Thursday, April 21, 2016

TCI Borrego Luggage Rack

I purchased the Moose Expedition Luggage Rack for my 2016 Suzuki DR650S because it looked so remarkably close to a TCI Borrego luggage rack that I used to have on my 2009 Kawasaki Super Sherpa. Well, when I got the rack in the mail, turns out it was manufactured by TCI and actually is the TCI Borrego. Apparently, Moose is just marketing it under their brand.

Here's what comes in the box.


Installation is simple; ten minutes tops. There are three mounting points for the rack. The two forward bolts on the passenger side handles are replaced and the bolt to the fender bridge is replaced, as follows:



The one shortcoming of the Borrego Rack is that things don't mount well. Things strap down real well, but when you get to top cases and fuel cells you need to come up with a method.

Same as when I had the Super Sherpa, I plan to use the rack for my Rotopax Fuel Cell and I may mount my Givi E26NC top case. The Givi came with some brackets for racks like this called W-Brackets. Do not use those, they don't work! Trust me. Rather, I came up with some better, flexible brackets to deal with the mounting and they will still work today all these years later.

My brackets are simply a couple of square aluminum tubing, plugged on the ends and with some soft, anti-skid material on one side (iirc its actually shop drawer liner). Then I situated holes in the tube to accomodate the Givi top case or the fuel cell. All the stuff to make this was a few bucks at my local ACE Hardware store. Done deal!


Here are the brackets with the Rotopax mounted...



Here are the brackets with my Givi E26NC-S mounted....



The Borrego luggage rack does not extend forward over the seat. It does not, in any way, interfere with removal of either the seat or the side panels.

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