Home made Givi luggage fittings for a steamer

[MarkShelley]

I have just finished making up some fittings for my bike. It was really easy.
It is the Mk 1 wingrack and top plate.I had fitted the top box plate a while ago by simply clamping it to the original rack using a piece of 3mm x 30mm steel flat bar with two M8 cap head bolts through the usual slots in the plate.
I could not bolt the wingrack side pieces directly to the base plate as they would not be far apart enough to miss the silencers. To get over this I happened to have a couple of brackets which were just 3mm steel plate about 75 to 100mm long with a hole near each end. They were bolted to the outer bolts that are holding the base plate on and the wingrack side pieces were bolted to the outer hole. The top hole on the wingracks are slotted so there is a bit of play, As luck would have it, with the wingracks in the right position to give a little clearance for the silencers they were in the perfect position for a straight brace down to the pillion footrest bolt. I bought a 900mm length of 30 x 8mm aluminium, cut in in half, drilled a 10mm hole with the centre 20mm from one end, then fixed this to the footrest hanger. I then rotated it into position along the back of the wingrack and once again luck was on my side as it was pretty much perfectly in line to get two fixings onto the wingrack. I had already purchased a selection of M8 bolts and the 25mm  and 35mm long ones were used. The fixing is very strong. The only slight movement in it is when quite a big force is applied either towards or away from the bike, and that is only due to flex in the footrest hanger so I am very confident of its strength.

[rf9rider]

Looks a tidy job  :)

[MarkShelley]

I was in two minds as to whether I should paint the ally braces. I know if I do it will flake off in no time. Getting paint to stick to aluminium isn`t easy! I may simply cover the outside face with black tape.

[rf9rider]

Get them powdercoated black  :)

You sure the one rear fixing for the wingrack is enough, strong enough not to bend?

The original fitting kit had 2 fixing points on the sides that bolted to the frame.

[MarkShelley]

Yes, I am sure it is strong enough. the load is vertical on the bolt, not in shear and the load is transferred through the standard frame fixing points which is where the GIvi kit bolts onto I believe.
It really feels quite solid. In time I may sort a horizontal brace between the wings, but I don`t think it really needs it, but would just be a belt and braces job.
Pop by and take a look if you are passing!