It seems Australians are avid fans of Suzuki’s venerable DR650, too. As we investigated modifications for our upcoming ADVMoto Lost for a Reason DR650 project bike, time and again we were drawn to the plethora of offerings from Oz.

Barrett Products specializes in lightweight performance exhausts, as well as their own take on panniers and racks for a large variety of adventure and dual-sport bikes. While we’ll be discussing their exhaust in an upcoming issue, the focus of this review is their racks.

Three types of Barrett racks are available:
1. Standard pannier—for Barrett alloy panniers
2. Standard soft bag—for soft bags such as Wolfman, Andy Strapz, etc.
3. Universal—for Barrett alloy panniers, soft bags and also RotopaX

For design considerations we went with their Universal racks to accommodate Wolfman’s soft bags and RotopaX for water. We were particularly interested in these racks because of their reputation as the toughest in the industry. “Tough” may be too light a descriptor, instead we’d go with “armor”… or better yet, “roll bars!” Indeed, something you never hear in the same sentence are “racks” and “safety,” but we’d wager these Barretts could take quite a hit and still keep on ticking.

There’s nothing flimsy or under-engineered about them. They’re hand-welded from thick steel—not aluminum. And they are powder coated rather than painted to help withstand the elements. The tradeoff is weight. But as we’re building a long-haul RTWer, our goals lean more toward safety and durability over shaving an extra pound or two. As we also went with Barrett’s exhaust, the weight savings still translated to a lighter combination than most configurations.

Fitment is excellent, too, without any serious alignment issues. And although we had to search out some slightly longer metric bolts due to the setup we used, the end result was more of an extension to the bike’s frame than a bolt-on rack system.

As a bonus the Universals also allowed adequate clearance from the exhaust to avoid scorching or having to rely on an insulator for the soft bags. We give Barrett’s Universal racks two thumbs up—you simply cannot go wrong with this investment. 

MSRP: $370.00 for most bikes. barrettproducts.com

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