G'day Tom, The Great Basin sits mostly on the rear of the seat with a bit on the rear mudguard. I was hoping the Great Basin would fit in front of your racks, allowing me to use side racks for fuel only. Shame the side racks can't be fitted to an Oz 400E without the top rack though, as I already have a B&B rack. Excellent product though mate, I just probably need to mull it over a bit more... Cheers, Adrian
Tom: I have a GL Coyote bag and an E that has Moto-Racks on it if you want to check fitment. I'm sure you remember the bike. The Great Basin is a whomper. What are you guys hauling down there?
G'day Canuman, I'd be interested to see how they fit. I need the Great Basin and racks for long unsuppported desert trips 800km ish, fuel (50l), water (10-20l), food and port .
I'll see what I can get set up this weekend. We're supposed to have a snow storm tonight, but I may be able to pull out the bike sometime and get some pics. I've kind of squinted at the concept before, and I don't think it's an impossibility. Was that port, 10-20l also? I think you lot should get one of these and run light bikes:
It will be interesting to see if this will work. Ah port in a bladder, tastes good, sends you to sleep and you can use it as a pillow, cheers
Adrian, A couple of questions, if you will. I'd like to make it clear at the outset that I have no financial involvement in Moto-Racks. Tom is a good guy and an excellent friend, so I am doing this because I want to see his product succeed. How do you intend to carry the fuel? Are you using those trick fuel bladders that I hear are available down your way? Something else? Ditto water storage. Do you already have the GL bag? If you don't, it may be wise to consider the Coyote. The Great Basin is huge. I've done some pretty significant tours with no more than can be held in the Coyote. I'm just saying this because flogging a bike through sand with the equivalent weight and volume of a fat chick is no fun at all. I've seen some great pics of how you roll down there, but if you leave the chain saw, the half-cord of firewood, and Koolie at home, it would cut the load by a touch. I'm coming up with these figures: 50 liters of fuel @ .76 kg/liter= 38 kilos or 86 lbs. I don't know if that is in addition to what could be carried in the Safari tank. It's more reasonable to assume that you'll be carrying 28 l in the tank and 22 on the racks. I honestly don't think the sub frame will tolerate the larger load. I'm pretty sure that the racks would, but the sub frame isn't a monumentally beefy piece. So let's assume 22 liters of fuel on the back, or 17 kg / 37.4 lbs. Ten liters of water: 10 kg / 22 lbs. 20 liters water: 20 kg / 44 lbs. Using the smaller number, we're still at 27 kg / or 60 lbs in round figures. Consider 10 - 15 kg for personal gear, port, food. Still a heck of a load.
Thanks Tim, I'd like to see how it fits on there. I'll be coming for your KLR soon and maybe we can mess with it a bit.
G'day Canuman, Perceptive questions, I'll see if I can answer them: First off thanks for taking the time to consider this I've still not fully decided how and where I'll carry the fuel on this bike(hence the questions). I have a 28l Safari tank and was thinking if the racks/Giantloop thing would work I would carry either 10l on each rack and a bit in a fuel bladder, or 2 Acerbis 5.5l accessory tanks (the square ones that are designed for putting on your triple clamps, a third Acerbis on the triple clamps and some in the fuel bladder, or build a front carrier that fits to the front engine mounting bolts and a few stud holes on the lower frame rails, that will carry another 5l fuel each side (a mate has built some and they work well - tested on the Canning!) Re water, I have 2 Ortleib water bladders that I was going to chuck in the wings (lowest points) of the Great Basin that I already have. RE the other stuff I pack really light, generally less than 10kg for everything else. I am also wondering about ways to take the strain off the subfame and have been considering a strut from the upper subframe mounting point at the front to the racks (under tension) to take some of the load off the subframe and put it back on the main frame. I totally agree that all this weight is not ideal, but some of the Oz desert treks such as the Canning and the Anne Beadell necessitate 800+km of range, with limited water stops. Check out this thread by a bloke I know, while I think he's pushing the limits a bit here, he's carried a heap of weight on a DRZ with good results (G'day Den..): http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=784942 Hi Tom - apologies for the thread drift, but it's sort off relevant.... Cheers, Adrian
Adrian, Regarding fuel: if the Rotopax 1.75 gallon/ 7 liter fuel tanks are available for a decent price down your way, I think you'd find them ideal, and superior to the Acerbis tanks. The Moto-Racks top rack is designed to accept the 1.75, and it would take a few very simple additions to the side racks to make them carry a 1.75 on either side. This would distribute the weight very nicely. The weight would be a little tighter to the bike also, as the Rotopax are thinner than the Acerbis tanks, and less expensive, also. They are very, very strong containers. The actual capacity of the 1.75 Rotopax is closer to 2 gallons, or a little under 8 liters if you fill them all the way up. This would give you your additional 22 - 24 liters of fuel. I think your idea of how to carry water is well thought-out. I'll fool around with the rack system in this configuration. I don't think it will be too much of a hardship getting the GL bag on the back of the seat and the fuel cans on the rack. Remember, whiskey weighs less than Port. I hear that after years of having only imports and some truly vile local stuff, the Australian distilleries are turning out some first-rate product. Please don't get me wrong -- I find Penfolds a lovely little number (although I drink Warre's Warrior Porto or LBV by choice, when I can get it). Every ounce counts, though. Cheers, Tim
Adrian, OK. Just went out to the garage and lined a few things up. I've got to stuff some dunnage in the GL bag, and figure out a few lashing points, but here are my initial impressions: I think that the combo with the Rotopax and the Coyote bags would work nicely. The bag takes up a little real estate on the seat, but there's still plenty of room, so long as you're not an unreasonably large fellow. There would still be plenty of room to put a duffel for light stuff on the top of the rack. I'll try to get you some pictures before too long.
