Greetings to everyone from the other side of the pond! I am new to all things enduro and looking around here seems to be a mine of information so I hope you will all not mind me picking your brains a little! I have acquired a 1983 or 4 (not sure which as not picked it up yet) XR350. I live in a very rural area and the ambulance service here struggle to get to us rapidly so a group of us (a doctor, a nurse and 2 paramedics) are setting up a rapid response first responder service and we decided that an enduro bike was the way forwards. Anyway, to my point! I CAN NOT find a luggage rack for this thing over here, have tried fleabay, classified ads, breakers, everywhere. I see that they are available in the US (you guys seem to be into these far more than we are) but they are bloody expensive! Also, all we need is the link from the rear sub frame to the rack as the rack is going to need to be very custom made to hold oxygen cylinder, defibrillator etc. What I am wondering is if anyone of you good people has any diagrams for making the rack or could draw around the bits I need so that I can start getting it adapted. Either that or if you know of one that will fit with a bit of fiddling with Eventually it will be decked out like a paramedic bike including blues and twos from a rechargeable battery pack and everything but our budget is very low. In fact it is zero as all the cash we raised had to go on medical kit. Is anyone able to help us out? Many thanks, Keith PS, will get pics up as I am going along if anyone is interested!
Good on you for taking the initiative! I have an '83 XL600R, and can tell you the factory rack and brackets aren't all that strong. You may be better served by making the entire thing yourself with a welder. This thread may be of some help: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=242358&page=49
Thanks High Country. As for the project, if I have a massive heart attack I want someone there ASAP and can't expect it without being involved! Also how cool will we look, razzing round and saving lives!! Lol! Anyway, do you know if the XL600R rack will fit my beastie? If so any idea how much work it will need? Cheers Keith
I'm not sure if they are interchangeable. I'm not even sure the one I have is for a 600, since it came in a box of parts. I had to make some short pieces out of steel to mount it, so I think something was missing. I have carried a full duffel bag on it, but O2 tanks and such would probably be heavier.
High County, any dimensions you could give would be greatly appreciated. The kit isn't goin to be THAT heavy but we can beef up any parts that link onto the bike. Everyone else, any photo with dimensions of the expensive version would be gratefully received. Cheers Keith
Have been doing some research, will a rack from an XR650 do the job? Again, any measurements would be very welcome. Cheers Keith
This is my solution. I made several of these, (I couldn't stop.) It's a nice rack for a backpack or milk crate or such.
+1 on building your own, not all that difficult. I made this one for my DR650, did the bends with sand and a MAP torch as I don't do enough to justify the big $$$ for a quality bender (yet), used 1/2" 16 ga tubing and found that a 12" round file worked perfectly to notch the tubes. I do have a hole saw type notcher but the file was easier in this case and good practice.... Anyway, if you can get access to a MIG welder DIY racks can be made with some very basic low cost tools...
the factory tack for a XR350 is weak. i have one I modded to fit my XL500R. build one to fit your needs. a welding shop can get you the things you need and tell them what you are doing any they might even cut you one hell of a deal. also the 350 has some odd off set to the bolts back there.. here's the one I chopped up. <a href="http://s928.photobucket.com/user/Switchblade315/media/DSC00113.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/S/Switchblade315_DSC00113.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo DSC00113.jpg"/></a> <a href="http://s928.photobucket.com/user/Switchblade315/media/DSC00121.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/S/Switchblade315_DSC00121.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo DSC00121.jpg"/></a> then I added a bag from walmart. <a href="http://s928.photobucket.com/user/Switchblade315/media/DSC00260.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/S/Switchblade315_DSC00260.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo DSC00260.jpg"/></a> and then I added ammo cans. <a href="http://s928.photobucket.com/user/Switchblade315/media/DSC00344.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/S/Switchblade315_DSC00344.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo DSC00344.jpg"/></a> that was to heavy for the rack and I had to reinforce it. ended up looking like this. <a href="http://s928.photobucket.com/user/Switchblade315/media/130203_0002_zps67187ea8.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.advrider.com/advrider-photobucket-images/images/S/Switchblade315_130203_0002_zps67187ea8.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 130203_0002_zps67187ea8.jpg"/></a> I had one inch square tubes put under the rack and the cans have square rods that slide inside and two pis slide through them to hold them on. so the cans can be removed in 5 minuets. if you are going to get heavy the sub frame will need some bracing.
