Rack attack

[Neez]

A few days ago I had a passenger on my Spyder for the first time. When we got home from our ride, I noticed scratches on the LH rear fender support arm. The arm had been in contact with 2 projecting parts of my Industries 7 Givi bag rack, a nut and a gusset. The gusset has an unnecessary hook on the bottom which I can grind off for clearance and I will devise some way to attach the rear bag support post that does not require a nut. It has been stated in another thread that repeated contact of this type will cause early failure of the bracket under the fender and I want to avoid that. The arrows in the photos show the scratches and the offending projections. The third photo is off topic and shows the splash pan Dzus I installed. I wonder if any one else has had these contact problems with racks and what solutions they used?

[bjt]

http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Thinking/thinking-020.gif http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Thinking/thinking-020.gif hmmm.... now things are coming together. I used to have the I7 Givi rack and my left fender bracket did have some scratches on it in a similar location. Its probably why both mine and dltang's fender brackets got the stress cracks near the fender mount. On a couple of particularly vicious potholes, her Spyder bottomed out causing the Bushtec hitch mount to hit the fender supports. This probably bent the fender supports, creating excess stress at the points where the metal fatigued and tore. Hopefully you found and corrected this before any other damage was done.

[igor]

have the same problem

[sleepman]

Did you adjust the rear suspension as the Industries 7 instructions advised?

[chris56]

i also had the same problem .. i changed the (rusty) screws and cutted them after the nut..
i see also a very small black "point" on my fender the mount under the seat get in touch with it
chris

[bjt]

Did you adjust the rear suspension as the Industries 7 instructions advised?

Before I had the I7 rack and Givi bags, I was running my rear suspension at the max setting. No higher setting to adjust it to. A heavier guy (like me at 250 lbs.) going over rough roads can really test the swingarm travel. I am thinking about going with an Elka shock or the one ataDude wants (can't remember the brand) in the hopes that I can stiffen it up a bit more.

[porboy]

Chris 56.

Nice Spyder. Where did you get the lowers? Very nice.:2thumbs:

[jnt]

Thanks for the heads up! We also have the I7 rack - it has at least 1/2 inch clearance at the rear bolt even allowing for sideway slop (none) in the swing arm; front bracket area is farther away. Interesting, even given variety of install.

[BRPjunkie]

The Givi racks do not appear to have this same design problem. We just have to live with our turn signals on the rear fender.

[Neez]

Here's how I fixed it ( I hope). I ground the gusset flush with the bars with a 4 1/2 inch disc grinder. As for the protruding nut, I simply reversed the inner 5M screw so that the nut is on the outside. I countersunk the inside of the bar a bit, using a 17/64 inch bit, so that the flathead screw head nestles in closer. These measures allow much more clearance. The Givi bag fits over the post and nut without binding, and goes on and off smoothly. I repainted the arm, so as soon as I get a volunteer passenger to ride down Pothole Parkway, I will be able to detect any further scratching.