A forum for owners of Yamaha TTR250 trail and enduro bikes!

Spyrious · Veteran Member

DIY lightweight saddlebag racks

mossproof · Super Guru

Better put the fuel behind the left rack or it might get a bit warm

Spyrious · Veteran Member

Correct my mistake!!

Spyrious · Veteran Member

I've made little progress.I made the frame to hold the aux fuel tank.Stick welding is crap,makes a lot of splatter and i'm a crap welder.I need to get me a tig welder in the future.Next i have to make the supports to bolt them to the bike.

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Spyrious · Veteran Member

Pics not showing

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Cubber · Super Guru

Are these the pictures?

Martyn

robs · Senior Member

Looking good!

Spyrious · Veteran Member

Yes!

Spyrious · Veteran Member

I managed to finish them.I was working adter work so i didn't took pictures during the process.I had to strengthen them in several areas.I believe they are holding ok.

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A bracket i made fot the led headlight.I forgot to take pictures of the front.I will takes some as soon as i can.

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Spyrious · Veteran Member

Hello.
I took some pictures mounted on the bike.Headloght pictures and tt gauge with custom idiot lights.

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-- Edited by TTRfan on Saturday 8th of June 2019 06:18:56 PM

Spyrious · Veteran Member

Why dont the pictures show?

TTRfan · Super Guru

Spyrious wrote:
Why dont the pictures show?

Use the "Insert/Edit Image" icon

Spyrious · Veteran Member

Ok.A small report after using these racks on a 3 day trip.They are sturdy,the bike fell a couple of times ,no problem at all.The y can hold the saddlebags easy.I also had a roll back on the rack.Off road i didn't like them at all.The bike was too rear heavy.I felt the front was i the air and was in the edge of loosing traction.
I will have to make a new version that sits as far to the front as possible.But all the bikes i looked through the web (drz,xr etc) all riders load the rearwards.

mossproof · Super Guru

I think a lot of racks are made with pillion riders in mind. When you sit on the bike, look at the shape your knees make. The bags can be quite close as long as they don't interfere with anything and are high enough not to trap your leg when paddling the bike through ruts etc.
Don't forget to wind up your preload on the shock to get the correct sag back, otherwise you will not have the right steering geometry, and you'll wear out the upper chain roller fast (could even break it if the chain is a bit tight and you do some spirited jumps!)
The main thing is you're out using the bike

Spyrious · Veteran Member

I looked at the spring when i got back,and i stiffened it a bit,but not much threads left.You are correct about the luggage.I will try to get it as far forward as possible.

tripodtiger · Senior Member

I'm taking a leaf out of a mate's method. Soft panniers carried close to the pillion pegs. Bending some 13 & 19mm steel tube sort of following the line of the lower edge of the side covers, and planning on looping over the back of the bike at the front of the rear tray. The sidecovers will support the bags and the bars will keep them out of the chain and rear brake. The loop over the tray can act as a tie point for my tent & sleeping bag. That's the plan at least. Slow going though, lots of other stuff doing.

Spyrious · Veteran Member

Thats almost what i have in mind for the second version of racks.

Trev · Member

I have a small set of bags that fit over my tank, on eBay as quad bike panniers £12 if I remember correctly. They help keep some weight forward.

tripodtiger · Senior Member

Just in case you're not reading my thread.

The bag straps go under the seat, ie they are both under my thighs. Not finished yet. I'm not convinced that the gal tube I've used will not be strong enough to not bend inwards, even though most of the bag is resting on the plastic side covers. And I have to change that odd looking 90 degree bend to a couple of 45s. I wish I was a competent fabricator, it would be so much easier.

There is nothing in the bags, except for the 20l containers inserted to keep the shape (again thanks to Unc).

-- Edited by tripodtiger on Thursday 25th of July 2019 07:56:58 AM

Spyrious · Veteran Member

I'm following you're thread,i just didnt notice the new posts.That looks nice.What tube are you using and how did you make the bends?
I will buy inverter and tig welder i nthe next couple of months so i will fabricate something like your setup.Thanks

tripodtiger · Senior Member

I went to a general hardware store and bought 19mm and 16mm galvanized tube. I made sure the 16 fitted snugly inside the 19.
Also bought a 20kg bag of sand.

I poured about 4 or 5 cups of the sand onto a baking tray and dried it on the bbq.

Crimped one end of the, cut to approximate length, tube in the vice to provide a seal.
Filled the tube with the dried sand and compacted it a bit - tapping the tube on the floor as it filled it. So no great effort made there.
Crimped the other end. The 3 lengths of tube totaled a bit less than 3m, and almost all of that sand was used to fill them.

Tube in the bench vice at the appropriate point for the bend, I simply heated the tube using a gas torch (I think it's propane) and pulled it around the vice jaws, once it was hot enough to bend sort of easily.

If/when I do it again I would be clamping a 40mm heavy wall tube into the vice and bending around that, to give me nicer radii, stronger and possibly without the big kinks.
I'd also avoid the 90 degree turn at the rear, as it looks really odd to me (hindsight) and use 2 bends of 45 degrees.

If my skills allowed me, I'd follow the curve of the sidecover a bit closer making the turn less than 90 degrees in total. Trying to get both sides to match proved the biggest challenge.

I've not tried to put extra transverse brace around the back wheel, as the hope is the weight of the panniers will be supported by the sidecovers and the support frames will simply keep the bags out of the swinging arm/rear wheel and give me a place to tie them off.

Having that as a thought, I'm most concerned that the galvanised tube wont do the job for very long.

Someone commented that I could use 10mm or so rod. I'll check with my sidecar building mate if need be. He's recommend Chromoly, no doubt. That's the tube he uses almost exclusively. Don't think I could bend it in a vice

A departed mate, decades ago, made a super strong combined Gearsack rack & pannier frame for my XS using 12mm electrical conduit. I've still got it, although I can't say it's attached to the XS, as that is yet another bike in bits. I don't imagine that steel electrical conduit is still available, unless you visit a place that sells re-cycled materials recovered from demolished buildings.

Good luck with it. Shed time is good time, as another mate (with fabrication skills) says.

Spyrious · Veteran Member

Thanks for the information!!!I will need it soon!

Spyrious · Veteran Member

Looking for tubes to start the project.Only found 21mm with 2mm wall thickness.And 16mm but neither suit me.Have to shop from ebay again and pay twice...