Cheap Trunk

Cosmetic accessories, comfort accessories, windshields, luggage racks, etc.

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romei
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Cheap Trunk

Post by romei »

Okay, I admit it. I'm cheap. I refuse to pay $250 to $450 for a trunk. I bought this 51 liter trunk on Amazon for $45.
http://www.amazon.com/Large-Motorcycle- ... ge_o00_s00

I bought a cutting board, some bolts and spacers at the local hardware for about another $25 and went to work. I'm very happy with my $80 trunk.

The cutting board trimmed and drilled
IMG_20160427_184556.jpg
IMG_20160427_184556.jpg (208.61 KiB) Viewed 4623 times
Spacers
IMG_20160427_184602.jpg
IMG_20160427_184602.jpg (203.75 KiB) Viewed 4623 times
The universal mount that came with the trunk
IMG_20160427_185258.jpg
IMG_20160427_185258.jpg (175.22 KiB) Viewed 4623 times
And we're done
IMG_20160427_185712.jpg
IMG_20160427_185712.jpg (258.84 KiB) Viewed 4623 times
IMG_20160427_185727.jpg
IMG_20160427_185727.jpg (290.39 KiB) Viewed 4623 times
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Re: Cheap Trunk

Post by Brent »

Well done Romei!
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Re: Cheap Trunk

Post by GeorgeSK »

That is one very nice job!
On my scoot, getting there is WAY more than half the fun!

Please paste this address into a new tab and add yourself to the map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1NlP7xk7KMdJReQnm-iDhldFBdpQ&ll=4.995760578398276%2C0&z=2
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Re: Cheap Trunk

Post by you you »

Very neat.
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Re: Cheap Trunk

Post by gn2 »

That mount looks very neat indeed, far better than anything else I've seen.
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Re: Cheap Trunk

Post by montliz44 »

Nice work, Romei.

I'd like to know more about the cutting board. Is it made from plastic or wood, and what did you use to shape it?

I made one something like that a few years ago out of 1" clear white pine. It's painted satin black and works great, plus it's easy to finish and to modify from one bike application to another. (I've used it on three so far, and it's currently on my Forza).

The only drawback is that I tend to get a lot of you-know-what from people if I tell them it's made out of wood, so I've learned to not do that unless they force me to. :D

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Re: Cheap Trunk

Post by romei »

montliz44 wrote:Nice work, Romei.

I'd like to know more about the cutting board. Is it made from plastic or wood, and what did you use to shape it?

I made one something like that a few years ago out of 1" clear white pine. It's painted satin black and works great, plus it's easy to finish and to modify from one bike application to another. (I've used it on three so far, and it's currently on my Forza).

The only drawback is that I tend to get a lot of you-know-what from people if I tell them it's made out of wood, so I've learned to not do that unless they force me to. :D

Johnny
This one is made out of a bamboo cutting board. I ordered a poly cutting board from ebay but when the trunk came and the board still hadn't shipped, I got antsy and went and bought the bamboo one at the local hardware store. It said on the package that bamboo is 16 times stronger than maple and that was confirmed by a friend who is an avid woodworker, so that's how that all worked out. If this one doesn't hold up, it's easy enough just to do it again with the poly, especially now that I have a pattern.

I really only had to trim the rear. I didn't touch the other 3 sides. Once I had it mounted on the bike, I positioned the universal mount where I wanted it, drilled the mounting holes and traced the rear line. Then I removed the universal mount and cut the excess off of the back of the board with a jigsaw while it was still bolted to the bike. After that I just hit it with the sander to smooth it out a bit, removed everything and painted it, waited for it to dry and then bolted everything together. Total time was prolly 3 hours.

P.S. I know someone is going to catch the math snafoo above. $45 and $25 is only $70. The other $10 was spent on those allen wrenches and spray paint for a total of about $80.
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Re: Cheap Trunk

Post by WhiteNoise »

~ APPLAUSE, APPLAUSE, APPLAUSE!! ~
Call it Your Own! It is!
I'm so impressed romei.
Beautiful job 8)

(Maybe make a bunch of them and sell them? If ya got the time, and enjoy it? Worth a thought :P Hah! You thought of that! ;)

I was just leaving and this popped in my mind > Did you use glue on those bolts?
Dang, I forgot the name of the stuff again! Loctite Blue?
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Re: Cheap Trunk

Post by WhiteNoise »

montliz44 wrote:Nice work, Romei.

I'd like to know more about the cutting board. Is it made from plastic or wood, and what did you use to shape it?

I made one something like that a few years ago out of 1" clear white pine. It's painted satin black and works great, plus it's easy to finish and to modify from one bike application to another. (I've used it on three so far, and it's currently on my Forza).

The only drawback is that I tend to get a lot of you-know-what from people if I tell them it's made out of wood, so I've learned to not do that unless they force me to. :D

Johnny
We gotta see this! Where's yer pics Johnny? Show n Tell :P
Sounds like bamboo is the way to go. Afterall, how would you file/sand a poly board? Messy and fugly results right?
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romei
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Re: Cheap Trunk

Post by romei »

I did not lock-tite the bolts yet. When I fabricate something like this I usually wait until I'm completely sure I'm done fiddling and adjusting before I lock everything down. I'll prolly do that after I get a few hundred miles with it.
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Re: Cheap Trunk

Post by montliz44 »

Sadly, I'm much better at encouraging people to post pics than I am at posting them myself (lack of camera for one thing). Besides, mine would look pretty clunky next to Romei's fine example.

I'm going to go ahead and nominate Romei for the coveted MacGyver award, currently held by Sendler over on the PCX forum (tough competition for sure, but I think Romei could easily be a contender!).

Backyard engineers, keep up the good work!

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Re: Cheap Trunk

Post by homie »

hehe...

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romei
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Re: Cheap Trunk

Post by romei »

I have to report that the quality of this trunk is much better than I was expecting. It is much better than the little cheapies I have on my smaller Chinese scooters. I hope I never find out if it would survive a fall like in the video above, but I think it would. It is removable via a thumb screw from the inside and it has a handle built in so that you can carry it like luggage, but once you set it on and screw it down, I don't see it going anywhere.
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