Metal Mule Panniers
 

Hi all

I wanted to buy the Metail Mule panniers to fit my standard XT660R, unfortunately you also need to buy their exhaust ...

An option is to buy a third part rack and an (expensive) adaptor plate to fit their panniers. I cant find the third part rack (think it was a Givi) as the product code they gave me was invalid.

I'm disappointed as now I will have to get the Touratech which I dont fancy as much, although they are a lot cheaper, nearer �500 than the thousand pounds plus approx to but the MM stuff and exhaust. Even if I locate the third part rack I will still be paying nearly �1000 for a sub-optimal solution.

Are Metal Mule missing a potential market here ?

I would quite happily pay �700-�800 for a MM Rack and pair of panniers if they would fit my bike without changing the exhausts.

Cheers - Steve

Touratechs are sardine tins in comparison to Metal Mules and TT's customer service is CRAP.

Get in touch with Metal Mule and talk to Stuart to see what your options are. You need to see both TT's and MM's in the flesh to appreciate the difference in quality, then you'll know why MM's are more expensive.

Both me and the hubby have got MM's on our XT600's so we didn't have the problem with the exhaust. But, if that was the only option, we'd pay the extra for the exhaust.

One other thing - the panniers may be cheaper, but don't forget to add on the price of the inner bags with TT's which you have to have to stop the black dust getting on to all your gear. MM's are anodised as standard, so you don't need bags - or you can pay a bit more for powder coating. Anodised works just fine for us.

Have a look also at http://www.overland-solutions.com as they may be able to fabricate a frame for you.

I hear what you are saying and value your input .... I'm gonna have a re-think ... Cheers - Steve

Umm ... �1196 for the MM Panniers, Frame & Exhaust ... lot of cash but I may have to bite the bullet if they are that much better....

I should be on commission for these guys.

I've just uploaded some photos into an album for you to have a closer look at our MM's. I can take some more photos at the weekend if you want some close-ups.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Smokin.Lizard/MetalMules

I reckon the hubbys panniers have done about 12k miles since we bought them and 9k of those, he's fully loaded up. At least a quarter of those miles are off-road on the type of terrain you see in the pics.

Have a look at this site for product testing the exhaust: http://www.bikehigh.com/prod-tests.html

You're right - U should be on commission :-) Come pay day the cheque will be in the post to MM. Many thanks for the photos and links.

If you do order them, tell Stuart that Alison in Spain wants her commission - 2 of their bash plates will do nicely thank you very much. He knows my address!! :laughing6:

I shall tell him :-) I've had an email back from them with some more photos and it has totally made my mind up. I've uploaded the photos on my webserver (I'm sure they won't mind!) Great Pictures. Here's the links:

http://217.155.202.231/blogimages/me...e/pict2037.jpg
http://217.155.202.231/blogimages/me...e/pict2039.jpg
http://217.155.202.231/blogimages/me...e/pict2045.jpg
http://217.155.202.231/blogimages/me...e/pict2096.jpg
http://217.155.202.231/blogimages/me...e/pict2133.jpg

stevechol

i am also looking at the Metal Mule panniers for the XT660R when me and my brother get 2 for going to africa in 2 years time but the panniers are expensive in them selves i can under for a good quality product but why did they design it not to fit onto a standard bike. That then pushs the price up another �350 for an exhaust. Which when me and my brother will both be students is going to be alot of money.

I may have to see also have to consider a different bike for the trip as i have been informed that the cats in the exhausts may get clogged up with running the bikes on leaded fuel, unless i drill the cats out, :009: or buy a different exhaust:009:

Is there any other good metal panniers out there, as people as TT panniers are hard to take off, thin, filmsy, and over all crap.

It's worth having a chat with Ernie at Overland Solutions. I've seen some of the stuff he did on a F650 and he has put a lot of thought into his designs. He is also a bit pricey, but if you are going to be spending a lot anyway, you may as well get the prefect setup.

I loved the MM panniers but wasn't keen on having to have their exhaust (extra cost and many comments on poor performance).

I went with the Hepco and Becker panniers and top box and the associated frames from www.offtheroad.de.
They may not be quite as robust but mine have seen me around Denmark, Sweden, Norway and a quick trip to France and they haven't leaked and look almost as good as new. They're a good price too...

Agreed, Greencat
 

I can recommend Hebco and Becker.

Payed around 550 pounds for the rack, 2x43l alu panniers, AND a center stand. Took me maybe 20 mins to put it all on. Fits like a glove. I like the quicklock system that allows you to unlock the mounting with a key, after which you can simply lift off the panniers and use them around the campsite as chair/table/whatever. Takes about 10 secs to remount them and lock the clasp with a key (so you can leave it unatended without someone running off with them).

As for their durabillity I haven't had them long enough to say. But a friend of mine who has the same system, dropped on his side when he hit some diesel in a soft turn, doing around 60 kmh. They pannier took a good dent, but it stayed on there.

Incidently; whichever pannier system you're choosing, don't take plastic. Metal is so much easier to repair. But some people just don't care for the metallic look.

