Honda CB550 cafe racer luggage rack
***** This job is in progress and will be updated when I finish tasks *****
The plan for MABLE has always been to be cool looking but practical bike that I can ride in any weather for long hours, even for a few days away. I don’t like wearing a rucksack when riding so that meant some sort of rack or panniers. I actually bought some tear shaped goat leather panniers but during storage over winter they got mouldy and black so I binned them. They had very low capacity anyway - around 4 litres each side.
I decided on something more cross-functional and removable - a small luggage rack to the rear, overlapping the seat. I measured up and found a used Honda CBR600 Renntec one for £20. It was a bit tatty and the previous owner had welded in a strengthening bar that looked like a knurled tool handle. The first thing I did was cut off that and the fixing brackets.
I ordered 2 x 600mm, 16mm diameter x 1.5mm wall tubing from eBay for £6.66 then used a section to patch up the bodge job. The tube was oval where it had flattened on the bend so I squashed the ends in the vice to match. I tried to put it through my small bead blast cabinet but it’s thick powder coating wouldn’t shift. Before welding I had to grind back the powder coating.
Grinding / blending tubing tends to turn it into a 50p so I’ll add some filler once I get it blasted. Or maybe JBWeld if I get it powder coated again. I’ve ordered some emery cloth strips as I got a tip that that’s the stuff to use for evenly sanding tube.
Once I start welding up the seat hoop and electronics tray I’ll mock & weld brackets to hold the rack on.