Guest tx2sturgis Posted March 19, 2008 #1 Posted March 19, 2008 http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h113/tx2sturgis/rack/th_IMG_0892.jpghttp://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h113/tx2sturgis/rack/th_IMG_0889.jpg http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h113/tx2sturgis/rack/th_IMG_0890.jpghttp://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h113/tx2sturgis/rack/th_IMG_0888.jpghttp://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h113/tx2sturgis/rack/th_IMG_0891.jpg So...I didnt mess with the alumaloy after all...built this out of some aluminum I found at a salvage yard here. I know, its VERY ugly, but no-one will see it except with the tent on it. I needed something to hold my tent, since I hate to carry it up high on the bike. The rear lighting is still visible, and if I decide to strap on a cooler sometime, I'll add some lighting. In the pics, it looks like the exhaust is blocked, but actually, the rack is above the exhaust stream..I checked! Thanks to all who contributed.
BIG TOM Posted March 19, 2008 #2 Posted March 19, 2008 BOTTOM LINE......IT DONT HAVE TO BE PURRDY.. IT JUST GOTTA WORK...
mbrood Posted March 19, 2008 #3 Posted March 19, 2008 Shoot... a little sanding and a nice coat of black paint and that puppy will look awesome! Nice job, simple need and an elegant fix!
WIKD Posted March 19, 2008 #4 Posted March 19, 2008 I wouldn't say it's ugly. may need a little finish work but good job. And it seems to work too which is always a plus.
Squidley Posted March 20, 2008 #5 Posted March 20, 2008 Get's the job done Brian....you can always paint it later and or modify
flb_78 Posted March 20, 2008 #6 Posted March 20, 2008 Shoot... a little sanding and a nice coat of black paint and that puppy will look awesome! Nice job, simple need and an elegant fix! EEK!!! It's aluminum, you don't paint it, you POLISH IT!!!
Guest tx2sturgis Posted March 20, 2008 #7 Posted March 20, 2008 Hey thanks for the feedback...I MIGHT polish or paint it, but why? When its on the road it will be covered with a tent, and when I get to my campsite, after the tent is setup, it will be IN the tent. I could use it on a beer run I suppose, but hey, at the biker rallies I go to, nobody is gonna care, and when I get back to camp, its gonna come right off the bike again. If there is a show-bike category for tent racks, well hell, I can enter it in the rat-bike tent rack division....might even win! I took it for a test ride today, loaded the trunk with a few heavy items, and strapped the tent on the rack...it rode just fine. I can feel it back there on dips, but otherwise, all was well. The way I built it, it only uses 2 stainless steel bolts to hold it together, along with a couple of nylock nuts, and those can be removed easily, in case I ever need to take it apart and stuff it in the trunk, or my T-bag. I didnt try standing on it, but pushing down with my boot, its pretty sturdy...the whole ass-end of the bike drops, and no deflection of the aluminum. Years ago, I made a little aluminum 'shelf' for the rack on my DynaGlide, and it worked out really well. It gave support to my baggage and tent that I carried to the rallies. I've seen something similar on a website, I think he calls it a rack-plate, or something like that. Really increases the ability to carry stuff, although it puts a lot of strain on the rack hardware. Still, no problems ever. Anyway, looking forward now to riding the Venture to distant states for the rally season.
Eck Posted March 20, 2008 #8 Posted March 20, 2008 http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h113/tx2sturgis/rack/th_IMG_0892.jpghttp://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h113/tx2sturgis/rack/th_IMG_0889.jpg http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h113/tx2sturgis/rack/th_IMG_0890.jpghttp://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h113/tx2sturgis/rack/th_IMG_0888.jpghttp://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h113/tx2sturgis/rack/th_IMG_0891.jpg Looks good, but I have an observation question. Does it not interfere with the exhaust coming out both mufflers???? It sure looks like all the heat from both mufflers / exhaust is blowing right on to the brown bag, a possible fire..? or at minimum,leaving black exhaust soot on the brown bag. Can you smell exhaust fumes at a red light or stop sign?
