Brand new here, confused about pannier racks...

[kyle01]

Hey all-

 

Jusr brought a T7 home yesterday and put a whopping mile on it (friggin cold out)  Anyhow- I’m excited to get her set up and I’ve got a pair of Giant Loop Mototrekk panniers coming, anyone recommend a side rack that works well with these?  My other bike has Happy Trails bags/racks which obviously were designed to go together but these being universal, it’s not as clear.  Not gonna use a top rack this time, so that’s not a factor.  So if anyone has a favorite lemme know!

[Ktmmitch]

Will you be using the GL bags with the mounting plates?

[Seventh Son]

11 hours ago, kyle01 said:

Hey all-

 

Jusr brought a T7 home yesterday and put a whopping mile on it (friggin cold out)  Anyhow- I’m excited to get her set up and I’ve got a pair of Giant Loop Mototrekk panniers coming, anyone recommend a side rack that works well with these?  My other bike has Happy Trails bags/racks which obviously were designed to go together but these being universal, it’s not as clear.  Not gonna use a top rack this time, so that’s not a factor.  So if anyone has a favorite lemme know!

Kyle - congrats on the new bike.  Looks great.

 

If you're not going to use the mounting plates for the GL Mototrek bags, a good option for you is the Rally Raid soft luggage racks.  They are minimalistic in design and sleek, and actually look quite good on the bike.  See this thread for more info.  I am waiting for Rally Raid to release its tail rack to complement the side luggage racks.  Hopefully soon...

 

 

[kyle01]

Didn’t order the plates (yet at least) mostly because I don’t have the need to remove them with any amount of regularity... but they are an option. 

[cstatman]

Rally Raid is the bomb!

 

[kyle01]

Thanks guys.  Looking into it now!

[Desert Mariner]

+3 on the Rally Raid. Very solid mounting, they support the pipe nicely and they keep the profile of the bike narrow. Other than the Adventure Spec bag supports, every thing else is way too wide for my tastes. There are too many places I've ridden where having a narrow bike matters - lane splitting in CA and Mexico, hotel gates and doorways, tight trails and my dinky, one car garage!

 

[Matth]

Another Vote for RR. Great bit of kit

[kyle01]

My question now- does a soft pannier stay off of the exhaust with these racks?  Also, does it make sense to order straight from RR or a us distributor... seems cheaper to go direct?

[Insane rider]

You can put exhaust guards if you have a big set of luggage 

 

[Desert Mariner]

Ordered direct from RR. Great customer service and relatively fast shipping given the situation.

[Louis]

I'm using the Adventurespec side rack, very light aluminium and available in many colours. I have since replaced my rear rack with a B&B Offroad which doesn't have the rails running along the seat and is about 25mm or 1 inch lower. The rails raise the Kreiga OS system base that I use.

The RR  racks look good too! Worth  a  look, I believe that they're steel and have a OEM exhaust system support, which is great for some. I'm getting the camel high exhaust system, so not of value to me. All the other racks seem too wide, certainly for my tastes. Sadly the  Adventurespec is shutting down for a  while, so availability is slow at the moment, but worth the wait. 

 

Adventurespec rear rack in  this photo. 

[HoboHighlander]

@Louis any reason why you're running the OS base AND the AS side luggage racks? Can't you just strap the Kriega luggage directly to the AS side plates? I was debating between OS base or spending more money to get the AS side plates and top rack combo...

[Louis]

 

26 minutes ago, HoboHighlander said:

@Louis any reason why you're running the OS base AND the AS side luggage racks? Can't you just strap the Kriega luggage directly to the AS side plates? I was debating between OS base or spending more money to get the AS side plates and top rack combo...

 Good question! Yes you can strap them directly to the side racks. I found it fiddly to do that and it is a rear loading system that way. You must also ensure that on the exhaust side it is well mounted and adjusted! Removal ar luggage and loading is much easier with the OS base system. The weight is farther forward and you can strap additional things at the rear of the rack, for example water,spare tube, tool rolls or a Kreiga 6 bag. I have since replaced the rear rack with a B&B Offroad so that the base is fitted tight and lower. 

Just a quick mock up with a 6 and 12 bags, not touching the exhaust. Second photo with 2 litres of water. 

