SBBXX Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 I've got the mount kit on order to install all three Givi bags on the 98. I'm going to use the old bags, and because now I'm forking out for a stator, I'll wait a bit before buying new lids. On the 97, the rear cowling developed cracks. I'm positive they were stress related from the weight of the bags. Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening on the 98? Thanks in advance guys marty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MileHi Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 I not sure as to how it could be stress related... The racks mount to the grab rail with replacement (longer) bolts and spacers. All the other mount points are on parts of the bike that aren't related to the tail piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 We've got lots of posts here on that. Infact, didn't you bring this up before? It seems to be quite common without a solution that I know of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 I have a 97' and it has cracks around almost all the bolt holes on the fairing and cowl. Face it, these bikes are almost 10 years old, there's probably nothing that can be done to prevent it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBBXX Posted April 25, 2007 Author Share Posted April 25, 2007 We've got lots of posts here on that. Infact, didn't you bring this up before? It seems to be quite common without a solution that I know of. As a matter of fact Mike I did bring it up before, Ions ago when the 97 first developed cracks. I accepted that as part of life, but now I know in advance what's going to happen. You and Justin are most likely right and there's not much I can do about it, especially the way I overload those things all the time. I was just throwing it out there in case someone developed a miracle cure since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furious Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 Are you guys talking about the wingrack or a third party mount? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gourmet Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 I had a Givi top mount on for 6 years and I just switched to a Givi wing rack 2 and I have no cracks. :icon_think: Don't know why it would happen, sorry Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceman_40 Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 I don't remember where I read it at but I did see it somewhere that a few people had there rear cowls crack. If my memory serves me correct they came to the conclusion that it was from having passengers step on the peg while getting on the bike. Â Â The 100+lbs of weight on one of the passenger pegs was twisting the subframe and cracking the cowl. Â Â Edit: I've got a Givi mount and overload my bags WAY too much and after 20,000KM my cowl is fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbird Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 Did you use Locktite on the bolts? It's been documented that the plastic the bodywork of the XX is made of really doesn't like Locktite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gourmet Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 Redbird, thanks for that, I was just thinking about putting loctite on the Givi where it connects to the handrail, glad you mentioned it when you did. Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blkbrdrydr Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 I don't remember where I read it at but I did see it somewhere that a few people had there rear cowls crack. If my memory serves me correct they came to the conclusion that it was from having passengers step on the peg while getting on the bike. Â Â The 100+lbs of weight on one of the passenger pegs was twisting the subframe and cracking the cowl. Â Â Edit: I've got a Givi mount and overload my bags WAY too much and after 20,000KM my cowl is fine. My rear cowling is also cracked and my wife NEVER uses the passenger peg to get on and off the bike. She always uses the rider peg and then moves her feet to the passenger peg once she's on the bike. I also have SWMotec mounts that are taken on and off the bike on a regular basis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Para045 Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 I have a 98 and there are cracks around the two front bolt holes and coming from the corners at the rear where the handle grab mounts :icon_think: I did take it off at one time and Araldite the cracks up but when I tightened the front left screw she cracked again . I think part of the problem is that the shoulders on the bolts are too short and put too much pressure on the plastic which after a while gets brittle and cracks. I have a NonFango TB and Pannier Rack which mounts at the centre panel bolt and a bracket under the grab handle bolts. I think that if the brackets aren't fitted properly and the bolts are too tight on the plastic it will crack :icon_think: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TuffguyF4i Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 When i bought my bike, the rear cowl had almost all of its mounting holes on the cowl, disentegrated. There was amost nothing holding it on. After reaworking the cowl, i think i found the problem. The seat! The corbin seat was putting tons of pressure on the plastic around the lip of the cowl that goes under the seats. The two should normally not touch, but come close. I used spacers on the rubber gromets to raise the front of the seat. I also noticed it was shifting back and forth, so i cut some surgical tubing and glued it to the guide of the front of the seat that slides under the