• 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 The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.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!

TR650 luggage options

Tracking. I misunderstood your original post. I thought you meant you were still looking for racks for the Trax panniers. Post a photo when you get them installed. I'm still having the luggage debate in my head and need some constructive peer pressure. :D
 
Been thinking about Kappa Garda 46. Similiar to factory option and lighter than aluboxes... If its used only for commuting so whats the hell... Its a bit wide to my liking though. Still it needs to fit a helmet inside.

http://www.kappamoto.com/cases/monokey/KGR46-GARDA

kappa-kgr46-monokey-top-case.jpg
 
Hi Mario33 Kappa and Givi are one of the same. The luggage you are looking at is
exactly the same as bmw or Husqvarna without the badging. I think at one time Kappa went bust
and the Italian government did a deal to keep them going. As far as I know its all made in the same factory. Very good kit. Regards Scotty
 
Not long after I picked up the Strada I put a Pelican topcase on. Turned out to be to big, so I finally got time to get a more appropriate one and get it mounted up. Goal is to carry the stuff I 'need', keep it dry, and be able to secure it. With the first attempt, the bottom of the case turned out to be much more flexible than I expected, so this time I wanted to use some sort of platform to make it nice and stable. I started by test fitting and getting an idea of where I wanted it to sit, then I pulled the rack and mounted it up using 3/4 plywood I had handy. I had a bunch of M8 hardware, so I used that everywhere. An M8 nut fit's perfectly in the three rack holes. Did 200ish miles with the plywood prototype, it worked great. Today I went to Tap Plastics and had them cut a piece of 3/4 starboard. Not super familiar with the stuff, I over did it. I suspect 3/8 is a sufficient appropriate thickness. Total investment about $110. $88 for the Pelican IM2200, $13 for the starboard, and $8 for hardware. It's really solid, the rack will break before case comes off. I plan two small changes, I'll replace the bolts with hex button heads, and I'll put some strap loops on the outside four bolts.

Some pictures...

00582-L.jpg


The test run with plywood. You can remove or install the case without removing the rack, but the nuts in the rear rack are easier if you just pull the rack.

00585-L.jpg


00591-L.jpg


I'm told this voids the warranty.

00594-L.jpg


I just clamped the the plywood to the starboard and drilled away.

00595-L.jpg


Inside view of the finshed setup. Button head bolts will make this cleaner.

00596-L.jpg


00598-L.jpg


00601-L.jpg


00603-L.jpg


00604-L.jpg


The stuff I like to carry. Hard to see, but there's a compressor and some small tools in one of the bags.

00606-L.jpg


All ready to go. The top part is empty, enough room for a jacket liner or something along those lines.
 
krussell said:
Not long after I picked up the Strada I put a Pelican topcase on. Turned out to be to big, so I finally got time to get a more appropriate one and get it mounted up. Goal is to carry the stuff I 'need', keep it dry, and be able to secure it. With the first attempt, the bottom of the case turned out to be much more flexible than I expected, so this time I wanted to use some sort of platform to make it nice and stable. I started by test fitting and getting an idea of where I wanted it to sit, then I pulled the rack and mounted it up using 3/4 plywood I had handy. I had a bunch of M8 hardware, so I used that everywhere. An M8 nut fit's perfectly in the three rack holes. Did 200ish miles with the plywood prototype, it worked great. Today I went to Tap Plastics and had them cut a piece of 3/4 starboard. Not super familiar with the stuff, I over did it. I suspect 3/8 is a sufficient appropriate thickness. Total investment about $110. $88 for the Pelican IM2200, $13 for the starboard, and $8 for hardware. It's really solid, the rack will break before case comes off. I plan two small changes, I'll replace the bolts with hex button heads, and I'll put some strap loops on the outside four bolts.

Some pictures...

00582-L.jpg


The test run with plywood. You can remove or install the case without removing the rack, but the nuts in the rear rack are easier if you just pull the rack.

00585-L.jpg


00595-L.jpg



00603-L.jpg
Click to expand...
That is almost exactly what I did with by 'big box' from the Container Store I mentioned earlier in this thread... except I put a pice of 1/2" plywood in the inside bottom to sandwich the containers bottom for added strength.

Then I discovered I could not remove the seat while the box was on the rack, and put additional plywood on to raise it. I wanted to be able to get the seat off in case I ever needed a jump start, and because I keep registration near the battery (I *know* I am going to get a ticket one of these days :D)
 
Coffee said:
That is almost exactly what I did with by 'big box' from the Container Store I mentioned earlier in this thread... except I put a pice of 1/2" plywood in the inside bottom to sandwich the containers bottom for added strength.

