Well, I went and bought myself a set of the Givi V35s as well as the PLXR support rack. I'll be traveling an hour or so to pick them up and want to install them on-site before riding back home. My question is twofold:
1. What tools do I need to bring along to perform the installation?
2. Can anyone forward me the installation instructions so I can review them ahead of time?
Funny, I was just this evening installing a Givi top rack add-on to my wing-rack and laughing at the Italian version of "quality control" apparently "ispettore #10" was sleepy that day and didn't put the correct bolts in my kit, I got an odd number of mis-matched lengths and even different colors (some black, some zinc-plated and all too short, stupido!), As a bonus however they included two mounting racks!
That said, all the Givi racks I've installed on my bike have used metric hex-head (allen wrench type) hardware. Bring along a 6mm allen wrench or socket, a 4mm allen, along with 13mm and 10mm combination wrenches. I like to add a few drops of blue loctite to all the hardware as an extra precaution against eventual vibration caused looseness.
As for the installation instructions, good luck, I got some cryptic Italian papers with my original wing-rack and nothing with my recent add-on kit. The good news is that the fit of their products is excellent (in my experience anyway) and the install is pretty intuitive.
The wing racks mount to the passenger foot pegs, the bolts that hold the muffler in place, and then they assume you have the factory fender as well.
I found it easiest if you remove the stock bolts from those 3 locations (one place at a time) and loosely put the new bolts in place (to give you room to move the rack around so as to get everything aligned) then you should be pretty good to go. I would bolt the fender connections in last as they will be the most "fun" if you have a fender eliminator.
Be careful with the muffler mounts because when you remove them the mufflers will drop a bit and make getting the new longer bolt a bit of a challenge to get back in and aligned. Make sure your mufflers have cooled off before attempting this portion.
I would take a standard ratchet set as well. For some reason the bolts I received in my kit didn't fit my metrics. I don't think anything was larger that a 1/2" and take a couple of box wrenches of matching size as this will make it easier for tightening down all the bolts and nuts.
Well, I did it... Sorta... The packages arrived no problem and were well packed from Sport Tour LTD. I'd definitely do business with them again. The Mounting Kit included the proper hardware and was easy enough to follow. For the less mechanically inclined however, this is NOT a job to do 'on the road'.
The issue I faced was with the license plate mount. It seems like it's an inch or so too short. I struggled with it for probably a half hour or so before giving up and zipping (well, turtling...) over to the nearby Lowe's and picking up some hose clamps to secure it until I could get home and adjust the mounts properly using a vice and some vice-grips.
So after sleeping on it, I tried attaching the three mounting points, starting with the rear fender. With a little 'persuasion', (read, rubber mallet...) I was able to get everything hooked up all hunky dorey.
As promised, here are the installation instructions:
[image: View Post]iamthedruman, on 08 August 2009 - 10:54 AM, said:
So after sleeping on it, I tried attaching the three mounting points, starting with the rear fender. With a little 'persuasion', (read, rubber mallet...) I was able to get everything hooked up all hunky dorey.
As promised, here are the installation instructions:
Maybe a moderator can tell me where these should go and I'll upload the high-res versions.
Did you ever get the rear fender bracket to line up? I just tried to install a set of SW-MOTECH removable racks and they are set up to use a European license plate bracket to support the rear fender mounts. I was going to return them for a set of the GIVI PLXRs but don�t want to run into the same problem. Do the GIVIS have any way to lock the racks in place?
Yes, I did get them to line up. The trick is to START with the fender point and work your way forward. Since it moves slightly, it's easier to attach the footpeg one, finishing off with the passenger handle point.
End of thread · 7 posts recoveredWayback Machine snapshot 6 Apr 2010