"Rackless" Luggage Mounting

[Blenderella]

Hello all, brand new to the forum, just picked up a 2021 bone stock T7 last weekend.  First order of business, mounting my Mosko Moto Reckless 40.

 

After tons of research browsing all sorts of overkill "minimalist" racks I decided to take matters in to my own hands.  I use the Gnoblin (10/10 would recommend) for mounting my R40 to my dualsport, and all it requires is a single M6x1 hole to secure the back half of the harness.  The whole point of going rackless is, imo, to avoid a rack, so that's what a did.

 

I'm fortunate to work in machine shop but for this particular job all I used was a vice, a drill press, bandsaw (could just be an angle grinder) and belt sander. 

 

For the bracket I used a small scrap of 1/6" stainless sheet and an M6x1 rivnut (we get em from McMaster-Carr)

For the fender I used a rubber grommet and a short length of 1/2" aluminum tubing to space the Gnoblin up off the fender.

 

This bracket bolts the OEM taillight bracket via the two M6x1 studs:

 

Here's the bracket:

 

 

Unfortunately I did not get a picture of it mounted with the fender still off as I was running late but it mounts to those two headlight studs with the flange facing the front of the bike.

 

Maximum upload limit reached, more to come...

Edited May 15 by Blenderella

[Blenderella]

After CAREFULLY laying out the hole in the fender I used a step bit to drill it out to 11/16" (just the size grommet I had laying around) deburred the hole, added a grommet and reinstalled the fender:

 

The aluminum standoff is 1/2" diameter and 5/16" in length.  A few hours later after I got home I installed my Gnoblin (going to get another one since I've got 2 bikes now) and test fit my R40:

 

 

Doesn't get much more minimalist than that.  Upload limit reached...

[Blenderella]

Here she is with with R40 hooked up:

 

Hope this inspired some people to save some weight and some $$$

 

Please feel free to ask me any questions, happy to help!

[elev3n]

Clean! I wish I had a machine shop available to do this kind od stuff 

[qInvention]

Now that is a nice, minimalistic installation!

[jdub53]

@Blenderella   I love to see fabrication initiative and execution like this, and congrats on your T7!

 

Especially timely for me since just yesterday I inherited a Mosko Moto 40 and haven't even had a chance to test fit it. I've seen references to the Gnoblin and don't think one is included with what I've got, so it looks like I have some research to do. It looks like it would be easy to fit a Gnoblin to the BDCW Helo Pad I use on my T7 for camping trips, etc.

 

Any other comments/advice about fitting/using the MM40 would be welcome. 

Edited May 15 by jdub53

[Blenderella]

@jdub53 Congrats on the R40, it's an incredible piece of kit.  I would highly recommend the Gnoblin which you can get straight from Mosko Moto.  It provides the simplest and strongest mounting possible for the harness.  Haven't gotten a chance to do any trips on the T7 yet but on my dual sport I've had the best results mounting the R40 as far FORWARD as I can without interfering with my legs.  Also packing all my heaviest gear to the bottom of the bags, lashing all the straps down tight and you hardly even notice it's there. 

 

I've had many low speed crashes, brushes with trees/rocks and carried everything from pizzas to chainsaws with my R40 and haven't had any issues.  The harness does a great job protecting your gear and your bike. 

[jdub53]

Great, thanks for the info. Since my earlier post I've placed the R40 across the rear seat/rack area on both my T7 and DRZ and can tell it'll work well on both. 

 

Pizza and a chainsaw, huh?      I strapped a lawn mower on the back of a bike once for delivery to my Dad 200 miles away...   

[bastian]

@Blenderella
Any chance you still have the measurements of the mount plate and could share them with us to get a shop to fabricate one for us?

[Blenderella]

3 hours ago, bastian said:

@Blenderella
Any chance you still have the measurements of the mount plate and could share them with us to get a shop to fabricate one for us?

 

I never made a drawing but am happy to next time I have the access to the bracket.

[bastian]

14 hours ago, Blenderella said:

 

I never made a drawing but am happy to next time I have the access to the bracket.

 

That would be very much appreciated!

[Blenderella]

@bastian Alrighty, I got a drawing for ya, but also, the plot has thickened.  Was out for a ride and a friend of mine mentioned my tail light was looking rather bouncy.  Since my luggage mount ties into the tail light bracket I decided to investigate and ended up modifying my bracket slightly.

 

I added a tab that bolts via an M5 bolt to an existing bracket on the tail of the bike.

 

Edited July 10 by Blenderella

[Blenderella]

I created this drawing HOWEVER, I'm using ancient software and don't know how to account for material stretching and bend radius so it's not "perfect".  That being said, the only dimension really affected by this is the hole for the third mounting point.  When I added the tab I left it undrilled, bolted the bracket up via the tail light bracket and then drilled the third hole in both the tab and the tail of the bike at the same time, ensuring proper alignment.  I'd recommend you do the same as the target for that third mounting point is quite small.

 

Let me know if you have any questions, or if you/your fabricator want a .dxf or .dwg file.  I'd be happy to provide.

 

Edited July 10 by Blenderella

[Blenderella]

More details including bend angles

[Ede-DE]

I have a question. Why not build the bracket for the tail light plus the mounting point for your luggage as a one-piece? With your configuration as a two-piece the free swing of the tail light in the rubber bushings is more or less blocked.

Edited July 10 by Ede-DE

[Blenderella]

@Ede-DE  Yeaaah I thought about that but decided to go with a separate bracket because I didn't wanted to mess with grinding/repainting to mount directly to the chassis .  As for the rubber bushings, the way it's setup with the metal "top-hats" facing the rear, there's still plenty of freedom for the tail light to move independently of the bracket.  The stiffener I added to my luggage mount didn't end up affecting the tail light movement but does give the gnoblin some more stability.  Overall I'm super happy with the "finished" product.

 

Here's some pics showing tail light movement.

Edited July 11 by Blenderella

[bastian]

On 7/10/2024 at 7:30 PM, Blenderella said:

More details including bend angles

 

Thank you @Blenderella, much appreciated!