It's been quite a while since I did something on my Skyteam V-Raptor, but the nonsense generator in my head hasn't stopped. Ask my better half for confirmation :lol8:
Anyway, some of our regular members probably remember my "innovative enhancements" I made to the bike. For the rest, I'm talking about my toolbox:
http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...ll=1#post37778
and my chain oiler:
http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...ll=1#post38102
As a continuation of the "Pooratech" line, spring-summer 2012 collection, I made me a couple of cheap side racks for the cheap top boxes I got from ebay.co.uk
Since I'm definitely a non-conformist I quickly abandoned the idea about usual curved and welded metal pipes. Instead I decided to use polypropylene pipes. The original idea for that I got from a posting in the advrider forum.
The enhancement from my side was to reinforce the pipes with steel rods from the inside, like the civil engineers reinforce the concrete. The solution I came up with is to use threaded steel rods. I don't know the English term for it, but it's a 1 meter long steel rod with thread all the way. In this case the thread is M8, i.e. 8mm.
It took me some research on pipe sizes and types, and I discovered that a 20mm, PN16 polypropylene pipe has an inside diameter of 14,4mm which is the diameter of the standard M8 nut.
If you're still reading this is what I'm talking about:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-F...2/IMG_1504.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-m...0/IMG_1506.JPG
After a couple of afternoons of cutting and polypropylene "welding" (with a borrowed specialized heater), I had alfa version ready:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-T...0/IMG_1492.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-V...0/IMG_1493.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Z...0/IMG_1494.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S...0/IMG_1495.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-d...0/IMG_1496.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-t...0/IMG_1497.JPG
My wife's cooking scale showed the rack to weigh 600 grams, which must be about 1 pound I think:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-F...0/IMG_1507.JPG
Another couple of evenings later I had both sides ready and sprayed them black:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-E...0/IMG_1534.JPG
(European football championship hasn't been helping, hence it took me so long to complete them.)
The paint won't last at all, but I'll worry about that later, so here is the final product:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-c...0/IMG_1535.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Y...0/IMG_1536.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-x...0/IMG_1537.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-C...0/IMG_1538.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-B...0/IMG_1539.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-e...0/IMG_1540.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-6...0/IMG_1541.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-w...0/IMG_1542.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-C...0/IMG_1543.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-f...0/IMG_1544.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-h...0/IMG_1545.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-D...0/IMG_1546.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-c...0/IMG_1547.JPG
It's not the nicest (looking) or most stable solution in the world, but I like it and am proud of it :lol8:
The boxes snap on and off with a single key turn. The top of the racks use genuine openings in the frame to bolt on (luckily all original bolts under the seat are size M8 ). Lower point is tightened with an U-clamp to the rear peg console, and the pipe has a cut in it in order to withstand the pressing force it's subjected to.
Taking the racks on and off takes about 15 minutes with the fiddling around.
Side boxes are only 10 liters big and I plan to stuff them with not so heavy stuff. Probably I'll even secure them with a rope across the seat, just in case.
In the best of the events, I'll try to make a test run this weekend with some junk from the garage in the boxes to see how does all the setup hold together, as I'm sure there are bugs to rectify in the design and/or implementation.
