garyahouse
newbs need the forum
Once again, I'm thankful for this forum and especially its classified section. Last week I bought a Givi V46 in really nice condition from Jagemeister. He offered me a great price and shipped it promptly. The V 46 arrived on time and is in great shape. I also ordered the standard Gen 1 rack -new- from Givi to mount it to the bike. I spent most of the summer turning my old shed into a new workshop, and now that it's done, I decided to make the FJR my first "customer." The 72 Honda CL350 cafe racer project will have to wait a little longer. So, I pulled the FJR into the workshop, kicked on the lights and got started. With the V46 on one side and the new Givi rack on the other, I began removing the FJR's factory luggage rack.
Below, once the seat and factory rack were removed, below you see that the initial attempt to insert that new rack into the factory holes didn't work so well. About 3/16 of an inch needed to be removed (half from each side) from the square holes in the FJR's rear cowl... just behind the seat. The Givi brackets were too close together. A small file and a lot of patience did the trick.
After about an hour of careful filing, I discovered that the lower rail that attaches beneath the seat didn't line up so well either. More filing. Note the tape I put around the FJR's rectangular cutout to mark the edges where I wanted to finish my new "edge."
Below, I had to file maybe 1/32 from the back of this center hole once the rack was inserted into location. Finally got this bolt in place.
However, there was no way this bolt (or the one on the left side of the bike) would go into the threads on the FJR. The bolt is cross-theaded here, but only lightly finger-tightened... no harm done. The brackets were twisted perhaps 5 degrees out of parallel with each other, and the holes were out of location by perhaps 1/8 inch on each side.
Below, I spent perhaps an hour filing and trial fitting. All this physical labor and the rising sun made it necessary to close the doors and kick on the air. All the time I spent insulating the workshop paid off. The rest of this job was completed at about 76 degrees. Once the trial fitting was done, I shot a little silver paint on the areas I filed...
I finally got it installed... about 4 hours at this point...
But if you look closely (below), you can see that this right side bracket doesn't sit square with the bolt. The bolt is tightened to about 5 ft lbs here. I didn't want to torque it any more as it would just stress the bracket. Plenty of blue Locktite made sure that the bolt won't be loosening on it's own. Not sure what else to do with this... the bracket is pretty solid. Considering that the stresses on this particular bracket with be mostly up and down, it should hold up fine.
Thought I was about done, but when I went to put the black top plate on, the front corners were hitting the steel bracket and needed some filing as well... hence the tape.
Back to the bench for a little filing and trial fitting, and bingo.
Finally. It's all together and my Corbin's back in place. However, when I tried to install the V46 on the new rack,
I was reminded that the backrest would have to go.
So it's done, looks and works great and I'm wondering... anybody else out there have this much trouble getting a Givi rack to fit their Gen 1 FJR? I knew from researching the forum that a little filing might be necessary, but GEEZ. I think it took me something like 5 hours all together. OK, fine, part of that was spent trying to fish a spacer out of the abyss of the tail section after it fell down in there. Nothing that some patience and my little extendo-maget couldn't handle. But it sure took some time.
I was worried that the silver wouldn't match, but with all the other silver items on the FJR, it looks just fine to me.
I know this type of installation has been covered before, but thought you'd enjoy the show.
Gary
darksider #44
Below, once the seat and factory rack were removed, below you see that the initial attempt to insert that new rack into the factory holes didn't work so well. About 3/16 of an inch needed to be removed (half from each side) from the square holes in the FJR's rear cowl... just behind the seat. The Givi brackets were too close together. A small file and a lot of patience did the trick.
After about an hour of careful filing, I discovered that the lower rail that attaches beneath the seat didn't line up so well either. More filing. Note the tape I put around the FJR's rectangular cutout to mark the edges where I wanted to finish my new "edge."
Below, I had to file maybe 1/32 from the back of this center hole once the rack was inserted into location. Finally got this bolt in place.
However, there was no way this bolt (or the one on the left side of the bike) would go into the threads on the FJR. The bolt is cross-theaded here, but only lightly finger-tightened... no harm done. The brackets were twisted perhaps 5 degrees out of parallel with each other, and the holes were out of location by perhaps 1/8 inch on each side.
Below, I spent perhaps an hour filing and trial fitting. All this physical labor and the rising sun made it necessary to close the doors and kick on the air. All the time I spent insulating the workshop paid off. The rest of this job was completed at about 76 degrees. Once the trial fitting was done, I shot a little silver paint on the areas I filed...
I finally got it installed... about 4 hours at this point...
But if you look closely (below), you can see that this right side bracket doesn't sit square with the bolt. The bolt is tightened to about 5 ft lbs here. I didn't want to torque it any more as it would just stress the bracket. Plenty of blue Locktite made sure that the bolt won't be loosening on it's own. Not sure what else to do with this... the bracket is pretty solid. Considering that the stresses on this particular bracket with be mostly up and down, it should hold up fine.
Thought I was about done, but when I went to put the black top plate on, the front corners were hitting the steel bracket and needed some filing as well... hence the tape.
Back to the bench for a little filing and trial fitting, and bingo.
Finally. It's all together and my Corbin's back in place. However, when I tried to install the V46 on the new rack,
I was reminded that the backrest would have to go.
So it's done, looks and works great and I'm wondering... anybody else out there have this much trouble getting a Givi rack to fit their Gen 1 FJR? I knew from researching the forum that a little filing might be necessary, but GEEZ. I think it took me something like 5 hours all together. OK, fine, part of that was spent trying to fish a spacer out of the abyss of the tail section after it fell down in there. Nothing that some patience and my little extendo-maget couldn't handle. But it sure took some time.
I was worried that the silver wouldn't match, but with all the other silver items on the FJR, it looks just fine to me.
I know this type of installation has been covered before, but thought you'd enjoy the show.
Gary
darksider #44
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