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Quick set of photos of the install I did of 1 x water and 1 x gasoline Rotopax packs (1 gallon each) underneath the OEM panniers of my 1200 GSA for my 6 month trip next year in USA + Canada. The reason for mounting them this way was to keep the weight as low as possible on the bike (the packs will not necessarily always be full in any event) and to avoid them getting in my way. So far, I have had no issues while riding, even on very tight and/or very curvy roads. In case of a fall, both panniers have been reinforced to be able to take the additional strain. Although I don't necessarily expect them to survive a more severe crash on asphalt. Rotopax are heavy duty. So no, I am not too worried about falls when off-road, or even on-road to a certain extent. And don't expect to go up in flames either. Should one Rotopax end up being damaged enough, I will simply replace it So here goes. 2 aluminium plaques were cut out to reinforce the bottom of the panniers. And were installed on the inside. Holes were drilled in the plaques to be able to access the rivets at the bottom of the panniers. Aluminium spacers were also cut out, to be fixed on the outside of the panniers. The black plastic corners on the panniers would have caused the packs to rest on them and therefore put more stress on the pack mount and especially the screw used to tighten them. Didn't mind drilling holes in the panniers. Which were never waterproof to start off with anyway ^^ And turn into swimming pools whenever it rains. And no, I was not unlucky with this set of panniers. I have another set with exactly the same problem (even drilled holes at the bottom of each pannier of the 2nd set to help evacuate the water). Pack mount and spacer mounted. View from inside the pannier. The pack mount, spacer and inner aluminium plaques are all held and tightened together. Everything can be removed in a matter of minutes. Gasoline Rotopax on. Water and gasoline Rotopax on. They are centered underneath the panniers and do not stick out from them. No chance of the right one ever touching the final drive either.

I was going to start the thread with a I've been doing a lot of LDR lately (Long Distance Riding, duh!) and I need more gas crap, but to be honest, I love how the extra fuel canister looks on my bike. The problem I had is that I didn't want to the rotopax to be on the sides or the back but on top of the side aluminum cases. Right under my Wolfman rollie bags. But there was no way to strap them properly so I had to improvise. Total cost of project: $15 Total man hours spent: 1 Total beers consumed: 3 Industrial Revolution Vanilla Porter (I love living in CO) Enjoy! Your standard ADV side case Your standard BMW straps Using the Wolfman rollie alone with the straps: perfect! Using the Wolfman rollie and the rotopax with the straps: disaster! The rotopax will just fly away with the slightest bump. The solution: Footman Loops for next to nothing (here) I also needed some STAINLESS STEEL hardware as well as some pieces of an old bicycle tube Marking the “G” spot Measurements because OCD Am I actually drilling a hole on my sidecar? I wonder if this will void the warranty… The tube will help the water to stay out (in theory) Screw -> hook -> washer -> tube in this order Thank the OCD for measuring… How did I make it crooked? Screw tight (boom, phrasing!) Cut the edges. Final product And here’s the magic! Yes, these are the original straps that came with my bike… This rotopax, won’t go anywhere! Not bad, right? http://i.imgur.com/9yhErV9.jpg Best think, I can still open my side cases with everything on them! Now I’m ready to go to my local Starbucks. Oh wait, I’ve got extra fuel! I can go to the one across town!! WOOHOO!!!! This post has been promoted to an article