Then I discovered I could not remove the seat while the box was on the rack, and put additional plywood on to raise it. I wanted to be able to get the seat off in case I ever needed a jump start, and because I keep registration near the battery (I *know* I am going to get a ticket one of these days :D)
Click to expand...

Went back and read your post, $18! Nice!

I've got a lot of seat clearance intentionally, as I want my Giant Loop Coyote to fit in between me and the case. My test fit was good, but I'm getting really close to going from the Coyote approach to a wolfman expedition setup. They Coyote works, but I think the Wolfman will work much better. Then I start thinking about how much I liked the toploader touratech bags on my GSA and I start trying to justify $1300 of luggage on a $7500, no $6500, no $5500 bike.

I strapped this case on the rear seat for most of the weekend to get comfortable with it being able to hold everything I needed. While I had it strapped I had the opportunity to show my registration to a forest ranger. He asked for license and registration and I said "Umm, well here's the license, give me a minute for the registration." That worked as I only had to undo three straps to get to the underseat registration stuff. If I had to pull tools and unbolt the rack I don't know if he would have been as accommodating.
 
I am picking up my Strada tomorrow and can get a BMW soft tail bag for $150 from the dealer. The advantage is its waterproof. I could by cheaper but not with the waterproofing. Any thoughts out there?
 
I keep checking the Happy Trails site looking for some TR650 racks. I'm quite fond of Happy Trails and would prefer to buy their racks, and I know they are working on them, but I'm starting to get depressed about it. I was hoping to have luggage racks waiting for me when I get home next month.
 
Last week they said..
Kevin we have a TR 650 at the shop, we will be working on products for it. It will be a few weeks down the road. I will keep your e mail and let you know when were close.
Ed

I had their OSR racks on my KLR. I loved how they designed to flow with the shape of the bike, offer crash protection and aslo keep my Cortech bags off of the muffler. I kinda hope they make a set similar to the OSR racks....and make a set like everyone else is doing.

http://www.happy-trail.com/KLR650/OSR-Side-Racks-87-07-KLR650.aspx
 
I really liked them when I had KLR. If they were to make a set for the TR, I would buy them.

It's kinda funny how everyone comming out with rear racks today are all doing pretty much the same thing. It's like they are all designed towards the Wolfman syle. I am not sure how many people here use Wolfman bags, but the majority of the soft bags I see on the road are not Wolfman. Not trying to sound like I am saying anything bad about them, a friend of mine has some Expedition bags and they are VERY NICE!
 
kjackbrown said:
I really liked them when I had KLR. If they were to make a set for the TR, I would buy them.

It's kinda funny how everyone comming out with rear racks today are all doing pretty much the same thing. It's like they are all designed towards the Wolfman syle. I am not sure how many people here use Wolfman bags, but the majority of the soft bags I see on the road are not Wolfman. Not trying to sound like I am saying anything bad about them, a friend of mine has some Expedition bags and they are VERY NICE!
Click to expand...

I ordered a set of the BR moto racks and yellow Wolfman Expedition bags. I had bought a GL Coyote on close out, but when I tried to make that work with my camping gear and Pelican top case it wasn't working as well as I would have liked. I'm hoping the wolfman setup is more 'packable.' It's more about where stuff goes, not how much stuff there is.
 
The owner of Happy Trails is a very happy TR650 owner. Happy Trails will be introducing TR accessories, that much we know. They've even responded to email inquiries stating that they are designing racks as we speak. What we don't know is how quickly they will be done. The new F700 seems to be getting all the farkle attention lately, and I think that is everyone't top priority at the moment. There is a lot more money to be made on BMW farkles than Husky farkles.

I wanted to get Adventure-Spec bags for the TR650, but I think they are a bit overkill for what I'll be doing. I've decided on Ortlieb QLR2's, and since they mate up perfectly with Happy Trail racks, it seems like a logical solution for commuting and dual-sporting.
 
I went with the BMW soft bag. It looks great, mounts easily, has 30 ish liter capacity and best of all is fully waterproof!
 
krussell said:
I ordered a set of the BR moto racks and yellow Wolfman Expedition bags. I had bought a GL Coyote on close out, but when I tried to make that work with my camping gear and Pelican top case it wasn't working as well as I would have liked. I'm hoping the wolfman setup is more 'packable.' It's more about where stuff goes, not how much stuff there is.
Click to expand...

I ordered a set also. I have an older GL Great basin but prefer to use saddlebags and topbag for a better packing arrangement.
 
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