Rotopax Mounts for my 990 Adventure

[Hondo]

I wanted to mount 2 Rotopax fuel containers on my 2011 990 Adventure Dakar.

The requirements were -

- the mounts had to be strong
- independent of the Gobi tail box
- independent of the panniers

When looking at the Rotopax website, I found that they offered the one gallon Rotopax & their steel "L" mounting bracket as a kit. I ordered two of the kits -



The "L" bracket is very strong and has 2 positions to mount the Rotopax vertically and many mounting holes on the bottom of the bracket for it's mounting. The weight of the Rotopax and their mounts is listed as 5.8 lbs. That comes to 11.6 lbs for the 2 sets. Add 13.4 lbs for 2 gallons of fuel and the total comes to 25 lbs total.

My plan was to create a strong mount that would bolt to the stock KTM/Gobi tail box mount, and the "L" brackets would mount to it. That way the tail bag gould be removed, installed or opened with the L brackets in place.

So I laid out a 5 bolt pattern to secure the 1/4 inch thick mounting bar & drilled the holes out -



Then I positioned the bar underneath the rear rack and transferred the holes to the bar mount with a Sharpie -



Here the mount bar is temporarily mounted to the rear rack -



Then I installed the Gobi tail box -



Then I positioned the "L" brackets on the bar and marked their hole locations -



I then drilled out the mounting holes. You can also see that I cut out a notch in the rear of the bar. This allows the Gobi tail bag's mount & lock access to the rack.



Then I eased all of the sharp edges with a fine file, eased the holes a bit with a countersinking bit, and cleaned it off in perpetration for paint. Here it is air drying after I painted it with satin finish enamel -



Mounted to the rear rack with stainless steel button head screws, washers and nyloc nuts -

[Hondo]

Then I mounted the "L" brackets to the bar -



With the Rotopax installed -



A few shots with the Gobi tail box -









With the Gobi box open -





Overall I am very happy with this mod!

[Hondo]

With the Mermite Panniers installed -

[Yellow Pig]

Sure puts a lot of weight up high and back?!

[Hondo]

Originally Posted by Yellow Pig

Sure puts a lot of weight up high and back?!

If you think that 25 lbs a lot of weight, I guess you could say that. When you consider how much a passenger or other gear strapped onto the back weighs it's really not that much on a 461 lb bike.

The beauty of the Rotopax is that I need only install them when I feel the need for extra gas.

[BUMOT]

Exellent job!

[v8toilet]

Originally Posted by Hondo

If you think that 25 lbs a lot of weight, I guess you could say that. When you consider how much a passenger or other gear strapped onto the back weighs it's really not that much on a 461 lb bike.

The beauty of the Rotopax is that I need only install them when I feel the need for extra gas.

When you consider the leverage of the 25 lbs on your subfame that far aft it is significant.

Nice work on the install.

[Hondo]

The weight is on the pannier rack & tail rack, so the weight is distributed to the entire subframe (not in one place). I would guess that it is less stress than a passenger.

[4corners14]

Well thought out and nicely finished! If that weight creates a problem......then my 990 should have already broken in half

[rwavaktm]

Nicely Done. I am still pondering how I want to carry extra fuel. I like your design.

[EatinDirt]

Nice and clean I think they turned out Great!!!

[MrSandman818]

Nicely done! I just did th same thing except I mounted them directly to my top gobi. I don't want be pushing my bike I'm Canada this weekend!

[SF_Rider]

Not sure how practical it would be or difficult.

Seems like a bit of weight up high and to the side. Would be cool if there was a way to rotate the tabs/cans to set where the passenger would sit. One tab would be able to slide in and out so the packs would be in line taking up the passenger spot when not traveling with someone keeping the weight lower and more centered.

Looks like a great setup, almost as good as my safari tanks.....

[Hondo]

Originally Posted by SF_Rider

Looks like a great setup, almost as good as my safari tanks.....

Not as convenient, but less expensive.

[SF_Rider]

I use my bike for too many things. I often will commute 100-200 miles in a day. The fuel stops were killing me

Originally Posted by Hondo

Not as convenient, but less expensive.