bike rack design

I've been wanting to make a rear rack for my motorcycle for quite some time now.

There are no after-market options for mounting a hard-case luggage box on the back of the bike. Well, I guess that's not entirely true. There have been attempts, some more crude than others. I've seen designs made from aluminum angle and steel plate hacksawed and bolted together, welded rebar, rubbermaid containers clamped to the grab bar, and a pretty decent-looking rack made from square steel tubing (aka Jeb's rack).

So, I decided to venture out and make a brand new design. The rack is being made primarily out of scrap and various left-over pieces of 3/16" alumium plate. Boeing surplus seems to have an endless

supply of very nice scrap aluminum. Cheap. The most challenging part here is making a mockup, measuring the angles, distances, etc. The goal is to make a sturdy, yet reasonably light and stylish rack. Once that's done, a prototype or two will be milled from plywood, and eventually from metal.