| Author | Message | ||
     Coldwthrrider |
Argghh, the thread we had going was there earlier today...but got sucked away after only 3 days of inactivity into the archive where nobody will see. I've been getting lots of emails about this so here's the post as soon as possible! I included lots of pictures as requested. I got the brackets back from the shop today, and mounted them tonight after a run to the hardware store and some drilling. Man it gets dark quick these days... Bracket (homemade on top, Givi on bottom)  The brackets on the bike  The underside with the cross brace (excess threads will be cut off)  The whole thing mounted up  Bags on (camera can't focus in the dark)  Another view  The width is no wider than the handlebars or '03 mirrors  I haven't ridden it yet, that will be tomorrow if it's nice. There is only one point that concerns me right now. I raised the right bracket to clear the swingarm better. Now that the bags are on it looks like with significant flex the plastic case could rub on the swingarm. I'll start with no load and see if it touches...which I'm sure it will with a full load. I may have to redo some of it like move that one out a half inch. I didn't realize before, but the swingarm is about an inch taller on the right than on the oil filled left side. Next also will be to de-chromeify the Givi parts so they're not quite so ugly (paint to match frame). After that I just need to get out and use them! No more soft saddle bags or backpack, and if I go somewhere when it's hot I can use the bags to lock my jacket and helmet....and pickup a few bags of groceries on the way home! | ||
| Roc |
Looking good Eric! | ||
| Outrider |
Nice clean installation. First one I have seen where the bags look good on the bike. Not too high, not too low...Just Right! | ||
| Tgroghan |
Looks really good. What paint did you use to paint your frame protectors, by the way? | ||
| Ingemar |
Dude that's really cool! Thanx for sharing mate. | ||
| Tbs_stunta |
You're going to have to do some kind of bracing as the bags will flex side to side when cornering. | ||
| Coldwthrrider |
So I rode about 100 miles today with the bags mostly empty. To work, to other work location, to do some errands, etc. A few times when I parked I put the helmet in one and jacket in the other, nice. Picking up a few things on the way home was no problem of course, and when it's 90 degrees I'd rather not wear a backpack. I'm not sure I'll keep them on regularly but it's nice sometimes if you know you need to get some groceries on the way home or something. I do need to add some sort of bracing as they do flap a little going over bumps at highway speeds. Everything is hanging off those top rails and it's just not enough to keep that moment arm from trying to twist downward. I'm not sure what it will be yet, that other guy with the 12S bags (last thread) seemed to have some sort of X shaped cross brace between them. Ideally I'd like to put about 20-30lbs in each one for trips, but I'll work up to that slowly and see what kind of bracing I can come up with. The goal is to avoid the scaffolding look....or am I already there?    I guess the width is actually a little wider. The '03 mirrors and throttlemeister bars are 31" each. The cases are 33" wide. | ||
| Easyflier |
Is the crossbrace fastened to the subframe? The long bolts that are in the photo hint at that but the angle of the shot doesn't make it clear. That's where I would add the extra bracing, some aluminum stock bent in an inverted U attached to the crossbrace which is attached to the subframe and connecting the lower rear sections of the mounting brackets. Probably clear as mud but maybe it makes sense. BTW, I think they turned out really well too. | ||
| Coldwthrrider |
Thanks, I'm glad to finally have them mounted! The two things sticking out of the tail are eye bolts bolted to the subframe with 1/2" bolts and some big ••• washers.  Oh yeah, the paint is Buell frame paint that I got from DaveS. I originally got it for when I de-chrome-ify the pseudo-Harley brackets. The can was pretty big so I painted them also, because the white plastic paint that I got didn't match the white of the bodywork. | ||
| Tbs_stunta |
Go into a BMW shop and look at how the bags are mounted. There is a brace that comes off the passenger footpeg and the front of the bag slots into it near the bottom of the bags. Stops the bags from flexing horizontally with very minimal hardware. The R1100S is a great example of that. (Message edited by TBS_Stunta on September 02, 2004) | ||
| Coldwthrrider |
I might go check out the BMW thing, or at least look for pictures on the web to see how they are. I need something before I can put too much weight in them. Chris, I'm not quite ready to begin producing these for sale. Partly because I'm not sure the design is all that great and partly because I didn't do all the machining. I had to beg a friend in a machine shop to mill the parts down so they were smooth after I rough cut them on a band saw. I can however, give you some CAD drawings of the parts so you can try to make similar ones yourself. Of course the other hangup is getting the same Givi brackets, which have been discontinued! For getting parts made you might want to check out http://emachineshop.com/ | ||
| Barkandbite |
I've used eMachineshop...it's VERY cool! Givi folks are real •••••••$ -- I called to inquire about making a setup and the 2 people I spoke to said they weren't interested because of Buell's "affiliation" with HD; they both went on to say that Buell had talked to them and "never called them back." That's right...punish me because I want to purchase something. dolts. | ||
| Coldwthrrider |
That sucks, it would be great for Buell to just have a Givi integrated hard bag system instead of making their own (or none at all). If they could make the mounts and Givi made one style of case that was color matched to Buells and looked nice it would probably sell well. Then Givi could sell larger cases (the ugly ones like I have) to those of us who want more capacity and they make money off of an installed base of Givi format mounting brackets. The Harley thing is stupid too, they're probably bitter because their Harley brackets didn't sell well (that's how I got mine on closeout). There is a huge aftermarket of soft bags for Harleys already, did they expect people to put euro cases on their chrome cruisers? Buells are sportbikes, the kind that Givi normally makes parts for. The Harley idea was a bad business decision but the Buell one could be good for them. How did the eMachineShop.com work out, what size parts did you get? I'm curious how much this would have cost me if I used them (just found out about it last week). | ||
| Coldwthrrider |
Rode up to a cabin for the weekend and back, the cases worked great. I still can't put much weight in them because the right one bounces off the swingarm sometimes (covered in tape right now). I did get a chance to open it up on a straight backroad. There wasn't much road before I had to let off but the GPS read a max speed of 124 and it was pretty stable, considering the cross wind. Still thinking of cross brace ideas... | ||
| Lpowel02 |
Coldwthrrider...well done...not really my thing, I just don't have the need, but it looks like you did a great job setting them up. | ||
| Bluebuellxb9r  |
Nice looking bags ! Excellent job on getting them to work !! | ||
| Court |
That is a nice looking installation....the lines of the bags work well with the XB. Keep us posted on how it works out. Court |
