It's nice when things actually fit together. I got the rack and the case mounts installed on the bike last night. On my way north last summer, I noticed that my right rear shock was leaking oil and could no longer be adjusted. Kind of annoyed since it was only a couple of years old. I dug through my parts shelf and pulled out the original Boge rear shocks and put them back on. The rack uses the upper shock mounting bolts as one of the five points where it attaches to the rear subframe. The rear case mounts are much sturdier than the stock ones and, surprisingly, they side cases fit on them better. You can see the screw holes in the rear cowling just below the seat. This is where the stock rack attaches to the seat. Not a very sturdy mounting location.
The top box must have been made with this rack in mind as all of the screw holes lined up between the rack and the box though I need to fabricate some spacers between the bottom of the box and the rack. I'll also need to patch up the holes I drilled in the box last June when I mounted it to the old rack. But there's plenty of time for that.
On my ride in this morning, I couldn't really feel any difference in the ride with the shock swap so I'll call it good for now. The roads were nice and clear with no black ice. I probably only have a couple more opportunities to ride this year until the snow sticks. I was reminded that I had never fixed the heated grips since last May as it was 28°F when I left the house.
How's the hunt for a sidecar going?
ReplyDeleteDom
Richard:
DeleteDid you buy the goggles for your dog yet ?
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
My Flickr // My YouTube
I think that I'm going to pick up the Cozy that is attached to the /7. The owner said that he was willing to sell the sidecar separately with the DMC subframe he already purchased. Jay has emailed me a list of additional pieces I'll need to connect them. I just haven't followed through yet.
DeleteDoggles? Why would I doo that?
DeleteRichard:
ReplyDeleteNow that you've done your Winter Project in one day, it's time to do some Rack testing next year. A long ride to check out the durability of your new mounts, perhaps a two week test riding somewhere on a mixture of road surfaces to make sure it is sturdy enough for your bi-yearly ride in 2014
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
My Flickr // My YouTube
Where to go...
DeleteI have absolutely no plans at the moment. The new-old rack is really sturdy compared with the stock pieces. For now, I'm just wondering how far into the Fall I can ride.
28F seems a little nippy to me but you will soon have time enough to fix that, too.
ReplyDeleteThen you probably wouldn't like todays 17°F any better. But at least the roads are still clear and with the heated liner, toasty warm.
DeleteTop box is definitely on my lists of wants for my new scooter. It is already so wide I'm afraid I'd have to put a "Danger Wide Load" sign on it if I were install side cases. There is something that just looks right about top case and side cases on a BMW though.
ReplyDelete~k
I was amazed at how convenient the top box was on my trip last summer. You can open it and things don't fall out as they do with the side cases. It came with the bike when I bought it but this was the first time I put it on the bike. But even with wide cases it is still narrower than the handlebars.
DeleteBrrrr, your weather is getting cold. Good thing you have projects like mounting racks and swapping shocks to keep you active and warm.
ReplyDeleteit's normally cold this month. The solar gain is starting to be pretty minimal, i.e. not much heat from the sun. Once the snow starts falling a lot of people will start to rest easier. If it gets really cold before there's snow to insulate the ground, there is a higher probability of frozen pipes later on...
DeleteProjects are good and it seems that I have a lot of them.