Extending the luggage rack?

I'm looking at buying a nice big tail bag but due to the small size of the stock luggage rack, none of them will fit very well without making it bigger.
As for products on the market, there arent many ive found apart from this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KURYAKYN-TOURING-BAG-SUPPORT-PLATFORM-7146-HONDA-HARLEY-KAWASAKI-SUZUKI-YAMAHA-/400316945088?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5d34bfd2c0

Which looks good but quite pricey.
Thought about budget ideas like buying a black chopping board and drilling it, or aluminium sheet? Perspex, polypropylene? There are many materials which would work, but i'm pretty bad ad DIY so im looking for some inspiration on how best to go about it.

Thanks

Do you have a photo of the rack you already have fitted?  I'd start with something like this 

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available here - hot pot stand - should be fairly easy to cobble something up to fit it to your existing rack - probably with some small U-clamps ?

That looks like it could work and wouldnt look too out of place.
The rack is just the standard Suzuki one, like this

http://i00.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/32220502646_1/Chrome-font-b-Sissy-b-font-font-b-Bar-b-font-Luggage-Rack-For-font-b.jpg

If it was me, I'd trim it if necessary, then lay it on top of the existing rack.  I'd then go to these people - U-Bolts-R-Us - (seriously, that's not a wind-up) & decide which u-bolts are going to be right for the job.   if you don't want to make up your own backing bars, they sell backing bars to fit, although I'd be inclined to make a backing bar which captured all of them in one go .  The only slight issue I can see is that (depending on which way you fit it), the rails on your existing rack could run in the opposite direction to the pot stand meaning that unless the cross rails match up to your existing rails, the u-clamps are going on at an angle - does that make sense?

Hopefully that's given you some ideas

Couldnt it just be cable tied with metal cable ties? I have a pack of metal ones which are reusable.
Good idea though, i might go out for a ride and just look in a few random shops for something like that stand

I personally wouldn't, but it may be worth a try.  I've never used metal ties, but I know some people that swear by them - don't know if any other members have experience of them.  Bear in mind how much weight is going to be on it, add onto that vibration & wind pressure & I'd be wanting it be as secure as possible.  I may even use my local, friendly engineering company to weld some clamps or threaded rod onto the pot stand so that I could just drop it over my existing rack (which I don't have) & then tighten up a couple of backing bars that have holes drilled in the right place.  That way you could drop it on in about five minutes.  Not an engineering masterpiece - do you know any local back street engineers?

Something like this 

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I'd probably get it powder coated - wouldn't cost a fortune.  Sorry the sketch is a bit rough & ready, but I'm sure you get the idea.

Yea i see what you mean. I also like this guys simple idea, may not look pretty but you wouldnt know with the bag being on it:



Love that tail bag as well. He has a few C800 videos, including a long term review

This is just plain weird and eerie 

I just to home from IKEA with two of those stands, because after fitting the bags to my bike, I think it is missing a luggage rack, and could not find anyone I like.

Well, it seems we all think a lot alike 

Hey Kim - the only reason I thought of them, is because I'd cooked a pasty for lunch & instead of putting the oven pan on the worktop, (lesson learned from a previous cooking failure) I grabbed my Ikea pan stand - cue that light bulb moment of inspiration !!  Great minds eh !!  How you going to attach yours ?

Haha that is odd. Would love some pics of yours fitted if you could. I don't km why they make luggage racks so small to be honest

So you have to buy their saddle bags as well !!!

Good thinking guys 

Thinking outside the box, I like your thinking.

I think i'll buy that and then cut all the side poles down so it sits flush with the vertical bars, that way there will be nothing sticking out. Hopefully its quite heavy duty

EazyDuz wrote:

Yea i see what you mean. I also like this guys simple idea, may not look pretty but you wouldnt know with the bag being on it:



Love that tail bag as well. He has a few C800 videos, including a long term review

That looks incredibly simple & effective - although personally, I'd still go for the Ikea rack as it give you more flexibility for strapping stuff down.  Let us know how it goes - if you need a hand, give us a shout.

That's a very useful tail pack, good video 

the ikea pot stand us a clever idea. Just one thought.. Not sure how rust proof it would be... Couple of coats of clear coat?

Just to ask a dumb question.... How huge a bag are you carrying? Do you actually need to extend the rack? I carried a pretty big bag on my rear rack last year, and although not a suzuki, it looks identical to yours. By the time the bag was bungeed to the sissy bar it wasn't going anywhere...

Bit of droop on either side but fine...
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Don't know about the bike or rack but what a great looking road to ride.

Cheers tex... It was in northern Spain, in an an area known as the Picos de Europa.

Another ikea product that could work...

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00202545/

You mentioned polypropylene, and I'm guessing that's what stuff like this is made from

My old man went a different route to fit a large leather bag to the bak of his Marauder. Instead of extending the rack he fitted a piece of 10mm ply into the bottom of the bag.

That would also work, probably more simple. The benefit of extending the rack as opposed to making the base of the bag hard is extra places to strap it down.
With regards to rust, a review on the Ikea one said it can also be used as a drip tray for drying plates so i'm assuming it would be rust proof if its a kitchen accessory

On my C800 I have the standard size rack & sissy bar so when I needed to carry a large bag last year to France & Yorkshire & had to think about what to do to make the rack area bigger.
As luck would have it I had a piece of 6mm alloy plate about 18" by 6" lying about from when I was going to make a bash plate for the underneath of my Velocette Scrambler.
I put the plate on the rack & it was exactly the right size so I made a plate to go under the rack & along with some stick on rubber foam insulation  drilled both plates & sandwiched the rack in between them using stainless steel fittings.
As well as doing that I made some 90 degree alloy brackets with slots in so I could bungee the bag down to it as well as having the bags own lashings which went around the sissy bar etc making for a really strong but light platform for the bag I have which is from the Aussie Biker people.
I also have a Rigg Pack that I've not used which is sitting on the top shelf of our wardrobe unused which is of a semi rigid construction much like an expanding suitcase. It also has a barrel bag which clips to the top giving you even more room.
Rosie & I took too much kit with us on both trips but we still had tons of space left for souveniers etc...

ps. If anyone wants to buy the Rigg pack then pm me as It really needs a good home & could be yours for £80- + p&p. Oh Rosie has reminded me it has a small repairable tear near one of the zips.

EazyDuz wrote:

That would also work, probably more simple. The benefit of extending the rack as opposed to making the base of the bag hard is extra places to strap it down.
With regards to rust, a review on the Ikea one said it can also be used as a drip tray for drying plates so i'm assuming it would be rust proof if its a kitchen accessory

I've had one in my kitchen for years & it has no rust on it all, despite going through the dishwasher countless times.  However, if you trim the ends off, you'll be exposing the unprotected surface - you'd either need to give it a heavy paint coat or have it powdered.

It should not require any protection as it is made a stainless steel, and if it survives the dishwasher without a mark, it should do fine on the bike.

Btw, it is made a thin wall tubes, so when you cut them you might consider something to block off the end.

So is it stainless under the coating, cos mine is definitely coated with something

Doc any chance you could post a PIC of it fitted?

Last time I went away on the Intruder I just cut a square piece of 1/4 plywood and zip tied it to the rack to support my rucksack, didn't look pretty but it worked a treat.

I haven't made a rack yet, but the steel is not coated on mine.

I tried to bend the pipe a bit, and it is not possible to do very tight bend without it breaking.