Friday, July 12, 2013 [60 miles]
Before I put more miles on the bike I want to make some room in the garage by installing the panniers that I’ve been tripping over for the last 2 months. The instructions make the job look to be pretty easy.
tight, thread locker
front fasteners
Front and rear fasteners
Clean off old thread locker
First step is to remove the fasteners from the rear deck. They were held by some kind of thread locker which made them a bit of an effort to remove. Also, once the fasteners are out the black trim under the fastener is loose… don’t let it blow away. The long fasteners are for the front, the short fasteners for the rear. I cleaned off the old thread locker.
E-clip on peg pin
Pannier lower attachment hardware installed
Left pax peg removed
The passenger pegs are held on with a pin and e-clip. I removed both and stuck them in a labeled zip-lock bag should I ever want to remove the panniers. The pin is replaced by a long bolt which not only holds the peg, but also the bottom front of the pannier frame. The blue on the bolt is thread locker. Note that the rubber needs to be compressed a touch to align the hole for the bolt. The design is such that the rubber acts as a spring to keep the peg in position. Do not tighten the nut so much that the foot peg won’t rotate.
Doesn’t quite fit
Gentle persuasion
Loosely attached
I found it easiest to first hook the lower front of the pannier frame to the foot peg then get the tops in position. The left side fit out of the box but the right side needed some gentle persuasion to align the top front mounting tab to the bike. I put the tab in a vice and pressed against the frame to very slightly increase the tab angle. One try was all it took to get the frame to fit. I attached the rear cross brace last. Fit looks OK.
Snugged up w/new thread locker
Left pannier mounted
Right pannier mounted
Muffler clearance
I snugged up all the fasteners then one at a time removed a fastener, applied thread locker, and re-installed the fastener. I did the top front fasteners first, followed by the top rear, rear cross brace, and lastly the lower front attachment at the foot pegs. I used thread locker even though the hardware included nylock nuts.
The blury last picture shows the clearance between the muffler and the lower mounting tab of the panner.
Lid interference
Rear view
Side view
The first image shows the only down side I’ve seen with the panniers. The stock handholds ever so slightly interfere with the lids when opening or closing by pivoting on one of the latches. It does not stop the lid from opening closing – there is enough play in the pivot/latch that pulling the lid ever so slightly outward lets it clear the handhold. I can live with this. The final two images show the bike with the cases installed.
I took about a 35 mile test ride after installation. No issues noted. I checked that all fasteners were still fastened when I got home. Yep. I also checked how hot the muffler side pannier got. It was warm to the touch near the exhaust, but not hot.