Luggage pictures thread

[Bitter Born]

Originally Posted by sawguard

20 MM Army suplus Ammo cans
Givi Top Box, in terchangeable with Zarges aluminium case for long trips

I actually like those a lot.. Was the rack hand made or did you go with sw or givi or someone else?

[sawguard]

The Ammo cans are mounted on Givi racks, and the Givi Trunk is mounted on a rack I built myself.

I wanted a nice luggage rack that I could use in place of the Givi tip case for camping, so...

1- I built a quick release platform that accommodated the Givi top case and a steel luggage rack I had built.
2- 4 Quick bolts and off comes Givi trunk and on goes my custom luggage rack..not shown in photos...I'll take some pics and post them when bike gets back from shop next week.

3- Luggage rack accommodates my large aluminum Zarges trunk, or my Helen Two Wheels
bags, whichever I need for the trip.

The cans are tough as hell, act as crash bars as good as the crash bars I purchased,
easy to touch up if they get scratched, waterproof and hold a bunch of stuff.
AND I save about $950 off the price of jesses, hepcos happy trails ,etc.

[MZBuckeye]

I love the ammo cans. Where can one purchase those?

Also, did you spray them black? How does it hold up? What kind of paint did you use?

EDIT: Found a bunch for sale online, those are really the business. I think I'm going to do this with the SW removable racks. I'll probably have them powdercoated black and still come out WAY ahead over other metal panniers. Thanks for the great idea!

[Gowiththeflow61]

I'm looking at the Givi 52 top and 46 sides for the O8 flat blacker. But a few of the photos I've seen look like the rear foot pegs are real close to the bags with the SW Motech racks...Anyone got a first hand look at that situation? Thanks in advance.

[MZBuckeye]

Originally Posted by sawguard

20 MM Army suplus Ammo cans
Givi Top Box, in terchangeable with Zarges aluminium case for long trips

Thank you for the great idea with the ammo cans. I just bought two of them from Ebay for $55 shipped, along with SW Motech sideracks from the F/S section. I also got a quote from a local powdercoater to spray them black for $100. $330 total for metal sidecases and racks is the best deal I've found!!!

[sawguard]

I think before anyone spends money on powder coating, just try what Idid...
Sand down the cans pretty well, to about 150 grit, maybe even 220 if you like a smoother finish..
then go to Wal Mart and in the automotive dept, get 2-3 cans of areosold truck bed liner, flat black and some black Derusto.

Spray on an undercoat or two of the flat black DeRusto paint, then come back with 3-4 thin coats of the truck bed liner, then a final coat of flat black Derusto.

Looks very cool withe bedliner "orange peel" finish and cost is about $40

Good luck.

And BTW, there are plenty of ammo cans on the internet, I think I paid about $15 each for mine.

[Criscokid]

Originally Posted by Fatstrat

Nice looking cases Crisco.
Did you paint them yourself?

Thanks . No I didn't paint them. They are color matched to the bike I believe. The cases were purchased new in '03. They are OEM Kappa/Suzuki cases.

[MZBuckeye]

I think before anyone spends money on powder coating, just try what Idid...
Sand down the cans pretty well, to about 150 grit, maybe even 220 if you like a smoother finish..
then go to Wal Mart and in the automotive dept, get 2-3 cans of areosold truck bed liner, flat black and some black Derusto.

Spray on an undercoat or two of the flat black DeRusto paint, then come back with 3-4 thin coats of the truck bed liner, then a final coat of flat black Derusto.

Looks very cool withe bedliner "orange peel" finish and cost is about $40

Good luck.

And BTW, there are plenty of ammo cans on the internet, I think I paid about $15 each for mine.

I bought mine on Ebay, brand new, for $18 apiece and $19 shipping for both, total of $55. That's good advice on the truck bedliner, but I've never had any luck spraypainting anything myself. I'm going to go the powdercoat route just because thanks to your idea, I'm saving TONS of $$$ and I've got plenty left over to pay the powdercoater. He wants $50 apiece, which I think is very fair.

I'm going to mount mine on the SW Motech quick release mounts. I'll put up some pictures as soon as its complete, both the cans and the mounts are on the way right now, and the powdercoater said he'll have them back to me the next day.

The only thing I'm kinda sorta not really concerned about is locking the cans. Were you able to come up with a way to do that?

[sawguard]

have not really felt the need for locks, as I usually pack my cans using inserts, so if I need to leave the bike in a public place overnight..hotel, parking lot etc...I Just life the straps on the inserts and leave the cans on the bike.

The problem is that there is no hinge, which I like because it allows easier and full acces to loading and unloading, and I don't lke because there really is no easy way to lock the things.

I"ve even challenged people who I meet randomly to try and open the cans when they are mounted on the bike, so far, no one has figured out how to do it because of the lift and pull levers that take a bit of heft because of the water seals.

But, let me know if you figure out a cool,simple way to lock the cams..

and good luck, I predict you'll really like them..and save a ton of money.

[MZBuckeye]

Originally Posted by sawguard

have not really felt the need for locks, as I usually pack my cans using inserts, so if I need to leave the bike in a public place overnight..hotel, parking lot etc...I Just life the straps on the inserts and leave the cans on the bike.

The problem is that there is no hinge, which I like because it allows easier and full acces to loading and unloading, and I don't lke because there really is no easy way to lock the things.

I"ve even challenged people who I meet randomly to try and open the cans when they are mounted on the bike, so far, no one has figured out how to do it because of the lift and pull levers that take a bit of heft because of the water seals.

But, let me know if you figure out a cool,simple way to lock the cams..

and good luck, I predict you'll really like them..and save a ton of money.

I'm not at all worried about it. Anything valuable I'm not trying to leave on the bike, even if they did lock. I've got soft luggage now that doesn't lock, obviously, and I've never had an issue.

Thanks again for the great idea, looking forward to getting these bad boys bolted up. Did you just drill holes in the cans and bolt them right onto the racks?