So..after mounting hard luggage racks it's time to mount the luggage itself. In this case it's Ardcases panniers.

I chose the colour as seen as it matches perfectly with the black and gray plastics on my XTZ. Upon delivery I was able to see that they were very well made with welded joints,powder coating and a foam seal on the lid to keep them waterproof. There's also two locking clips on each lid with one key to open them all. The man who owns the company was an absolute pleasure to deal with...if you have to leave a message he will call back without fail. My impression was one of 'bend over backwards' to help with any advice or information. Not often you see service like that nowadays I must say.....

To mount these I needed two drill bits (5mm and 8mm as far as I can remember) centre punch....allen key set,1x 13mm spanner,copper grease and an old sheet to lay the panniers on whilst drilling.

The panniers are fixed to the racks by a quick release method which works quite well. There is a large aluminium supporting plate which will be bolted to the inside of the panniers. You'll need a helper to offer up the panniers to the rack and to help decide on the correct position.

The kit comes with the support plate along with four plastic 'puks' which are what the panniers rest onto the racks with.

In my case I put the moto on the centre stand and got a passenger to sit on the moto with their feet on the rear foot pegs. I was then able to position it correctly so as there'd be no chance of them touching the corners of the panniers with their lower thigh and to ensure that there'd be enough room for their feet. I put a couple of Tipex marks to give me a rough guide as to where the panniers needed to be.

NB. WHEN WORKING WITH THE PANNIERS MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THEM TEST MOUNTED WITH THE CHAMFERED PART TO THE OUTSIDE. MARK WITH TIPPEX SO AS YOU DRILL THE CORRECT SIDE (AND DON'T LOOSE TRACK AND GET THE PANNIER MIXED UP WHILST MOVING THEM AROUND)


The plate,puks and puk screws,along with lock nuts. Welded to a great standard and well thought out

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Take off the puks

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There's double sided sticky tape on the puks....

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Note also that they're taped to accept the screws that were originally taken out...

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When the panniers are offered up to the racks and look OK...then stick two puks onto the pannier...lift it off and lay down on it's side ready for drilling

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With the two holes drilled lay the alloy support plate on the pannier and centre punch the two other holes and drill same.

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Now you'll have four holes...

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Lay the support plate on the pannier after lining up these four holes and centre punch for more smaller diameter drilled holes. This will be to enable the puks to be screwed to the pannier sides. NB Elongate these holes so as to allow wiggle room for the puks to line up with the elongated holes in the support plate.

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Offer up the bottom puks...these will be screwed on permanently. Space it out with the washer supplied.

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Have the steel bar/bolt pointing north and south. This will clip over the bottom of the pannier rack

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Put the support plate in the INSIDE of the pannier.

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Wiggle the puks and screw them to the support plate an tighten the pannier clip bar as mentioned above.

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(part two is here.... http://www.xt660.com/showthread.php?t=18786 )










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__________________
The Suit:What would you consider to be your greatest weakness?
Me: Honesty.
The Suit: Honesty? I don't think honesty could be construed as a weakness.
Me: I don't give a f**k what you think.

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