I too am not keen on putting the exhaust on. I will get some info on the H & B stuff, seems a good alternative.

Very quick response from Off-the-Road. 2 x 38L Metal Panniers, the Frame Kit, 2 x Inner Bags and Delivery - approx �502 ... seems excellent value for great kit and no new exhaust needed ....

just make sure Thorsten has it in stock before signing on the dotted line, some people have waited over 3 weeks for delivery, is fast when the stuff is in stock but a bit slow when it isn't

Yeh, thanks for the heads up, I remember you saying something similar in the past - got quoted 3-4 days. Cheers - Steve

Don't forget to add a few days for money transfers.
I payed by PayPal and although it looked like the payment went straight through it actually took about 3 or 4 days.
Thorsten will keep you up to date with progress though if you email him.

Mcthor

just reading through your info on the Hepco and Becker panniers and looked at the website they seem to be very nice but what do you think of quality, as you said before you are also looking at doing africa so they will have to be able to with stand a little rough and tumble do you think they could take it?

Just not liking the idea of having to spend �1000 to get the MM panniers rack and having to buy the exhaust just to get them to fit. But then reading about the cats in the exhaust clogging is a bit of a worry as exhaust cans can be expensive. And if buying the H and B panniers still means having to get some sort of exhaust with out cats in them.

Just to be clear...the H & B panniers and frames no not require any mods to be made to the bike or exhaust. I've fitted mine to my bog standard XTR and they've seen me around Scandinavia and a bit of France and have been water tight and solid as a rock.

cheers green cat for that, think these panniers sound like the ones to go for now, instead of the MM panniers.

I pm'ed you green cat about your rack that you have fabricated to the front of your bike, can you send me a few more pictures of this and give me a bit of info about how you made it, attached it to the bike etc. Cause i will need some thing to take the weight off the back wheel when we are touring africa and this looks as if it would do the trick. any info would welcome.

Just wanted to give a nod to Greencats post.

Whether the cans have catalysts or not, has no consequence to it's fitting with the H&B panniers/rack. They are seperate issues and have no influence on each other. Catalyst free cans have, more or less, the same outer dimensions as those with catalyst. Going with the H&B rack/pannier gives you pretty much freedom of choice with regards to what kind of cans you can purchase at offtheroad.de. And propably a few other makes as well. Bear in mind, that all bikes within the EU have to have catalyst installed. Buying a different make of bike will not solve this issue. All of them have a theoretical risk of clogging up. I can't help you decide if this risk is worth taking. Suffice it to say that I have never heard of an overlander cutting out because his cans were clogged. But I'm not sure enough to place my money where my mouth is :).

As for the durability you asked about in a post further up I can't bring testament to it (apart from my friend who put it down on asphalt somewhere in Austria). But I can asses the craftsmanship and general feel of them. When fitted, there is no slack or sluggishness. When you grab them and try to shake them about, the feel like an integral entity of the bike. This is very important, since any slack will cause the whole case to vibrate. Anything that is allowed to move even a millimeter, will eventually grind itself to the breaking point when you submit it to the vibrations you're bound to encounter when riding across Africa. As I said, I haven't crashed with my bike. Either on or off road. But I feel confident that the H&B's will remain where I put them, during the expected rough and tumble across the pistes. And yes, I think they'll stay on there too when/if I drop the bike at relative low speed.

I don't know about Metal Mule, but here's a few things that I have found usefull about the H&B's:

1. The quicklock system is a stroke of genius. You can unlock the fitting clasps with the same key you use to unlock the actual pannier lid. This means that you can take off the panniers in a matter of seconds. Litteraly. No screws, no bolts, no nothing. Just turn and click. Same goes for putting them back on, obviously. This means that you can leave the panniers secured when you are just away from the bike a few minutes, and no one will run away with them. And you can take them off easily when you plan to leave the bike out of sight for an extended period of time.

2. The double handles on the top of the lid makes it much easier to carry the panniers around when you need to. The handles are esily removed so the pannier will serve as a good camping table/stool. The handles are also good to grab when positioning the panneirs back onto the rack.

3. Metal versus softpack. I'd just hate to park my bike with softpacks in a multitude of ogling locals, whilst argueing with the local border official in his "office". Ofcourse, if you realy realy want to break into the metal panniers, you can. But you'll need tools to do so. You wont need tools to rummage around a sofpack saddlebag. Get my drift?

Having said all this and generally given H&B the thumbs up, I can't stress enough that these are the panniers I have chosen. What works for some might turn out to be ****e for others. Some people swear by softpacks because they dont brake (allthough everything inside it will), others swear by Metal Mule, some by H&B. And some choose something completely different. I don't swear by any of them. But H&B were the ones I got. This was based not only on price (allthough I am cheap gitt) which is quite competetive, but also based on practical use and good reviews from other overlanders. I'll tell you in May 2008 if I stand by my choice :).

And yet again the post got a lot longer than I had intended. Sorry about that.

Yeah...everything that McThor said.

Also, if you do go for the H&B panniers I highly recommend buying the top box rack, even if you don't buy a top box. It integrates well with the pannier rack and gives you a nice strong surface to strap other stuff to and gives you a decent grab rail to boot...can't be bad.

