Torsten: The racks are done! Made of solid 11mm mild steel bar and 5mm plate, they should do the trick. I was initially concerned about the weight of solid bar vs tube, but Paul Keys assured me they would not be as heavy as I imagined, and he was right.
The total weight for the rack comes to around 10 kilograms. The rack also incorporates the mount for the 7.5 litre Nomad fuel tank. Far better than having a Jerry-Can occy strapped to the bikes.
One of the problems with having a rack on the sides is maintaining access to the side panels. The side panels cover the engine on the right, and the spare tyre and battery on the left. Each side removes completely by undoing 4 bolts. A 3 minute job.
Paul also whipped up some ‘crash’ bars for the front. While they won’t be providing any real protection in a crash, they will hold the bike up when we tip over in sand in North Queensland. It will also allow us to lie the bike down for repairs.
Now we just need to finalise the mounting system on the bags themselves and that’s the luggage sorted.
