Racks on Racks on Racks

June 7, 2014

We’re getting a lot of questions about which racks the wedge-mount  works on.

There are an enormous number of different racks out there, and within our group of riding buddies we have only a handful of racks to test.  At Overland Expo we saw a bunch of different setups but we were busy at the booth and didn’t get to test as many as we hoped.

Here’s what we know so far:

Wolfman: confirmed fit

Touratech: Should fit without issues

Hepco Becker: Confirmed fit

Happy Trails SU: confirmed fit

Happy Trails SL: Should fit

Happy Trails Gen 5: should fit.  Drill a couple holes in the metal piece to correspond with the slots on the wedge.

Rally Raid: Confirmed fit, does not require our mounting pucks (let us know that you have this rack in the “notes” section of your order we’ll reduce the price of the panniers by $65 and not send the 8 pucks).

Andy Strapz: Confirmed fit.  Grind down the bolt in the middle of the rack just a little bit.  This doesn’t affect the usability of the bolt.

SW Motech: Currently our mounting pucks do not fit on this rack because the tubing is too wide.  The wedge would work great but not the pucks.  We are working with Twisted Throttle to come up with a solution, and we expect to have one by the time the bags ship.  It would be relatively easy to make a simple bracket out of aluminum bar.

Another rack we tested at Overland Expo.  Not sure of the make, but it’s a confirmed fit.

Curved Pannier Racks: The wedge requires a flat surface to mount against, so bikes that have curved pannier racks present a challenge.  Here are some pics:

So far we’ve found two possible solutions:

1) An exhaust lowering kit.  These are $90 from Happy Trails.  I have one on my BMW R1150GS Adventure.  The make them for other bikes too.  An advantage of these is that you can run the same capacity panniers on both sides.  Here is a LINK.

2) The SW Motech adapter sold by Twisted Throttle.  Here is the LINK.   We just ordered one of these, and will test it out with the wedge in the next week or two.

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We’re keenly interested in any/all ideas for fitting the wedge on curved racks.  If you have an idea, we’d really love to hear it.

If anyone has a rack that’s not listed above and you’re wondering if it will work, please send us a pic and we’ll let you know.  We’ll collect the pics and start posting them on the new Fitment Page on our website.  Also, if you have a bike with an unusual rack system and you want to fabricate your own pucks, let us know and we can save you $65 on the panniers.

Mounting Hardware

In the “last minute design changes” department, we switched our hardware to metric thanks to the many suggestions on the Mosko advrider.com thread.  We also switched the mounting screws to stainless.  We debated switching from a philips to hex, but stayed with philips because the hex heads are a much smaller diameter.

New Home?

We looked at a warehouse space in White Salmon this week.  It’s nothing fancy, but it has a sink and bathroom, and comes with 3/4 of an acre in a really cool, central location.  With all that extra space outside we could offer fellow riders a place to camp  when they come through the Gorge.  Hoping we get this one.  We need to find something soon.

Financing

We’re looking at some options for getting additional financing.  Andrew and I had enough in savings to get this far, and we have enough to get into business with the bags, but the riding apparel we’re developing for next year is going to require a bigger investment.  We’ll be making deposits this summer to purchase fabric.   We’ve been talking to a bank about possibly getting a loan, and we also talked to someone this week who might be interested in investing.  More to come on that front.

Photo Shoot

Our good friend John Laptad — a professional photographer (LINK) and fellow moto junkie — offered to take some pics as a trade.   It was awesome to watch John do his thing, and the pics came out great.

Visitors

We had some visitors here in the Gorge over the last few weeks.  First Jack and his wife rode up from Stevenson on their 690 Enduros to check out the bags.  They decided on the Backcountry 35 Panniers and Backcountry 40 Duffle for both bikes.

Then Loren stopped by with his DR350 to check out the bags and take a closer look at the wedge-mount so he can fabricate a custom rack.

New Bike

Also this week we had a new addition to the Mosko Moto family.  Now we just need to figure out how to mount some Scout 25s.

Next weekend is the Black Dog Dualsport  here in Hood River.  We’ll be there with the bags.  If you’re in the area please stop by and introduce yourself!