Here's me wee beast with trusty H&Bs attached enjoying some midnight sun action...
:viking:

Nice!
 

Pretty sweet setup you got there Greencat.

Have to admit that I hadn't considered the top box rack thing. Looking at yours, I wish I had. Oh well, too late now :(.

Mcthor and greencat or others

I have been looking around on the internet and at the moment cant really find many different people that are selling the H and B panniers, or for that a rack for the XT660 R for those. I dont know wheather it is what i am typing into the search engines or what. so where did you's get yours? and if you's dont mind how much was it all?

seen on one website it was �166 for the 1 panniers so around �335 for 2.

I bought mine through the dealer where I bought the bike. I didn't buy the panniers straight away so whatever discount I got, wasn't combined with the purchase of the bike.

I payed �531 for the rack, backrack, 2x43l panniers. I also ordered the H&B centerstand which cost around �113. But the dealer had messed up the order and was very much delayed dispite his initial assurances. He felt realy bad about it and eventhough it wasn't realy his fault, he gave me a discount on the whole deal ammounting to what the centerstand cost. So basically I got that for free. Quite decent of him. So totally I payed �531.

No doubt a dealer will take a slice of the cake if you buy it from a motorbike dealership. Offtheroad.de propably does the same. Only real way to save money is to buy direct from H&B. I pressume they sell their stuff to dealers at a standard price. I just skimmed their webpage and can't realy find a "order" link :(. So you'll propably have to buy from a dealer near you, or online. The price you list is quite cheap. I'd say go for it (without having searched more than you've allready done yourself).

Bear in mind when you buy online, the shipping cost. It's quite a package to send and then there's all the hassle of waiting home a whole day for a package that may be delayed. Think carefully if shopping online realy will save you some money or if you'll just end up paying exactly the same anyway when shipping's been payed for.

I bought mine a few months ago through www.offtheroad.de.
They can give you a quote which will include delivery and there is no additional duty or VAT to pay on top of this. I paid using PayPal and it takes ~3 days for the payment to go through. It then took about 5 days for delivery.

McThor...the rear rack that takes the top box fits around the pannier rack so you can fit it/remove it independantly of the pannier rack. I'll try and do some photo's if it'll just stop raining.

I got SW Motech racks from here

http://www.motohaus.com/acatalog/Yam...Carriers_.html

and got the adapter plates for the H&B Luggage. If you ever chop and change luggage this might be more practical than one rack for one luggage and the prices are too bad either.

Hi Alison. You obviously rate the MM set up. Did you have to change any engine management settings to get the bikes to run smoothly? I have read elsewhere that the MM exhaust can make the XTR even more lumpy than we paid for as standard :-)

Tim I am not sure if DakotaXT (Alison) will write back to you because I think she got the 'ump and left as you can see in this thread http://xt660.com/showthread.php?t=3708

But also bear in mind she and her hubby don't have the XT660R but the previous model XT600 (carbed) if I remember rightly so perhaps her reply might not be any help to you.

been a bit busy since i last looked at this so here goes

Mcthor

staying home for a say is not too much bother for me when i am at uni!!! But i also have my granda and granny just 100metres up the road so they can always sign for it. Also very good you getting the centre stand free after some waiting/ordering trouble.

The only website i can find or that i quoted the prices from is the HandB's own website. Havent looked at wheather there is a massive shipping cost or you have to add VAT or some other stupid charge. Will have to look that up.

At the moment its looking like i am gonna get the HandB panniers, but still dont no what size to get, wheater to go for the 38L or go all out and get the 41L. Dont think there is much differnece in price just a bit in sizes.

Thanks for the heads up. Hell hath no fury and all that.

People are asking about H&B prices. 2 best places I have found are
http://www.motorbikesandparts.co.uk/ or

www.motobins.co.uk

Metal Mule say that their exhausts do not require any modification to teh engine management on the XT660. They claim their exhausts improve mid-range response.

Bearing in mind that you must have the MM exhaust to fit their panniers, a couple of people have commented about the cost of the MM exhaust system. I took my bike over to Zorstec in Huddersfield
www.zorstec.net
who make systems for bikes and cars. Andy said he would build and fit a stainless steel 2:1 system for the XT660R for �400. Comparable to MM when you consider the postage for the MM bits, and that you have to fit them yourself. Zorstec will build with or without baffles, or a system which can have removable baffles. Zorstec would use 60mm pipe rather than the 55mm MM, so you may have to set up on a Dyno afterwards. You would get some power improvement - and a lot more noise!!

thx for the pics! i've downloaded them all :-)
What's the size of your MM's?

i bought a new black yamaha tenere. MM give's two options. 31 or 38 litre. But i'm used to my earlier 45 litre jessecases.
So i'm still in doubt buying the 38 or 45 litre MM's. But i'm afraid the 45 litre MM is to wide.

these are the pics metal mule sent me yesterday!
very kind of them.

i'm going to buy this 38 litre cases!
:yahoo:

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/8826/mmkoffers.jpg
http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/9466/mmkoffers3.jpg