Givi SR357 Fit

[Gaoler]

Despite the apparent fitment issue(s) with the sr357 I went and ordered one for my 2016... Of course only after a lengthy search was I able to find one!

Amazon.com to the rescue.

It's unfortunate GIVI can't seem to manufacture a rack that fits perfectly every time, but... Theirs does seem to be the best all 'round option if you want a top case.

I fitted an OEM top case rack to my 2008 Suzuki 1250 Bandit and it too was a chore. I ended up having to make spacers and sub out fasteners much more than what I see folks having to do with the sr357.

 

[K_Flyer]

I ordered a case and mount for Theresa's bike from motostorm.it on the 22nd and had them in house yesterday. Plan to go out early tomorrow morning before it gets too hot and fit it to the bike. It will be interesting to see how it fits. I held off on getting the permanent aluminum spacers made for mine as soon as I realized that Theresa was going to get an FJR and would probably need spacers.

 

[Mad German]

AuburnFJR made an adapter plate for his OEM case if that will help you out at all.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Mine fit perfectly, as did the two others I've put on for friends. You have to put the right end down first, otherwise the other end doesn't line up. That's not to say some aren't defective. I thought mine was jacked up until I realized it has to be inserted in a particular way.

 

[K_Flyer]

Mine fit perfectly, as did the two others I've put on for friends. You have to put the right end down first, otherwise the other end doesn't line up. That's not to say some aren't defective. I thought mine was jacked up until I realized it has to be inserted in a particular way.

Well, I tried one end (front) first, then the other (back), and the (mis)fit was the same. What is the correct way of putting the frame down to get it to fit without shimming? Unlike my mount, Theresa's does not have a twist in it but it does require a 0.137" shim at the rear-most mounting point.

I am amazed at the poor quality of the mount in terms of fit and fabrication (welding). The cases themselves seem well made but the mounts look like a student welder's first project. The bolts are definitely too short.

 

[K_Flyer]

How soon we forget! I thought Theresa's Givi mount was a good fit. But then I snugged up the front two bolts at the rear, the ones with the longer spacers. Like magic, the front of the mount lifted up from the bike frame about 0.374" to 0.391". (Hard to get a caliper in there to make the measure, especially with limited access to both sides of the bike.) This is about the same as on my bike. I'm wondering if Yamaha made a change to the rear sub-frame and Givi did not compensate. For those of you who have had no problem with installation, what year are your bikes?

So I'm getting ready to make up a set of test spacers to determine what I need to have fabricated. Those of you who are mechanical engineers will recognize that this is an over-constrained structure. I will get it as close as I can, then use nylon washers to give a bit of compliance.

 

[ionbeam]

Bolted right up to my '15 ES. I must have received a rack built before the wine break in the afternoon. No gaps, fit flush without using pry bars or hydraulic presses. So far nothing has broken.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Mine's a 14. I think they may outsource given the big disparities reported in the product. The welds and finish on my were, and still are, very high quality. Your comment on student welders makes me think there are either counterfeits in the market, or a supplier to Givi that pays in heroin.

 

[K_Flyer]

For those of you with mounts that fit well, where did you buy your mounts? I bought from motostorm.it as recommended in some threads here.

I've continued the study. If I tighten only one (the left) of the two front bolts in the rear triangle (so that the mounting plate is flush with the cylindrical spacer) there is about a 1/8" gap between the spacer and the plate at the other front bolt! The gap on the right at the front is also larger. In this case, the upper plate of the mount is now parallel to the bike frame as measured where the front of the mount bolts down. It was not before. What a mess!

Decided to break for lunch as my frustration level is reaching the danger zone. (None of the Smileys are adequate to express my mental state at this point!)

 

[Oublaj]

I put one on my 2 week old 2016 and it bolted up no problem.

 

[Kaelaria]

It has nothing to do with the retailer, it's an assembly issue at the factory - it's simply hit or miss.

