Feb 24 – Ninja gets a new Rack

Preparing for a longish trip is always at least half the fun. When I bought the Ninja back in ’06 it was for my first ride to Alaska and it was a great learning experience. One of the things I made myself was a rack of sorts to help limit the travel of the saddle bags, hopefully keeping them out of the rear wheel. My setup worked OK but it was never totally satisfactory and some damage occurred to them. I was able to affect temporary repairs to things like broken straps and torn seams but when I got home I figured it was time for a better plan. GIVI, the Italian manufacturer of the bags kindly sent a replacement set for my next trip and also informed me they now offered a steel saddle bag mounting system for the Ninja. I immediately ordered a set and mounted it on the bike. What a difference between my shoddy home-made brackets and theirs!

Fast forward 3 years, there was no ride in ’07, then in ’08 I took the Aprilia/Sputnik sidecar rig to Deadhorse, Alaska. As much as I enjoyed the hack I really missed the thrill of 2-wheel riding so I decided to take the Ninja on the ride to Nova Scotia, which brings me up to the present. The GIVI rack system is great for dealing with the saddle bags but there is no provision for adding a rear luggage rack. Having learned the lesson regarding home-made racks, etc, I decided to have one made. My shop of choice was Bandon Fabrication located 7 miles up the road from home. I’ve had them do a number of things on my boat and the sidecar so I was confident in both the quality and pricing for their work. After initial talks Ron the owner was able to give me a price I could live with and the go-ahead was given. They’re a busy bunch so a wait of several days ensued but yesterday, Feb 23rd I got the call and rode the bike to their shop. Naturally it was pouring down rain and the high winds damn near blew me off the road a couple of times but that’s just part of coastal living, eh? A few hours later I once more headed out into the fray, stopping off at the local True Value to pick up a couple of cans of primer & satin black Krylon. Once at home I removed and dried the rack, then applied two coats primer and paint. It turned out nice and since the bike is no longer perfect the flaws in my paint job sort of match the rest of it. Such is life…