Kedo 31055R Tall Aluminum Rack

[Tenerider]

I've been looking for a rear rack for quite some time now - and always hesitated pulling the trigger on one.

Until now, I simply strapped my Sea to Summit Big River drybags to the rear, using Rok Straps.

In general, this works fine. But due to my long legs, I usually place my butt quite far back on the rally seat, almost where the pillion strap (which I have removed) runs across the seat. The drybags occupied too much area and I was forced to sit closer to the tank, which I don't like for longer rides.

Using a small rear rack would allow me to mount them farther back and solve this problem.

Furthermore, I might buy a Mosko Reckless system or Enduristan Blizzards in the future, which both benefit from a small rear rack for mounting.

 

There are lots of different rear racks out there, but only very few of them seemed to fit my needs.  My main concerns were size (a lot of them extend beyond the rear plastics and/or are very wide), mounting (some rely on imho questionable direct mounts to be drilled into the rear plastics or use the tailpiece mounts), and looks.

 

Don't want to go too deep into details, but I finally narrowed it down to B&B solo rear carry rack (look is ok but not great imho, the finish seems to be very shiny) at roughly 220€ without shipping, and the beautiful but really REALLY expensive Donner-Tech CNC rack/grab handle combo at a whopping 638€ (but free shipping!).

To be honest, I didn't like the B&B's looks enough for this price - plus it is quite heavy (2.3 kg).

The Donner-Tech combo looks gorgeous, and blends perfectly with the bike's lines. But the handles extend quite a lot from the seat, which could be a problem with Mosko Reckless systems (which @Ray Ride4life shows on his blog). Plus, I'd be paying for handles which would become useless once they are covered by luggage.

 

Luckily, I remembered another potential manufacturer, Kedo from Germany. And lo and behold, they have something which ticks almost all boxes!

KEDO - KEDO T7 Alu-Rack (Gepäckbrücke), 4mm Alu schwarz beschichtet, dezent leicht und stabil, für den 1-Personenbetrieb, für Softgepäck bis 5Kg belastbar

 

To be honest, their websites is a bit cumbersome, but we all know our buddy @Kedo Parts USA , better have a look at his site:

Tenere 700 Aluminium Luggage Rack

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Tenere 700 Aluminium Luggage Rack

 

Ticking almost all boxes? Let's see:

+ mounts to reliable points on the subframe

+ doesn't extend over the bike's rear light

+ narrow enough to accommodate a Mosko system

+ enough surface for bigger drybags or whatever

+ lightweight at only 825g including mounting hardware

+ great looks

+ very cost-effective, not to say cheap!!!

 

Ordered it yesterday at Kedo in Germany - and got it even cheaper, because it had been mounted once before, so they said it had some minor marks (invisible under the screw heads). Needless to say that Kedo had included new mounting hardware plus their own black anodized luggage hook mounts.

After placing my order, I found that they offer Acerbis frame protectors at a killer price - so I asked them to add them to my order, if still possible.

Got their confirmation 2 minutes later, and even though it was late afternoon already, they had it shipped by yesterday evening. It arrived at my place before noon. Just perfect.

 

There are a few downsides, though:

- screws are cheap, zinc-plated, not stainless steel. Easily solved, and more than acceptable at this price.

- seat can not be removed easily any more. At least, you would need to remove two rear screws and loosen the front screws a bit, so it could be flipped to the front. Will give it a try later to be sure.

- edges are not sharp, but also not perfectly bevelled, so marring could eventually occur on straps. Maybe I'm too picky on this point.

- no pre-drilled holes for, say, Rotopax mounts or so.

 

Anyway, especially for this price, I couldn't be happier. The rack looks great, the fit was perfect. Kedo rate it for loads of up to 5 kg - I think they are being very conservative on this one. The load points can easily accept much higher loads. The rack is made from 4mm aluminum (not sure which grade), and I claim it can carry much greater loads without bending - especially soft luggage.

 

Looking forward to my next trip!

[Ray Ride4life]

@Tenerider You know you're welcome here anytime, maybe smart to plan it before you buy some luggage. I have the Mosko Moto Reckless 40 AND the 80 plus, also have the Backcountry 35 V2 Panniers, the Stinger 8 and 22, the Scout 30 AND 60 duffel plus the Hood 5 tankbag. You can see, feel and fit them to see if it is what you want.

Also 1 big downside i want to mention about the rack you bought what for me the bag no go was, it's bolted over the rear seat so if you blow a fuse you need to remove the luggage which you also need to do without the rack but now you also need a tool and remove the rack.
If i couldn't make my own i probably had bought the Camel ADV minimalistic rack.

[Tenerider]

9 minutes ago, Ray Ride4life said:

@Tenerider You know you're welcome here anytime, maybe smart to plan it before you buy some luggage. I have the Mosko Moto Reckless 40 AND the 80 plus, also have the Backcountry 35 V2 Panniers, the Stinger 8 and 22, the Scout 30 AND 60 duffel plus the Hood 5 tankbag. You can see, feel and fit them to see if it is what you want.

Also 1 big downside i want to mention about the rack you bought what for me the bag no go was, it's bolted over the rear seat so if you blow a fuse you need to remove the luggage which you also need to do without the rack but now you also need a tool and remove the rack.
If i couldn't make my own i probably had bought the Camel ADV minimalistic rack.

Great Ray. Will do so for checking out the luggage most likely. I need to check my schedule. Perhaps I can make it to Discover Overland.

 

Since the rack was not expensive, I thought I could give it a try. The Camel rack looks good, but I don't like that it is bolted to the plastics.

I'm thinking about replacing the panhead screws with different ones, maybe big fat thumbscrews.

In general, I prefer having no rack at all, but you can't have the cake and eat it.

[Ray Ride4life]

1 minute ago, Tenerider said:

Perhaps I can make it to Discover Overland.

That's just 15km from my house but i pack the same as on my ScanBaltic trip so other visitors can see the setup for an overland trip that still allow for proper offroading.
CoreCass might be coming here so we can do the TET section you did during the day and if he cannot make it i probably do it alone, i took the whole week off to redo my garage floor or go offroading somewhere (Maybe TET France).
To see all options you don't even need to come to my place if you go to Discover overland because Mosko Moto also be there.
Would be nice to get some T7 riders together over there.

[Hollybrook]

18 hours ago, Tenerider said:

Since the rack was not expensive, I thought I could give it a try. The Camel rack looks good, but I don't like that it is bolted to the plastics.

 I have the CamelADV rack and while you have to drill through the plastics, it actually mounts firmly to metal. I was reluctant to do this but could not find any other mount that I liked better.  Now that I have had it for a while, I am really happy with it and do not feel like making holes in the plastic was bad at all.