• Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

Giant Loop Great Basin / PMB Rack Experience

wncstrada

Husqvarna
B Class
I’ve gotten a couple of questions about my Great Basin Giant Loop bag and Pro Moto Billet rack So.... here goes!
My goal was to get my Husky ready for a multi day dual sport trip and I didn’t have a rear rack or luggage. I was trying to find something that would hold my gear, fit the Husky and not break the bank. After a lot of time and consideration I went with the Giant Loop Great Basin bag. To keep costs down, I hoped to use the bag without a rear rack.
The bag arrived, I loaded it up with gear and took off for a test ride. The bag fit well and rode well over mixed terrain. I stopped for a rest after a tight slow section, took off my helmet and smelled the aroma of...... warm plastic. I caught the situation in time. The bag seemed to be too close to the nuclear reactor / exhaust pipe; there was a very small spot where a blister appeared to be forming. I rearranged everything to create more clearance and headed home.
At this point with the trip looming, I wanted something that would create more clearance for the pipe and bag, and I wanted a more secure tie down point for the bag. The Pro Moto Billet rack looked like it would do the job. For extra good measure, I got some adhesive foil heat shielding from the auto parts store and put it on the inside edge of the bag. Then it was time to hit the road.
My results? The bag / rack system worked very well. I moved the bag back further and the pannier protector helped create more distance between the bag and the pipe. I can only echo everyone’s comments on the Great Basin bag - it’s big, it’s well made and it held all of my stuff. The design helped keep my heavy stuff (too many tools) low on the bike. The PMB rack made a great place to tie everything down and the pannier protectors did their job.
This was a good combination for me. I ended up spending more than I had planned, but I’ve now got a good setup for short or long hauls. You may or may not have heat issues, depending on how you position your bag and which exhaust can you are using. The Giant Loop instructions make some suggestions on how to deal with pipe and heat issues. At this point, I don’t think I need the foil any longer. I’ve attached a few pictures of my setup. I’m happy to recommend the combination.
 

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That looks like it can hold a good amount of stuff
It is my understanding that the aftermarket exhaust should cool things down a bit ?
Thanks for write up wncstrada
So how did it hold at the dragon ? :D

:thumbsup:
 
Good point, Muddy; my LV pipe is much, much cooler than the stock unit.

Another thing is the Great Basin bag is designed for the larger bikes, like the bigger KTMs, KLR, etc. The Coyote bag is probably a better fit for the 610 and probably wouldn't have the same issues. Just a guess, though...




WoodsChick
 
WoodsChick;96463 said:
Good point, Muddy; my LV pipe is much, much cooler than the stock unit.

Another thing is the Great Basin bag is designed for the larger bikes, like the bigger KTMs, KLR, etc. The Coyote bag is probably a better fit for the 610 and probably wouldn't have the same issues. Just a guess, though...




WoodsChick

Actually, Wachs at Giant Loop told me the same thing. Coyote or the new MoJavi is the recommended bag for the 610.
 
Mr. Waters - an embarrassing but true story. My goal for the trip was to get over to Tennessee and ride the TransAmerica Trail for a few days. With semi-knobby tires and gear I was not really aiming for the Dragon. After a minor problem early on the first day I let the GPS do a reroute for Athens TN. Low and behold the routing took me right to the Dragon! I was the only guy there not interested in setting a fast time through the road. I AM going back with street tires and try that place out!

Just a comment on the bag: I don't think that the Great Basin is too large for the Husky. After all, is a KLR bigger than our 610? I think that the choice gets down to how much gear you want or need to carry along.
 
wncstrada;96586 said:
Just a comment on the bag: I don't think that the Great Basin is too large for the Husky. After all, is a KLR bigger than our 610? I think that the choice gets down to how much gear you want or need to carry along.

Well, with the way you have the bag mounted over the rack and clipped down on the passenger footpegs, I'd have to agree. That looks like a really good solution to your needs :thumbsup: But I think that if you had the Great Basin bag mounted on your 610 the way GL had intended, it would indeed be rather large. KLR's are much wider in the rear and have more room on the sides than we have with our tiny number plates. I've got my eye on the Coyote, myself, and I'm considering a MoJavi for Eric's dirtbike.




WoodsChick
 
Matuka;120164 said:
will a 1 gallon Rotopax work between a GL Coyote and a PMB tail rack?

No. The coyote barely worked with the PMB, the rack made it bend where it didn't want to, and the rotopax is a bit wider still. It fits MUCH better directly on the fender.
P9013947.jpg


Here's the Mo'Javi
IMG_0251.jpg


They are kind of hard to fit if you don't have passenger pegs.

Here's an early version using the tank bag, and a exhaust stand off I made from a high-end hose clamp
IMG_1604.jpg

I didn't like that setup because the strap pushed against the shock reservoir
Here's the current anchor system
PA080014.jpg

PA080015.jpg
 
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