tank. If you hear lots of plastic creaking when you sit down,,,you probally have the same problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shovelstrokeed Posted April 26, 2007 Share Posted April 26, 2007 I have about 28K miles on my wingrack and keep a pretty good load in the side bags most days. Probably 30#/bag when I'm on a trip. No cracks, no signs of stress of any kind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blkbrdrydr Posted May 31, 2007 Share Posted May 31, 2007 When i bought my bike, the rear cowl had almost all of its mounting holes on the cowl, disentegrated. There was amost nothing holding it on. After reaworking the cowl, i think i found the problem. The seat! The corbin seat was putting tons of pressure on the plastic around the lip of the cowl that goes under the seats. The two should normally not touch, but come close. I used spacers on the rubber gromets to raise the front of the seat. I also noticed it was shifting back and forth, so i cut some surgical tubing and glued it to the guide of the front of the seat that slides under the tank. If you hear lots of plastic creaking when you sit down,,,you probally have the same problem. I took a very close look at mine and..... it's the Corbin seat that caused the damage to my rear cowl too. I tried putting spacers on the seat and didn't get it to work properly. Could you post a couple of photos and show how you got the seat away from the plastic? Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HERBXX Posted May 31, 2007 Share Posted May 31, 2007 Well, i rarely carry a passenger and didn't have a corbin back then and mine cracked after 2 or 3 years. I was using a home made rack and givi mount so i thought that might have something to do with it. I reinforced the back of the cracks with glass mat , cyano and baking soda, I feel the the little tabs the under the cowel that holds the threaded insert for the bolts that hold downt the grab rack are kind of thin and flexible. I added a brace of 1/2 inch tube between them . Its just a piece of tube with a 3/6 nut welded on each end, then bolted through the a hole drilled in the center of the tabs to help keep the tabs from flexing down and out. Im not saying this is cure , but it definitely stiffened things up. You could use an alum rod with a couple holes drilled and tapped if you wanted to as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero Knievel Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 I have cracking on my rear cowling as well. Frankly, they use much thinner material on the rear than everywhere else, and I think that's just lousy design standards. My wingrack goes onto the rear grab rail. I use longer bolts with locking nuts to ensure they don't come loose. The plastic under the grab rail has cracked again, but it's not that noticeable. You don't really get a choice. You want the bolts tight enough that everything stays secure, but the stress, vibration and temperatures take their toll on the thin plastic. Bob Brown at www.empiregp.com can repair plastics if you want to fix any damage and give the rear cowl a new coat of paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlasticxxHead Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 + 1 on Bob at empire...giggle giggle.. I had a Givi Monorack on my 97 for 2 years riding 2 up and a corbin and didn't have any cracks.. Never used loctite , just the supplied spacers and an allen key snug tight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero Knievel Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 + 1 on Bob at empire...giggle giggle.. I had a Givi Monorack on my 97 for 2 years riding 2 up and a corbin and didn't have any cracks.. Never used loctite , just the supplied spacers and an allen key snug tight. I must be the only guy who had problems with Givi's bolts. Everyone says just tighten them down as given. Every bolt that didn't have a locking nut to screw into came loose, and I know how to tighten down stuff. I lost a couple of bolts on the first ride. I had to get replacement bolts that were longer and locking nuts. Why every bolt didn't come with a locking nut is beyond me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2equis Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 I had a Wingrack on my bird for 2 years and use to overload the shit out of them, never had any signs of cracking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero Knievel Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 The "cracking" is usually the stress put on the plastic. IMHO, the rear cowling was meant to be decorative. It's thin and flimsy. The rear handle bolts are meant to just hold what is largely a decorative piece onto the bike. When you put on the Wingrack, you are using the hard point under the seat to hold some serious weight. With longer bolts and locking nuts, you can only lightly snug those four bolts and know that they won't come off, but still, any vibration could eventually crack the plastic. If you snug the bolts down right, the pressure against the plastic will cause cracking with hot, cold and vibration. It's really a no-win situation. Thankfully, most of the damage (for me at least) is hidden under the handle's attachment points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwflorence Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 On the way home from the island on Tuesday I saw a bird that had a Givi topbox mounted to standard blackbird panniers. It was a custom job. Was well done and looked professional. Ill see if I can find the photo and post it.... ...and here they are Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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