Well, the bracket on my bike finally started to crack at 150,000 miles. I'm referring to the bracket which is under the rear body plastic. This is what the rear bolts for the passenger grab bars thread into - likewise what the Givi mounts bolt into. The bracket mounting bolt on the right hand side worked loose, causing the left side of the bracket to fail.
Exactly! And my loaded Givi typically only weighs 40 pounds. Wink.
The crack on the left-hand leg went from the lower lightening hole to the rear flange. To repair it, my wife's brother-in-law welded some 3/8" steel bar stock to reinforce the rear flange. There were no clearance issues with this mod. However, there's not enough room to do the same to the forward flange. One thing to check before repairing the bracket is whether the legs have bent, allowing the top plate to sag. If it has, the rear plastic will be too low and it'll be hard to get the saddlebags off the bike. (This condition is what made me examine the bracket.) I actually broke a rear pivot pin off, the pin which the side flap pivots on. That meant I had to fabricate a replacement pin and bond it to the rear plastic.
Pics of the bracket:
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Last updated on January 27, 2014 © 2008-2014 M. E. Martin, all rights reserved.