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Mounting 2 x 1 gallon Rotopax to the 1200 GSA OEM panniers


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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.

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Holes were drilled in the plaques to be able to access the rivets at the bottom of the panniers.

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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.

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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).

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Pack mount and spacer mounted.

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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.

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Gasoline Rotopax on.

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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.

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Edited by beemer bunny
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I seem to recall this on your Instagram.  I get a little nervous with gas on the bottom but I've had that bike and I think there's a good chance you'll be fine.  Looks good in a side tip over and it's not likely to touch anything from the bottom unless you were going through some really rocky technical stuff which I know you won't be.  No issue from the swing arm either.  My main question though is will you really need the extra fuel with an 8.7 gallon tank?

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never ride with the hydration bladder in my jacket - well i did try once. can't stand to have the weight and pressure on my back. so i stop regularly instead.

thanks for the tip about the nuun tablets. going to look into these :)

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