G'day Tim, Excellent news that the Giant Loop should fit behind the racks I was considering the Acerbis tanks as I already have a couple, but the Rotopax would certainly be better (I already have a 3.8l one), and I can buy the bigger ones here in Oz. Given what Tom has already said about the Oz E subframe, apparently a combination of the E and SM frames (?) not found elsewhere and the fact that the side racks will only fit with the top rack (and will take another Rotopax) I might be better off selling my B&B rack and investing in Tom's stuff. I'd love to see some piccies of how the Giant Loop/racks look, when you get time, could end up being a good way to cart gear on a DRZ. We have Limeburners Whisky distilled near us (Albany, Western Australia), but it tastes like firewater to me, give me port,wine or beer anyday . Cheers, Adrian
Only firewater? I heard a single bottle of the post-war local brew killed three men and blinded some poor bastard who was foolish enough to sniff the cork. There's been progress. Cheers, Tim
Great info there Tim! I'm with you on the RotopaX 1.75 gallon tanks. In fact, I'm in agreement with everything you said. Adrian, no worries that's what this thread is for! Thanks for your interest in my racks. If you decide to buy them, I could weld pre-drilled mounting plates onto the side racks for attaching the RotopaX mounts to.
Tom, I kinda sorta think this should be a standard addition, even if you have to charge a few bucks more. It would make the whole system that much more versatile. It would not interfere with anything if a rider chose not to carry gas, but it would be a hell of a lot more convenient if he or she did.
You know, I've been considering raising the price on this system. The current pricing puts the side racks at 189.00 which leaves the 4 point mounted top rack at 109.00. But anyway, your idea is stellar! I'll add the pre-drilled mounting plates for the RotopaX Pack Mount and raise the price closer to what it's worth. Thanks Tim!
Hi Tom, It would certainly be great if the Rotopax mounts were added to the sideracks as well, good idea Canuman! Don't put the price up too much though until I've bought mine Just one other thought, given that the Australian subframe is a hybrid of the E and the ,S are there any other braces/fixings that could be added to make the mounting even stronger and to support the subframe? Cheers, Adrian
Hi Adrian, Don't worry you'll be grandfathered in price wise. Let me look at my DRZ later today and I'll let you know if I can see a way to brace the subframe for heavy loads. Off the top of my head, I would think that a brace that starts at the lowest sub-frame mount and then up to the two upper tabs under the fender might do it?
Tom that would be excellent A fair few blokes use the DRZ in Oz for bush trips and anything that braces the subframe and makes the racks even more bombproof would be well received. I can't wait to see what you come up with Cheers, Adrian
Adrian, I was able to take a look at the sub-frame today and after determining where to connect to, it looks doable to me. I'll try to come up with a protoype soon!
That's excellent news Tom, I can't wait to see what you come up with. I have a couple of thoughts though : Given that you will be using additional mounting points, would it be possible to eliminate the seat mounting points, or are they integral to the rack mounting? Could something like the S mounting now work for the Oz E subframe? I ask as I take the seat off a fair bit and would prefer not to disturb the rack attachment each time, if that's possible. That said, if using the seat points as well makes it stronger, then I would prefer to keep them. For this to really work for me I still need to be able to mount a Giant Loop Great Basin or Coyote in front of the side racks. Canuman reckons this is possible now, but moving the racks rearward a bit might make this easier and more roomy for the rider. Do you want to take this to pm, or is this thread still appropriate for this? Cheers, Adrian