Kregerdoodle Posted March 20, 2008 #9 Posted March 20, 2008 Looks great!! and that just connects right to your hitch?? again, good job, I am needing some way to carry 2 fold out chairs and a small 2-man tent, that just may work...
KiteSquid Posted March 20, 2008 #10 Posted March 20, 2008 that is slick!!!!! paint it or powder coat it if you care, but I would problly leave it how it is!!!!!
Billet Posted March 20, 2008 #11 Posted March 20, 2008 Looks like "billet aluminum" to me. What the heck is billet aluminum any way?? I've been in the machineshop business for 35 years and never made anything out of a billet. Just about all aluminum starts out life sometime as a billet i guess, unless of course it happens to start out as an ingot. The one that really gets me is "Aircraft grade 6061-T6" They just don"t make airplanes out of 6061. And don"t get me started on chrome-moly. Any way, Nice job and when you are not carrying your tent it would be a good place for a second passenger to stand.
Guest tx2sturgis Posted March 24, 2008 #12 Posted March 24, 2008 Looks good, but I have an observation question. Does it not interfere with the exhaust coming out both mufflers???? It sure looks like all the heat from both mufflers / exhaust is blowing right on to the brown bag, a possible fire..? or at minimum,leaving black exhaust soot on the brown bag. Can you smell exhaust fumes at a red light or stop sign? Nope...none of that. Its actually above the exhaust stream....just that the pics dont show that....its hard to judge distance in the pics. Its a yellow(sorta!) tent, and no, it didnt get black soot, but if it does, I wont care....of course, if it seems to get hot, I'll just add some thin aluminum deflectors...but on my Ultra, it never bothered it. The muffler tips arent that hot, and the exhaust probably wont be that hot except when pulling hard grades in the summer. But anyway, the exhaust flows mostly UNDER the rack....hope this helps.
Guest tx2sturgis Posted March 25, 2008 #13 Posted March 25, 2008 Ok....heres a couple of pics...I just went out and set the tent on the rack, and you can see the small openings in the mufflers are some distance away from the tent.
Guest tx2sturgis Posted March 25, 2008 #14 Posted March 25, 2008 Looks great!! and that just connects right to your hitch?? again, good job, I am needing some way to carry 2 fold out chairs and a small 2-man tent, that just may work... Thats been the idea...took me about 2 hours to make it...just getting things right and you know, all the details. I'll be able to easily carry my tent, and maybe one of those little folding armchairs too. I spent about 3 bucks on the scrap aluminum, (I bought more than I used ) plus about 4 bucks for the new aluminum bar that I used for the braces( had plenty left over!)....plus a buck for 4 stainless bolts and nylock nuts...only used 2 of those. I spent less than $10 on this thing, with several pieces left over, that I didnt use. The horizontal plate is a scrap piece of military hardware, used to hold gages of some type in a rack. It had the folded edges, so thats why I used it...more strength, and the edges arent sharp. I bought some black bumper paint, and will get to sanding it and panting it sometime next week I hope. I'm thinking of adding some plastic trim strips, like you see on car doors, lengthwise across the edges of the plate, to help hold a tent on, when loading it. Of course, the bungees will secure it when traveling. When I get it painted, I'll post a pic or two.
Guest Ken8143 Posted March 25, 2008 #15 Posted March 25, 2008 Good work! Looks just fine to me. I made a little cargo tray for the back of my 87 (see poor man's fixes) and it is great. Put some LED lights on it. Amazing how much stuff you can tote if you have to without pulling a trailer. Me and the wife did 2400 miles last summer - not a hassle at all.
Guest tx2sturgis Posted March 31, 2008 #16 Posted March 31, 2008 Just for grins...I painted it... I actually used that spray on coating, which is a textured non-slip finish, that you use for home-made bedliners for pickups. Sanded, primered, and painted, here it is:
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