 

[Fred W]

No, I think the retailers go into their warehouses and bend them and contort the otherwise perfectly formed Italian Givi racks to cause grief to their cash paying customers. They hate us, you know.

 

[K_Flyer]

Not surprising that the spacers for Theresa's bike are not the same. Her two front spacers are the same height (mine were different by 0.030"1), and slightly shorter than mine. The mount still clears the rear tupperware but sits a bit lower than mine.

Ordering the machined spacers but now it's time to ride. Theresa has not ridden her bike yet so we need to get out and get some miles in before our trips. Today is her last day at work. We plan to ride a lot for the next three or 4 years, then she'll go back to work and I'll go back to flying my RC planes and keeping house.

 

[Brodie]

My rack did not fit up to my used '06, so my parts house got another one which had just as bad a gap at the forward mounts when the rear 3 bolts were snugged down. I ended up jigging it to our welder's fab table and tweaked the tubing on both sides to lower the forward mounts into position. Now all 5 mounting points are in their proper spots before bolting up.

Someone else touched on this, but it bears repeating the 3 rear bolts supplied by GIVI are too short. They do not use all the thread length in the tapped holes in the sub frame. I went out and purchased longer ones that protrude beyond the tapped holes by a turn or two. I haven't heard of these holes stripping out, but I don't want to be the first one.

Brodie

 

[K_Flyer]

Someone else touched on this, but it bears repeating the 3 rear bolts supplied by GIVI are too short. They do not use all the thread length in the tapped holes in the sub frame. I went out and purchased longer ones that protrude beyond the tapped holes by a turn or two. I haven't heard of these holes stripping out, but I don't want to be the first one.
Brodie

Since I am ending up with shorter spacers than the stock Givi ones, the Givi bolts are long enough for both our bikes. What I find interesting is that, with the odd spacer sizes, both of our mounts ended up being square to the bike frame (in two dimensions), at least to the precision I can read a mechanics level. I do not intend to get out my precision level, good to 0.1 degrees! As I learned in my aerospace days, "Better is the enemy of good enough."

 

[WHS]

Bought mine from Motostorm, came with all the right stuff and bolted up on my 2015ES no problem. Took me longer to inspect and match up everything than it did to install... Have put on several thousand miles without an issue, including my last trip two-up with gear. One thing I have learned over the year on any type of fitted gear is to line it all up first, then start all bolts evenly and slowly crank them down a little at time in a pattern similar to tightening wheel lugs. Not sure if that makes a difference, but it worked well for me.

 

[Gaoler]

Installed my SR357 today...

As with many others, that one spacer thingy towards the rear of the bike was a wee bit too short. Slipped a washer under and all's good.

I installed the rack onto the bike first and THEN the plastic mounting plate upon the rack... A little bit fiddly getting the four bolts done up.

Am I the only ***** who didn't realize until afterwards that you can attach the plate to the rack and then install the whole assembly to the bike..?

Now that the rack and plate are mated it only takes tightening/loosening the five mounting bolts and five minutes to install/uninstall the rack.

I ended up putting the factory grab bar back on and will only install the GIVI rack and top case when needed for a trip where I'm going go be hauling more stuff than usual.

For my day to day riding/commuting and even day trippin' I find the side cases are adequate.

 

[Fred W]

Now that the rack and plate are mated it only takes tightening/loosening the five mounting bolts and five minutes to install/uninstall the rack.I ended up putting the factory grab bar back on and will only install the GIVI rack and top case when needed for a trip where I'm going go be hauling more stuff than usual.

For my day to day riding/commuting and even day trippin' I find the side cases are adequate.

Great idea!

(Damn... why didn't I think of that? )

 

[Bill Lumberg]

My properly fitting one came from Revzilla. It only takes me about 3 minutes to go from the SR357 to the stock rack with a backrest. I do it once in a blue moon, but the vast majority of time the SR357 stays on, with a V47 tech if it's just me, the E55 if the wife is along.

 

[Intech]

I bought mine from Revzilla also. Took all of about 15 minutes to remove the stock and install it.