C3517C
Member
First off, I'm not selling anything, and I have no intention to. This was just a little something I tried so I thought I'd share. I took a trip to the Canadian Rockies last month with my wife, riding 2 up. That's about 3000 miles round trip for me. I have a BRP trailer hitch, but mine has a heavy duty trailer receiver welded in the spot that usually has the trailer ball. When I want a trailer ball, it takes 10 seconds to slide in a receiver that has a ball on it. But for this trip, I bought a hitch mounted luggage rack. It was designed and sized for a car, $65, so I modified it with a hack saw and a few nuts and bolts. :doorag:
I put a duffle back with clothes in it on the rack and secured it with bungee cords. (Always use more than you need) I was afraid the bag would get heavily soiled because of where it sits, so I bought a Granit Gear bag. It is waterproof and tough, $60. Everything went great for the ride up, and 3 additional days of driving around the Rockies. I did not feel any negative effects from the luggage being back there. The only thing I noticed is that one of the days that had BAD winds, I was probably getting knocked around a bit more than usual. Obviously, the smaller your load surface area is, the better off you are. I was really surprised that the bag never got more than slightly dusty. During the ride I went through rain, sleet, snow, and blowing dust / sand. With the stock rear mud flap and the trailer hitch mud flap in place, almost nothing gets on the bag. The pictures you see were taken after about 2000 miles. I still feel the weatherproof bag was $ well spent. You could actually spray it off if you really needed to. As you can see, my license plate is also clearly visible.
On the down side, by the end of the trip the metal on the rack was starting to separate:yikes:. I can't blame the manufacturer, since I had modified their design. The real problem was that it was thin aluminum, and once I drilled holes for the bolts, the bars had been compromised. So I guess you could say I made a successful disposable luggage rack. Welded steel next time around.
I put a duffle back with clothes in it on the rack and secured it with bungee cords. (Always use more than you need) I was afraid the bag would get heavily soiled because of where it sits, so I bought a Granit Gear bag. It is waterproof and tough, $60. Everything went great for the ride up, and 3 additional days of driving around the Rockies. I did not feel any negative effects from the luggage being back there. The only thing I noticed is that one of the days that had BAD winds, I was probably getting knocked around a bit more than usual. Obviously, the smaller your load surface area is, the better off you are. I was really surprised that the bag never got more than slightly dusty. During the ride I went through rain, sleet, snow, and blowing dust / sand. With the stock rear mud flap and the trailer hitch mud flap in place, almost nothing gets on the bag. The pictures you see were taken after about 2000 miles. I still feel the weatherproof bag was $ well spent. You could actually spray it off if you really needed to. As you can see, my license plate is also clearly visible.
On the down side, by the end of the trip the metal on the rack was starting to separate:yikes:. I can't blame the manufacturer, since I had modified their design. The real problem was that it was thin aluminum, and once I drilled holes for the bolts, the bars had been compromised. So I guess you could say I made a successful disposable luggage rack. Welded steel next time around.
