Hi there,

As I have brand new pannier rack for Kawasaki I want to adopt it to fit my Xt660Z to use with the soft panniers.

I want to use main 'oval' bit of the original rack and make/bend/weld the support 'legs' for it for mounting points on Tenere.

Question is where is the best source to get such a tube (original rack is 16mm outside dia)?

- buy a brand new?
- scrap yards?
- buy another rack and chop them off and weld them onto my rack?

Also any ideas on the mounting ends with the 'eye' for the bolts?? How to make them or again adopt from something else???

Cheers

This is how I did mine...

http://dashmoto.net/baggage-handling



It's made out of 16x1mm tube.

If you don't need too much of it, just go to B&Q and buy a 2m length. It's overpriced (but still not that much money if you're only buying a little), but it's also just down the road and they're open every day . That might be enough for you if you've already got the loops.

The tube for mine came from http://www.metals4u.co.uk/ - I used five or six metres to do the whole rack, and I was ordering a load of other stuff for various projects.

You can bend 16x1 tube in a cheap pipe bender...



This is the proper way to do the frame mounts if you can find someone with a lathe:





Even if you can't you could probably make some with hand tools and a pillar drill if you were careful. You wouldn't be nicely counterboring the bolt heads like the first picture, but you could possibly do some like the second pic.

You can flatten the end of the tube in a vice and drill a hole through it. I've even seen people selling racks made like that. It is a ****ing awful bodge though.

__________________
I spent a lot of money on travel and racing motorcycles - the rest I just squandered.

XT660Z - Commuter, Adventurer...Racer?

www.dashmoto.net

Other bikes >> MT-03 / CG125BR-J / ER-6F
Departed >> ZXR400L3 / EC300 / DR-Z400E / DR800S / GPZ500S / GS400

Cheers uberthumper that was helpful.

Yes, all I need to do is little bits/mounts that go over the exhaust, two mounts which go to the foot pegs (but I want to mount them to the frame as I dont use passanger foot pegs) and probably one straight bit which connects both sides under the number plate.

You mean something like the �295 Metal Mule offering? Officially the most expensive rack on the market for the Z!

__________________

My Eyes!

__________________
I spent a lot of money on travel and racing motorcycles - the rest I just squandered.

XT660Z - Commuter, Adventurer...Racer?

www.dashmoto.net

Other bikes >> MT-03 / CG125BR-J / ER-6F
Departed >> ZXR400L3 / EC300 / DR-Z400E / DR800S / GPZ500S / GS400

Yeah nice...

I would like to do something like this:



and mount the rack just over the exhaust underneath the grey rails, then make another mounting point to the frame, where the original foot peg bolt goes....