I was looking at my factory bag mounts on my ST and was wondering if a fellow ST owner could answer a question: When looking at the bike from above: is the right bag mount parallel with the bike, or is it angled towards the rear? My right bag mount is not parallel w/ the frame, but the left side is. I'm wondering if this was be design or it got bent in it's prior life. Looking at the right touring case it does seem like the contours of the case accommodate the nonparallel right bag mount. Curious. This might play into how I set up some aftermarket cases. (Sorry no pictures, still at work ) Thanks!
On mine, both OEM rack mounts angle in at the rear slightly rather than being parallel to the subframe. When I first got the bike, the bag on one side (I can't remember which) didn't hang quite level. I used a length of 2 X 4 and a helper to steady the bike while I leveraged and tweaked the rack until the bags both hung level and symmetrical looking. To achieve that symmetry the right rack/mount now is tapered in the most at the upper rear corner. YMMV. But I focused on how the bags looked when mounted to get the racks sorted out.
Hi Mark, Thanks for checking for me. One of my long term projects is to get some pelican cases and happy trails mounts for camping. My touring cases are OK - but I'd prefer not to risk wrecking them considering the high cost of replacement. I've specked out IM2400 and IM2450 pelicans as potential camping bags- they seem fairly close to the OEM bags and would preserve the symmetry of having a wider right side case. (I actually wish the IM2450 was a couple inches wider.) With the racks tapering in towards the rear I might put spacers on the rear case mounts or I just might have the cases not be parallel with the bike centerline. Just trying to think ahead...about things that don't really matter! Didn't mean to wait so long to reply... I lose track of time when on travel. I appreciate the info and hope you're having a great Thanksgiving!
Unfortunately Happy Trails does not make bag mounts for the ST any more. They do make mounts for a R100GS but these will not fit a G/S or ST. I have the stock BMW bag mounts on my ST but I also have the accessory rear rack, the one that is flat steel, not the BMW rear rack. The rack I have substantially reinforces the bag mounts. From what I've read, the HT racks are much stronger and the stock mounts prone to breaking at the rear. My hope is the rear rack i have will strengthen the stock racks enough. The only option to mount HT racks is to swap out the ST rear subframe for a GS subframe. But also from what I've read that requires also using the GS fender. I'm looking at the Teton panniers from HT. They sell them with a universal mounting system so they will the ST mounts. I'm trying to figure out how to add gussets to the stock mounts to make them stronger. Not sure how. Hopefully others on the list can jump in and offer advice
Oddly enough the inward taper at the rear "looks right". I'll dig around and see if I have any pics that show it well visually. You may be like me and kind of a perfectionist for straightness, balance, etc. (Or maybe not). But once I got the bags on the ST leveled, I then saw how that inward taper really worked visually. If I ever get to it, I want to fab some mounts to hang the Jesse bags from my F 650 on the ST. They have the whole travel sticker collection . And they are assymetrical and fit the same contour left side high pipe. The trick for them, as i saw in a pic on here somewhere, is to reroute the upper rear anchor point of the left mount down behind the muffler outlet rather than over it like the stock mounts. One of those "If I ever get to it" projects.
Email me direct, not ADVR PM if you're interested in a set of mounts for the ST that will accept non-stock cases. Carl
I was thinking of these: http://www.happy-trail.com/Happy-Trails-Pannier-Mount-Kit.aspx in combination with the IM2400 and IM2450 pelican cases. I measured the bag rack tubing diameter when I got the bike and I recall it being close to 5/8 inches. I'm out of town at the moment otherwise I'd just wander out to my garage and check! Would these mounts w/ the pelicans be the best system in the world? Nope. But they would be fine for loading up with gear a few weekends a years and stand up to camping abuse. I'd probably add some 1/32" x 1" metal strips to the case prior to drilling the bag mount holes for extra support. The pelican case plastic is plenty tough, but distributing the load from the bag mount holes along the metal strip would probably help. Obviously with these mounts I can't remove them unless I open and empty the case. My planned solution? Just use the cloth grocery bags as case bags. That gets around all your gear falling out due to the clamshell design as well. All said and done the setup should cost about 250 based on the case prices on Fleabay. To get something notably better my research has shown double to triple the price for most systems - plus the likely headache of getting it to work with the ST bag mounts (pending on system) Don't get me wrong I'd love me some aluminum cases, but not for ~800+
Your idea is pure Airhead, simple by design. Sounds very sound to me. From what I've read, Pelican cases can take a lot of abuse. If you end up with a set, post some pictures. I'm sure others besides me would like to see the set up.
