Wilsons Sandbox

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "Vernon Wade" wrote:

> > I put some pix of different KLR sidecar rigs in a folder (KLR Sidecars) > in the photos section. It is an open folder-feel free to add pix! > Vernon >

very nice... how long does it take to install/uninstall with some practice? Jerome

I have been interested in converting two of those "mermite cans" into panniers for a trip I am planning. I did a fair amount of research on how to do it, and was impressed by the fact that everyone really thought it was a major pain to cut out the aluminum liner and extract the foam. I braced myself for a real tough and dirty job this evening. Well I am happy to tell you that the job doesn't even rank above a three on the difficulty scale...if you use the right tools. First thing to do is latch on to one of those cheap 90 degree cut off tools. I see them for $19.95 all the time, or even better borrow one for the evening. The inside liner already has stamped profiles, so just follow the top one around the can with the thin cutoff blade ($1 each in my local cheap tool place) leaving about one inch of liner to help support the gasket rail.. After that just run the tool down one end, across the bottom and up the other. The cut out tool ran for about five minutes as I was being careful. A 10" screwdriver easily bends in the sides and I had the first liner out in less then 10 minutes. What is left is a nice piece of molded Styrofoam about 1.25 inches thick all around. It is not glued in! Take a utility knife with the blade extended as far as possible and score the inside of the foam. Use the screwdriver and a Stanley H515 wonder bar to break and pop the foam out. A large file knocks down the sharp edge, and a piece of emery paper smoothes it down to the harmless level. Total time for one pannier is less than an hour. I am interested in racks at this point and know about the SU racks. I came across this rack on the Vstrom list and it looks pretty nice as you can pop it totally off the bike in about 30 seconds, so you don't have to ride around with an erector set on the bike when the panniers are off. Does anyone have any experience with this rack? SW-MOTECH Quick-Lock Sideracks Capt. Bob Durham, CT USA 2006 KLR http://seniorbiker.blogspot.com/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]