dohickey replacement question

[rafaellecuona]

Hey everbody. New member here... I did a lot of research on the best all around dual sport bike and guess what I came up with? I take posession of my new '05 KLR 650 in a couple of days. Got a lot of back road riding planned in West Virginia and Western PA for this season. I know this must be asked by a lot of newbies here but what's the word on the best aluminum or plastic (hard) pannier and mounting frame for this bike? Happy Trails? Givi? Hepco & Becker? Touratech? I'd really appreciate your opinions on the best durability, convenience and price combination. I'm leaning towards Happy Trails because they seem to have so much stuff ready made for this bike and the panniers and mounting frame do not require moving the rear turn signals. On the other hand, I read about a guy who used the Happy Trails frame and mangled it pretty bad on a spill. He said they weren't very strong. For that matter, what's the deal with Happy Trails radiator and crash guards? Are they strong enough being just 5/8" tubing? Thanks for any input. Rafael

[Guy B. Young II]

Rafael, Unless something has changed in their design, you *will* have to relocate the turn signals with the Happy Trails (HT) pannier racks. This is personal preference based on my budget, but this is what I bought: 1. Afrika Single (AS) panniers and racks from www.Isallgood.com. The boxes are identical to the HT variety and seem to be quite strong. The racks are made a little different out of stainless tubing and used a different mounting scheme to secure the bags to them. I see HT has adapted this same method. I also like the AS method of relocating the signals. HT uses two separate pieces; AS uses one U-shaped piece. The AS racks don't give the appearance as good a quality as the HT variety, but they have held up fine for me with no indication of fatigue or failure, even after being, uh, slightly deformed once from a tip-over when the bike was fully loaded with camping gear. I simply heated the mis-shaped section and bent it back into place. The SS tubing was nice in this regard because it didn't discolor and didn't need repainted. 2. Radiator guard came from Dual Star based on some reports I read here about their being better suited for a frontal hit than the HT variety. All my farkles/stuff can be seen at: http://www.mindspring.com/~gbyoung2/misc/klrstuff/ Hope this helps, and congrats on your upcoming purchase. Guy A16 Richmond, VA -----Original Message----- From: rafaellecuona Hey everbody. New member here... I did a lot of research on the best all around dual sport bike and guess what I came up with? I take posession of my new '05 KLR 650 in a couple of days. Got a lot of back road riding planned in West Virginia and Western PA for this season. I know this must be asked by a lot of newbies here but what's the word on the best aluminum or plastic (hard) pannier and mounting frame for this bike? Happy Trails? Givi? Hepco & Becker? Touratech?

[a14@att.net]

> Unless something has changed in their design, you *will* have to relocate the > turn signals with the Happy Trails (HT) pannier racks. > > > Guy > A16 > Richmond, VA > >

This is the case with the HT SU rack because it uses the signal light mounts for extra support. The HT NW rack allows the signal lights to remain in the original locations, is about $30 less and is more than strong enough. The NW rack would look better if HT used tubing for the mounting arms like the SU rack instead of the flat strips but that doesn't affect function. Walt

[Guy B. Young II]

Ah so. Thank you. Guy -----Original Message----- From: a14@... This is the case with the HT SU rack because it uses the signal light mounts for extra support. The HT NW rack allows the signal lights to remain in the original locations, is about $30 less and is more than strong enough. The NW rack would look better if HT used tubing for the mounting arms like the SU rack instead of the flat strips but that doesn't affect function. Walt

[clint lee jin yew]

i just love the givi e11's . the bad thing is that you gotta make your own rack. but the good thing is that , use the e11's for daily commuting, plug them out and replace em for e30's for going out of the state or if you wanna run away, alone , a pair of e45's. but make sure your shocks can take em weight. clint

[kdxkawboy@aol.com]

In a message dated 3/29/2005 4:09:41 AM Pacific Standard Time, a14@... writes:

> Unless something has changed in their design, you *will* have to relocate

the

> turn signals with the Happy Trails (HT) pannier racks. >

Which is really no big deal since the SU racks come with the brackets to use in relocating the turn signals. The SU rack uses the turn signal mount for an attachment point. The bolt used for this mount point is long enough to go through and catch the relocating bracket, which mount to the back side of the grab handles, and then just mount the turn signals. Don't even need to redo any wiring as the existing wiring has enough stretch to reach the new position. Pat G'ville, NV [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Alan L Henderson]

Guy B. Young II wrote:

> Rafael, > > Unless something has changed in their design, you *will* have to relocate the turn signals with the Happy Trails (HT) pannier racks. > > This is personal preference based on my budget, but this is what I bought: > > 1. Afrika Single (AS) panniers and racks from www.Isallgood.com. The boxes are > identical to the HT variety and seem to be quite strong. The racks are made a little > different out of stainless tubing and used a different mounting scheme to secure the > bags to them. I see HT has adapted this same method. I also like the AS method of > relocating the signals. HT uses two separate pieces; AS uses one U-shaped piece. > > The AS racks don't give the appearance as good a quality as the HT variety, but they > have held up fine for me with no indication of fatigue or failure, even after being, uh,

AS racks and panniers are knockoffs of the original Happy Trails design. Alan Henderson A13 Iowa

[Lujo Bauer]

a14@... wrote:

>>Unless something has changed in their design, you *will* have to relocate the >>turn signals with the Happy Trails (HT) pannier racks. >> >> >>Guy >>A16 >>Richmond, VA >> >> > > > This is the case with the HT SU rack because it uses the signal light mounts for extra support. The HT NW rack allows the signal lights to remain in the original locations, is about $30 less and is more than strong enough. The NW rack would look better if HT used tubing for the mounting arms like the SU rack instead of the flat strips but that doesn't affect function. > > Walt

But I think the turn signals might need to be relocated anyway depending on which panniers are attached. My Givis fit around the turn signals, bu the Zegas didn't (I suppose they could have, but all the ways of mounting them that seemed reasonable to me required moving the turn signals). -Lujo [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[a14@att.net]

> > This is the case with the HT SU rack because it uses the signal light mounts > for extra support. The HT NW rack allows the signal lights to remain in the > original locations, is about $30 less and is more than strong enough. The NW > rack would look better if HT used tubing for the mounting arms like the SU rack > instead of the flat strips but that doesn't affect function. > > > > Walt > > But I think the turn signals might need to be relocated anyway depending > on which panniers are attached. My Givis fit around the turn signals, > bu the Zegas didn't (I suppose they could have, but all the ways of > mounting them that seemed reasonable to me required moving the turn > signals). > > -Lujo > >

I use the Givi's but now that I think of it I would assume you will have to relocate the signal lights with top loading, very large or high mounted boxes. Walt

[Bogdan Swider]

My Givis fit around the turn signals, The turn signals are somewhat obscured by even the Givi setup. I moved mine out 5" or so on a couple of pieces of aluminum stock. Bogdan