orders in progress' sheets on the wall they are doing quite well. Anyway, I was wrong on the widths of the pannier systems. There's two setups available.

With Metal Mule's Scorpion exhaust
2 x 31 litre... 920mm
2 x 38 litre... 1000mm
2 x 45 litre... 1080mm

With standard exhaust
31+38 litre... 1020mm
38+45 litre... 1100mm

I've stuck the two largest measurements in red as I personally think they are too wide--remember BMW 1200GS varios are 920mm or 1030mm extended.

Tim
 
So here's the definitive listing of the pannier systems we know about so far.


BMW varios..... 19+28 = 47 litres 920mm £544 **
MM balanced.... 31+31 = 62 litres 920mm £1430 (includes Scorpion exhaust)
MM balanced.... 38+38 = 76 litres 1000mm £1430 (includes Scorpion exhaust

TT standard.... 29+34 = 64 litres 1018mm £569
MM standard.... 31+38 = 69 litres 1020mm £1200
BMW varios..... 29+38 = 67 litres 1030mm £544 **

TT special..... 34+41 = 75 litres 1036mm £881
TRAX........... 37+37 = 74 litres 1068mm £555
MM balanced.... 45+45 = 90 litres 1080mm £1430 (includes Scorpion exhaust)

MM standard.... 38+45 = 83 litres 1100mm £1200
TRAX........... 37+45 = 82 litres 1111mm £559
TRAX........... 45+45 = 90 litres 1153mm £563

** same panniers in standard and extended configurations.

Yet to come are the BMW 1200GSA-style aluminium panniers.

Tim
 
Italian Trev said:
What differences did u notice?
Click to expand...

I took the prototypes on our trip to Mali over Christmas.

The Series2 have an improved seal which is bonded into the lid rather than the old 'car windscreen' rubber. The new seal should be even more watertight than the old system - even if you drop the bike in a river. It certainly kept the sand out :D

The mounting blocks have also been improved and are now stronger.

The Quick Disconnect system has been re-designed. It's just as easy to use but is designed in a way that allows the inside of the pannier to be almost completely flush. No more sticking out bolts and no more sticking out tab for the lid to lock to.

The bottom of the pannier has also been strengthened and rolled so there's no 'sharp' edge on the box.

I think there are also slightly different colour options.

The series 2 are significantly better IMO and are certainly even stronger than the Series 1. I managed to crash test them :rolleyes: and only scratched a decal and loosened a bolt.

To put this in perspective the crashed pannier (which I sadly had to give back :( ) was being used on the Metal Mule stand as a display model at the BMF show - I didn't even notice until Paul pointed it out to me - it still looks new. The crash blew a fork seal, snapped my speedo, scratched my tank and wiped out my indicator. My BTBR lights and miGSel light bar also got bent and scratched (but still work OK).

Hope that answers your question :thumb

chrisjk said:
The S2s have a neater set of locking levers than S1 - although broadly similar.

They have a bonded seal in the lids as opposed to a seal around the tops of the pannier cases. It looks much more robust.

They have less projection into the cases from the various bits that penetrate the case walls (although this wasn't a lot to start with).
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WoodWorks said:
Tim, would you (or someone else with some time and a tape measure) mind giving those of us who have yet to get near the bikes the width measurement at the gas tank/exhaust at its widest point, and also the width of the handlebars? That would give us some idea what to expect from other (Caribou, Happy Trails, Jesse, etc.) panniers. The BMW site lists the "overall" width as 945mm. I'm assuming that's at the handlebars, but they aren't specific. Thanks,

David
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I think there's an error in the 945mm figure.

According to the presskit...
800GS width at handlebars 870mm, 945 at mirrors
650GS width at handlebars 845mm, 890 at mirrors

I can confirm the 650GS widths--the mirrors add 45mm to the handlebar width. But I think one of the 800GS widths is wrong; probably the width at the mirrors is 915mm.

Installing handguards increases the bars width a bit, but I can't say how much. Apart from the bars/mirrors, the widths should be the same for both bikes. The underseat tank width is 520 but the exhaust sticks out a further 50mm. The width at pillion footrests is 640mm with them folded up, 770mm with them down.

Tim
 
WoodWorks said:
I've never seen any Metal Mules on this side of the pond. But those rivets sure make me leery. It looks like those things would peel open like the Titanic on the first good get off, and you and your gear would be putting on a yard sale. Am I way off base here? Anyone with actual experience dragging these things through gravel at ~50 mph?
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yup!

Binned it at those sorts of speeds in Mauritania on a dirt (well, mainly sand and rock) road with no real problem. They don't split easily, heck they don't even dent easy - I just tore a decal! - but if you hit anything that hard that they do burst at least the pannier will sacrifice itself before damaging your bike's frame. I'd rather pick up all my bits and pieces and stuff them back into a lashed together pannier than have to have the whole back end of my bike welded back together.

A couple of pics of the damage - pannier dirty but not harmed, wish I could say the same for my tank, speedo cable, aux lights, light bar, indicator and fork seal.... The thing on top of the pannier is 10lit of water, just to add weight and stress to it. You can just see the "2" in "Series 2" is slightly scratched.
 

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The first of the two photos shows me on Morocco's Cirque de Jaffar just after an 'off'. Given the choice of riding in the tyre tracks next to the drop or the tyre tracks next to the rock face I chose the latter. But with 38+45 litre panniers on the R1200GSA, the bike was too wide, I hit a rock outcrop and went flying. You can just about make out the pannier hanging off. I was, however, able to fix it up roughly and continue.

The second photo shows the damaged pannier fitted to the F650GS.

Tim

PS: The 1200GSA is now back from the dealer so I've had a chance to measure panniers. The width of the MM 38+45 litre combination that I found too wide for mountain tracks (twice bashed and thrown off) is 1025mm. The width of the 31+38 litre combo on the 1200GSA is 945mm.

I'm beginning to think anything much over 1000mm is a liability. :(
 

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Today I ve mounted TT 35/41 set (not in TT catalog, we had to order parts separately) and width is 1,1 meter. Thats wide!!! :) But I need lot of things to pack for 7 weeks to mongolia :)
 
paddy said:
I agree the BMW panniers I think are very well put together. They don't leak, are adjustable, cheaper than metal mule, Zegas.

I think Metal mule are taking the Pi++.

Paddy
Click to expand...


Their stuff certainly ain't cheap.

There's a whole page dedicated to MM and the GS800 in the Aug issue of Bike.

I'm on my monthly sojourn to Singapore/Oz so can't scan it,so you will have to make do with a phone pic :

20080625-fsee2cuffiiw6xcjnsym5kxuyk.jpg



Bike shown is fitted with the following Metal Mule accessories :

Rectifier cover £20
Front and rear brake fluid reservoir protectors £34/£25
Rad shield £40
Bash plate £140
Pannier frames £300
Exhaust system £322
22 l top box £510
Pair of 38 l panniers £1320.


So that's an amazing £2130 for the top box,panniers and rails !!!!!
 
Richard R said:
Just fitted my TT cases the other day, used them through torrential rain yesterday and contents still nice and dry.

Fitting was a dodle, only took 30mins, also the passenger grips on the new frame rails are higher than original BM ones so pillions gloves don't scratch the paint on your tanks.
Click to expand...

Hi Richard

Are they the "special" panniers or the 29/35 set up?
 
I just fitted the 29/35 TT cases also. Installation was easy. 20mins :augie

Although the 800 has a wide ass (not much to do about that..) they look nice. But they havn't been out of the garage yet so I have to wait before commenting how they work out in real life.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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