:) I pm'ed gsJack about the details on his bracing of the Suzuki stock rear rack three days ago. Anyone heard from him? He doesn't give an e-mail address in his profile, or I would have tried that. I've seen his posted pictures, but the fastening details are not visible.
Watch out for the stock Suzuki rack, if you can find one: It only mounts on the two bolts of the grab bar and has a sticker on it that reads: Caution, maximum load 5lbs. Can you believe that! And it coast me $94.00, shipped. It simply must be braced at the back end to be of any use at all. IMHO ;)
that's why I just made my own.
If you haven't looked at it, try this previous thread about racks.
http://gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16314&highlight=
There is a picture that is also on Kerry's webpage that shows one way to connect some downward supports to the frame...but it requires fabing some extensions, a bracket, and you'll probably need some clamps to connect onto the suzuki rack (unless you want to drill holes in it).
Quote from: jaybee333:) I pm'ed gsJack about the details on his bracing of the Suzuki stock rear rack three days ago. Anyone heard from him? He doesn't give an e-mail address in his profile, or I would have tried that. I've seen his posted pictures, but the fastening details are not visible.
Watch out for the stock Suzuki rack, if you can find one: It only mounts on the two bolts of the grab bar and has a sticker on it that reads: Caution, maximum load 5lbs. Can you believe that! And it coast me $94.00, shipped. It simply must be braced at the back end to be of any use at all. IMHO ;)
Sorry Jaybee, we've been having nice weather lately so I haven't been spending as much time here as I do in the bad weather. Been out riding more. :thumb:
I checked my profile and my e-addy was there but I hadn't checked the box for always show it. My
jcp8832@yahoo.com e-addy should show now. Also I have entered my jcp8832 addy for AIM, MSN, and Yahoo messenger, all are same. Hope they show on the profile you see.
I've checked the load ratings for Honda and Kawi factory racks and they all advise to limit load to 5-7#. Probably due to our litigious society as they will all carry more than that safely. Also they must worry about handling issues if they advise carrying too much load high and far back like that.
The Suzuki rack will carry more than 5#, but the frame crossmember where it mounts is the weak link. With the load of the Givi box it started to develop cracks and a friend riding behind me noticed it bouncing more and more so I braced it. It's been fine now for 15-20k miles. The rack davipu made looks real good except it carries the rack higher above the grab handle like the Givi rack does. I like the Suzuki factory rack because it gets the Givi box lower and closer in.
I don't have electricity in my garage which which is across the street behind another apartment building so I just took a guess and bought a 3' length of 3/4 x 3/4 x 1/16 thick aluminum at the Home Depot on my way out to my daughter's house one day and cut a 12" length of it and bolted it to the top of the rear fender. There is a small vertical spot at the top that just fits the angle nicely. Uses a couple of 1/4" machine screws to mount it with 1/4 holes in angle and fender.
My Givi box came with a mounting plate that clamps to the tubular rack with 4 clamps. I mounted short pieces of angle about 5/8" long to the Givi bolts for the rear clamps to attach the angled struts at the top, similar to the 5/8" long pieces of angle I used to attach the struts to the 12" piece at the bottom. I got some #6 x 1/4 stainless screws and nuts to attach the struts to the cross member at the bottom. Nothing has budged a bit in the 15-20k miles it's been mounted there so far. Thought I might be taking the Givi box off when not traveling, but it's just too handy to carry everyday stuff so it's been there since I got it. :lol:
I just have a cheapo digital box camera that won't focus close up so I can't show much detail in my pics. We're starting to look at better digital cameras so I may be producing better pics to show online one of these days. Let me know if I can help further.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/jcp8832/GiviRackPics.jpg
<threadjack>Now that we've found gsJack, has anybody seen cernunos lately? :dunno: </threadjack>
:) Thanks for your reply Jack. It's very helpful and I will fabricate some kind of brace for the rack with the info I have gathered and some use'in of the old noggin. Maybe I'll just bend some 1/2 in. emt and spot weld it at the top cross menber of the rack and drill and bolt it at the bottom above the license plate. I still like your design, though, and may fabricate something very similar. Thanks again. ;)