Quote Originally Posted by Av8er View Post
Looks good! I am in the process of making my own as well. I modeled it in 3D CAD and printed it out 1:1. laid it on the bike and it looked great. I was going to get about 20 cut out of a sheet of 3/16 steel but after water jet cut time, welding and powder coating I was having a hard time getting the price under about $200. How are you getting yours cut? Laser cutting was an option that would be cheaper but would require too much clean up time and as you know, time is money. As of now I have decided just to make my own as I don’t think they will sell well for that price.
The only thing I can say is the rack needs to be flat and not have screw heads sticking up on it. Those will wear into luggage and whatever you put on it as time goes by. Need as flat of a surface as possible but that’s just my opinion.
Very cool! I did the same thing with the layout paper haha. Yea, I don't think its something that you could make a good profit on after manufacturing and labor are factored in. I suppose you could have it made in China like everyone else I just wanted something for myself and love to model/design, so why not make my bike how I want it right?

I had it water jetted. Will powder coat the final version of course, but no sense in it until I am happy with the design. Lasering has come a long way, I have seen parts cut out of steel that look like a level 3 cut on a WJ, for a fraction of the cost. Might want to check into it if you are wanting to produce them en masse. Im sure they have samples of the cut edge. Realistically, I want to chamfer all the edges. My friend has a 5 axis WJ and can do it, but that would be three times as much due to time involved. Maybe on the final version?

I also want to make an extender to move the pillion backrest closer to the driver. My lady says she thinks there is too much room if she sits all the way back, and slides forward too much if I come in a bit hot and have to stop harder. So might mess with that and raise the backrest up at the same time so its more comfortable for her.

Would like to see some pics of your rack if you feel like sharing, if not I understand. Thanks for the input on the screws! I was going to recess them possibly like the OEM, but then couldn't think of a reason to do so, until now