So  the AS rack provides additional attachment points and protection and very light! 

[HoboHighlander]

@Louis Excellent, thanks for the insight.

 

You like the OS base because it gets the bags nice and low/forward and you like the top/tail rack and the side luggage plates because they afford you more mounting possibilities for Rotopax/more bags?

 

Do you have the universal OS base or the T7 specific base?

 

One concern I have looking at the OS base is where it falls on the seat. I noticed you have the rally seat but I just installed a Seat Concepts low comfort seat and that seat is a little wider where it looks like the OS base falls. Do you think that's any problem?

 

In your opinion would the OS base, 2x12 OS packs and one 18 OS top pack suffice for a light packer (weekends, longer trips using bikepacking gear, forgoing creature comforts/extra gas & H2O)?

[Louis]

I have the universal base,  the T7  specification base  was released after my purchase. I believe that they're for attachment to a stock bike without racks.

I personally have 2 x 6, 2 x 12 and 2 x 18. I would get the 2 x 18 at least, they don't have to be filled to the  brim and you can tighten the straps. 

Don't  forget, you can always pack tight at home but the fresh air from travelling seems to make your gear 10% larger! Even though you have used food and drinks there is always less packing room on the return leg .

Like me, in the end having a selection of sizes is probably where you will end up. You can move on to your other bikes. 6 and 12 sizes fit well on crash bars. 

[kyle01]

I’ve got the Rally Raid racks on order... they are out of stock at the moment, but there’s snow on the ground so... good time for waiting!  Thanks for all the help.  
 

As an accident- my GL Mototrekker panniers showed up and I couldn’t believe how closely the colors match a grey/black T7!! 

[GiantLoop]

We are big fans of Rally Raid products, and yes the MotoTrekk Panniers will work great with them - no mounts required! We designed the MotoTrekk Panniers to mount on virtually any side luggage rack using a tubing "hoop" design, as well as the Rally Raid racks. 

 

Here's a good overview: 

 

[kyle01]

The rally raids are installed!  I haven’t tried mounting the panniers yet but appreciate your input!  Do I need to add some type of reinforcement plate to the back of them? (the current setup on my Husqvarna  (happy trails) has semi-rigid backing.  I’m seeing people using plates to facilitate easy removal but I’m not concerned about that.  

[kyle01]

pretty much ready to roll.  Just need to install the anti-bobble head brace from Camel and the heated grips whenever they get here... and then wait for spring.  Ugh...

[Stabilo_Boss]

On 1/27/2021 at 2:47 AM, kyle01 said:

pretty much ready to roll.  Just need to install the anti-bobble head brace from Camel and the heated grips whenever they get here... and then wait for spring.  Ugh...

Any pictures of the final set up?  How are the bags after a summer of use? can you mount the MotoTrekk panniers in both vertical and horizontal orientations?

[kyle01]

I can answer some of your questions… I put around 7,000 miles on with the mototrekkers and I will say… once I figured out a “system” I’m loving them.  My last bike had Happy Trails racks/bags which were a little small but fit the racks like a glove.  When I initially tried installing the GL bags on my tiny racks I wasn’t sure it was going to work.  It does- works great.  I needed to order the GL heat shield as I’m running the Camel high mounted exhaust.  The secret I’ve found to making this work awesome- and I don’t have any pics right now so I’ll explain as well as I can- at least with the bags mounted in tbe “regular” horizontal position (have not tried vertical but there’s no reason they wouldn’t work)

 

Near the top of each pannier (near the carrying handle) there are D-rings.  I use 2 straps- one for the front set, one for the rear set (I’m using “nite eyes” gripper straps but any non-stretching 1/2 - 3/4” wide strap with a locking mechanism would work)  I attach the left and right bags using these straps and D-rings (so the whole assembly fits on top of my bike like a saddle”  I didn’t do this my first few trips and had some worries as there are some pretty sharp openings in my rack that looked like they would cause pretty significant wear to the GL attachment points.  With the “saddle strap” setup, the brunt of the weight is suspended evenly from the D-rings and the attachment points only help to further support and secure the bags.  Added bonus (I’ll attach some pics) is that you can really get the bags up high (and they stay there)  I’m looking at adding more of their bags to my mix, I’m loving the setup!