TW200 Rear storage ideas

[JeepMI]

Hey guys. I bought a '97 TW200 last week and am loving it so far. It came with a tail rack that has been very handy so far for transporting my shorts for work, pizza, paper towels, grocery's, laundry etc. :sombrero:

However, using bungee cords to tie down my shorts and water bottle every morning while getting the bike warmed up is a little more time consuming than I would like, and there just isn't enough room to practically carry around my lunch, change of clothes, water bottle, and whatever else is needed for the day or trip, so I'd like a decent sized soft or hard bag that can be mounted to the rack that I can just throw my things in daily. I did some looking around and didn't really find any good answers, but I may have missed it somewhere. So, any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I would ideally like something that is universal, as I'm hoping to upgrade to a KLR next year.

Thanks in advanced!

This is the rack:

 

[Ozrockrat]

Milk crate or pelican case. Or any good bike shop will have a tank bag or tail bag to suit. Craigslist is also your friend.

Also I prefer hose clamps over cable ties for holding them on.

 

[JeepMI]

I thought about a milk crate but I don't have a garage and I was looking for something at least a little water resistant. The pelican case is a great idea though, my dad used to have one for his work laptop and it's a quality product, I'll look into that. Thanks!

 

[JeepMI]

http://www.pelican-case.com/1550nf.html

I like this one, but it appears as though mounting systems are rather expensive. I'm gonna keep doing research on cheap homemade mounting ideas. If it's still too pricey I'll have to go with a soft bag as that will be easy to mount.

 

[HenryJ]

Hey guys. I bought a '97 TW200 last week and am loving it so far. It came with a tail rack that has been very handy so far for transporting my shorts for work, pizza, paper towels, grocery's, laundry etc. :sombrero:
]

https://sites.google.com/site/bltoffroad/tw200

An action packer mounted using U-bolts works well.
There are also some inexpensive hard boxes out there. I have those on my KLR'

 

[JeepMI]

Awesome, thanks for that link. The action packer idea is a great one, those are cheap. It would be nice to start with at least and when I get a bigger bike (allowing longer distance travel) I can upgrade to a nice pelican. The u bolt mount system seems like a good idea. I believe those action packers have slots to run a tie down or utility tie or something like that through, but a system that involves the inside of the action packer would be more secure, even if it is just wire ties or something.

 

[transalper]

http://www.pelican-case.com/1550nf.html
I like this one, but it appears as though mounting systems are rather expensive. I'm gonna keep doing research on cheap homemade mounting ideas. If it's still too pricey I'll have to go with a soft bag as that will be easy to mount.

The 1550 is a pretty big top case. The 1500 is a little more proportional to the tw. The panniers are 1450s.

I was playing with mounting one or the other on my little trail bike.

. 1550

. 1500

Sent from mobile device. Pardon the brevity.

 

[Weeds]

I made mounts for some bicycle saddlebags I had laying around.

 

[JeepMI]

My girlfriend and parents got together and got me a Kriega US-20 Drypack for my birthday in mid may. Fantastic product, keeps everything dry and has a ton of room. This bike is outside in all weather conditions and i've been really impressed with how it's holding up so far. I originally wanted a hard storage container but I have no complaints about this bag.

 

[WhereTheHellIsJames?]

The first thing that you should consider, is a new rack. The rack that you have on your bike is mounted to the TW's flimsy subframe, which is prone to bending and breaking quite easily. For my project (thread here) I got in touch with Mark at CycleRacks, and got a great setup for the TW200 from him (check out this post specifically). The CycleRacks rear rack mounts to the main frame rather than the subframe, and is better than the factory rack in many ways. Once you have a decent rack on there, you could go with any number of options for storage- a dry-bag, Pelican Case, Givi case, ammo-cans, milk crate, etc. I've even seen a couple of aluminum Mac Pro's turned into panniers (yes, it was in Palo Alto... where else). Whatever route you go, trust me on that CycleRacks rear rack.

 

[dwh]

On the two KLR 650s that Glen rode to pieces in S.A., we just bolted on a cheapo diamond plate aluminum tool box for a trunk. It had a gasket around the lid and could take a padlock. Worked great and didn't weigh much:



Something like this:



EDIT: Oh yea, and the inside was sprayed with rubberized automotive trunk liner goo.

 

[jeepstream]

X2 on the Cyclerack.

I got the case from Harbor Freight, but they no longer sell them.

I put it through strenuous testing.

 

[lonestrom]

Seahorse 720's are about $50 with free shipping from Carry Cases Plus...
Water proof and awsome.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FAW3]

For initial simplicity...Post #9 is right on point. You might try a SealLine or Wolfman type bag that would be secured to the rack. A well made waterproof/dustproof bag of suitable (small/med) size would work on the existing rack. Eventually waterproof/dustproof & easy to mount securely trumps almost all other considerations. You do not want to overload the rear of the bike. Some find that a small backpack with hydration and some minimal storage is also good to wear on a ride.

Just my opinion: for a smaller bike...some minimal tools, tire patch/pump, water, led headlight, first aid kit and perhaps a small fuel can (such as the 1 lt. alum. container for a backpack stove) for a "second reserve" should be things to consider for your "carry all the time bag".

IF you wanted secure storage...I would go with a Pelican case mounted to a stronger rack. The Pelican option is great (have one on a KLR...use soft bag on the DR200) as it provides dust/water proof storage that is rugged as hell and can be locked.

 

[mr tyler]

This works great on my Tdub going on 10 years and still works great. Wolfman Tail Bag