Shad conversion 4P to 3P luggages

SHAD is a Spanish motorcycle accessories manufacturer famous for their luggage systems. They do variety of boxes, bags and especially holders for various motorcycle brands. 

Originally I didn't choose them but Shad 3P was the only aftermarket rack available for my motorcycle. I took two SH23 boxes for it and I was happy. The system is enough lightweight but robust.

Later with my next bike there was only available Shad 4P system rack and my existing boxes were not listed as supported but I still went with it. What made me angry was the fact that boxes are fitting to the rack perfectly - incompatible is only locking plastic pad/piece. 

Typical compatibility problem is that top loaded boxes are not possible open on rack made for side loaded cases, but it wasn't case here.

The easiest method how to proceed was to order replacement holder parts for 3P locking system "D1B23FIR" and customize it for 4P rack. That include unreturnable changes. Luckily it is made out of plastic so this goes easy with hand tools. 

First you need to drill hole to the back of it to fit 20 mm go-through pipe preferably with countersink drill. Then to do two straight cuts on bottom and back to allow it to be inserted on the pipe. 

Second part is to accommodate anstislip / antirotate pin. That I did by drilling series of holes to the rights spot and interconnecting them with file. Perhaps some more precise and nicer proces could be used than I did.

Third last step was to drill hole to allow zip tie to hold lock pad on the right spot without possibility of lifting it up. Since mechanical stability is secured by metal pin this is just for additional strength and to stay together.

To whom questing the security: Yes it is less secure then 3P system but even that you could unscrew from the back or unmount the whole rack from motorcycle with a hexa key. Do not leave anything too valuable in side boxes. :)

Why I love this is SH23 cases are not wider than handlebar - agility of motorcycle is not affected compared to SH36 boxes that would go over default siluet. I can't imagine attaching horrible huge TR36 liters bags either.

Solution is now under testing process. No issues occurred after first few hundred kilometers with load or without. 

• first feedback, one zip tie isn't enough strong to hold the whole weight. I recommend to use multiple zip zies and I am adding also silver and electric black tape around.
• bigger bags = heavier bike (it feels sometimes too much even with 2x23 l)
• two sh23 bokex are not possible to carry in one hand, so someone have to open doors for you
• sh23 cannot be overloaded because then lock doesn't work. Also you need to open them to attach to bike (can be pretty annoying when parking on a rain)
  

Technical note

If you don't like this solution then get 3P panniers from similar motorcycle and adapt those. I got advised that for my Macbor Montana XR5 500 is also compatible with holder rack for Versys 650 that could be adapted with a bit of mechanical attempts to fit this bike too. It is your choise if you can cut plastic or metal with your skills / equipment. 

 

Anyway Shame on Shad for not providing full range of combinations to their products.