racks for this bike

[chister]

Hi, just wondering if people on this forum have had any experience with luggage racks for this bike.
I use the bike to commute to work (a portable pc, maybe a lunch, odds 'n ends) and having a moderately sized luggage piece would be worth considering.
I'd be interested in reading your opinion including the good and bad points to consider or if you have other ingenious ways you have developed to carry your items.

[Blueknyt]

My GS didnt come with a rear grab bar in the Box-O-Parts when i bought it. so after finding a 6-pack rack from a harley dumped on side of the road, i set about makeing my own frame/braket works,  its made outa 1/4 plate steel that was not messured with anything other then eyeballs and a cuting torch.  its ugly but will hold 260lbs without an issue.  i know as i sat on it.  now that the prototype is made. i will see about makeing some abit better looking, should fit all years just remove the grabbar.

[conradvr]

We used a Ventura rack and bag on the GS for our 3 week tour.
http://www.ventura-bike.com/english/fitments/display_picture.asp?fitment_id=652

For a hard luggage option have a look at Givi's monorack for the GS (508F).  I have this on the Viffer and its great.
http://www.givi.it/prodotti/prodotto2.asp?macro=3&sub=13

With this you can fit a single case (Monokey) and the nice thing is these can be locked (I purchased a 45 litre box that holds 2 helmets 2nd hand)
http://www.givi.it/prodotti/prodotto1.asp?macro=1&sub=1

Cheers
Conrad

[conradvr]

Ventura luggage pictures

Bag facing forward for solo, with pillian turn bag around


Sport rack

[Kerry]

See also Steve-C's 3rd post in the thread Newbie in the house!.

He's the first GS500 owner that I've heard of with a complete Givi system, and I wanna know more!

[mp183]

Get the little Suzuki rack and an expandable netting with 6 hooks.  You can cram a lot of stuff underneath the net.  
Between the rack and the passanger seat you have a large area to carry stuff.  It's cheap and simple.  You can leave the net on the bike and nobody will bother it.  Try leaving your bag and see what happens.

[Steve-C]

Hi,

my mods preceed me!

I've got the full Givi wingrack, takes 3 cases and with 132 liters of space, I'm not running out any time soon.  

My topcase is a E52 maxia, bout the largest you can get, and it doesn't look that outa place on the little GS.  You can fit just a Givi top rack and the maxia, I'm want to do touring so I went for the 3 case option, but you don't need to.

The maxia will happily hold a helmet, my textile trousers, gloves, cargo net, chain, and a few odds and sods. If you need, it will hold just 2 helmets.  My laptop case gets lost in there!  For ultmate storage you can't beat it, waterproof, lockable and when I had to drill the lock out last month, it took nearly 20 minutes!

Any questions you have on the Givi stuff, let me know.  I'll be happy to help in any way I can.

Steve

[Gibby]

I know this is an old post but it caught my attention as I'm looking for some way of getting size luggage fitted to the gs.

I've got the full Givi wingrack, takes 3 cases and with 132 liters of space, I'm not running out any time soon. 

Can you get a pillion on the back with all that on?

At the moment I've got a Monokey rack with a single top box.
I've found a universal wingrack on ebay and im hoping that might do the trick.  Other wise i'll just keep some cheapy hard luggage on ebay and fabricate a bracket onto my existing monorack. (Not quite sure how yet, will cross that bridge when i get to it    )

[Steve-C]

Wow, you must have searched long and hard for this post!

Not much time right now, but here are some pics of my GS with luggage so you can get an idea of the looks.  Yes a pillion is possible, and very comfy (so I was told!)

I'll write more later

Regards

Steve













Although if you load the bike like this, a pillion isn't possible! 

[ben2go]

are you crazy?that's to much! 

[ducati_nolan]

Hey Steve-C, I think your rack is a little croked.

For small stuff, a tank bag and bungee net work pretty well but for more stuff you need saddlebags.

I currently use some soft saddlebags but they're ugly, a pain in the but and you can't leave your bike unattended.

I've heard lots of good things about the Givis but they're expensive, even used. jc whitney has some cheaper hard luggage here

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Browse/tf-Browse/s-10101/N-111+10211+600014603/c-10111

The one at the top of the list is a knock off of the Givi mono key and although it's called a trunk, I don't see any reason why it couldn't be used as a saddlebag. You'd still have to figure out a rack to bolt the mounting plate though.

I was thinking about ordering one and if it lookd like it's possible to mount as saddlebaks, I'd order one or two more. The reviews seem pretty good for the price 4/5 stars 

BTW I saw a decent looking tankbag at Wall Mart made by Bell (they make lots of bicycle stuff) for about $25 I think

[simon79]

>Steve-C:
seems like you can load more stuff on your GS than I could do on my Punto...
and you could easily win the 1st prize for "longest Suzie GS rear fender ever"
(even though I suppose you need it while riding in British rain )
And besides, I'm quite curious:
what's that rear antenna for?D'you listen to the radio while travelling?

lamps!
simon.

[Steve-C]

Right, bit more info.

The bags are indeed Givi, the rack in the Givi Wingrack2 and is mounted with the Givi universal fitting kit. (Part# Y142 IIRC)
It was a lil crooked, but then again it was mounted using a universal kit, not something tailor made.  It lasted me well for 18 months, year round commuting and 2 foreign holidays.  It is a bit pricey, but 4 years down the road, the rack is on my new bike, the boxes have been all over Europe and they are still fine.  Top box is a bit weathered now, but the bike is used year round in all weathers so I can't complain!

As for the antenna, yep its was for an FM car radio that I put on the bike:





Really did love that machine, and it was used for much more than Suzuki ever intended I bet!  I replaced it a couple of years ago with a BMW K100LT that I still have now (nearly 97k miles on the clock! 60k of which are mine...)  The BMW is a better bike in every measurable sense, but there are times when I really miss the old GS....

[Gibby]

Awesome, great thanks for the replay Steve-C,

Sadly, I lost the bid on ebay for the universal wingrack fitting so i'm still on the lookout.
My trip isn't until this August so i've a little while to get something sorted.
It really is important to me that I have hard luggage as I intend to do a bit of site seeing and I want to be able to leave everything on the bike.

How hard do you think it would be to fabricate a fitting myself if I just got the Wingrack2 kit?