Luggage Rack GRRRRRRRR

[Gas Man]

I know Im not the 1st and sure I wont be the last but wanted to start a thread regarding the useless cheap plastic rack which is supplied with our VERY expensive bikes.

I have contacted cust serv @ kawa and they inform me they have NOT had a significant amount of owners contact them regarding this problem.

I dont know about yourselves but this rack problem is making the ride for my wife uncomfortable due to the flex making the box wobble and hit her back. Also she wont lean back on the so called back rest as she says it dont feel safe.

My solution to this problem is for kawa to supply as standard the SW-Motech ALU RACK and if purchasing the top box the SW-Motech MONOLOCK ADAPTOR.
I dont see why they cant do this seeing as they supply a SW-Motech ALU RACK as standard for the 1400ZZR.

Now I just dont believe that not many have contacted them so have decided to collate as many owners as I can and intend to email it to them so as to sort this problem.
Your comments would be very appreciated.

[Winston Smith]

You pay your money you make your choice.

That's how they come, and whilst I agree the rack is a bit flimsy, when you make the choice to buy it you know what you're getting.

It is adequate for the job, the standard box has a very low payload, but if you want improvement it costs.

Look at the BMW 1600GT/L. Two or three grand on top of a 17-19k bike to make it what it should be for that sort of money.

At least our bikes are put right for a couple of humdred.

Even mighty Honda and their flagship Pan needs a £300.00 kit fitting to make it fit for purpose - the wind deflector kit.

Farkling is part of the pleasure of biking, improving, customising, personalising etc.

Enjoy it, farkle it - make it yours, but don't expect big K to retrofit the right part!

[Gas Man]

I hear what your saying WS and am happy to spend to mod and improve on what I've got.

My peeve is that the OEM rack is not fit for purpose so IMO the mighty Kawa should address this.

[Winston Smith]

You are right!

They did listen to the first round of issues on the Mk1 1400's and things like the heated grips arrived.

[mecki]

That flimsy thing they sell us for over 200 quid sells on the internet for just over 50.
OK without the fancy colour matching top, but otherwise exactly the  same.
It's called Maxima E46 or something like that - same spec, same size, same looks.
For about the same price Kawasaki charges for this useless piece of junk you can buy a Givi Monokey box or a CV56 (including mounting kit) which are really top notch.

When I bought my bike they actually had one of the new Z1000s in the showroom with exactly the same top box Suzuki UK used to put on the GSF1250GT - a good solid Givi Monokey box. I even went outside and compared it to the one on my Bandit and they were identical except one had Suzuki written on it and the other Kawasaki.
I thought I get the same and ordered one for the new GTR
But after I took the bike home and I opened it; I found that I had been duped.
And now I'm stuck with this piece of crap.
So no, Winston, we didn't know what we bought.

[pembsgtr]

I have the sw motech alu rack and mono plate adaptor on my bike, top box does not move at all and there have been no issues either with stability at autobahn speeds  ;D

[Gas Man]

I have the sw motech alu rack and mono plate adaptor on my bike, top box does not move at all and there have been no issues either with stability at autobahn speeds  ;D

Exactly what I've ordered to sort the problem  ;)

Now why dont they fit these as standard  ::)

[Rusty]

Winston ... a short time back I started a thread " How much ? " on the K1600 GT/L .... the top box on display in the window, which I have to say was about the same size as my dear wifes' suitcase just before we went on our hols, was an optional extra for £1054 !! That's right, over £1000 for a top box .... I bet that wouldn't wobble  ;D

[Boomer]

Since I already had a Non-Fango 852 box and mine was one of the first 1400s in the country (ie. nothing available for it,... not even the Kawi box) I just made my own plate out of 5mm ally plate.
Took me about 2 hours to make and a day or 2 to ally-primer and paint it.
It's still on there as is the top box.

When Kawi had the recall to replace the original (EVEN flimsier) rack I got the new rack from my dealer.
It's never even been fitted to the bike as I consider it unfit for fitting a topbox.
It's adequate if yer gonna bungee a bag on there but otherwise useless.

[Winston Smith]

Winston ... a short time back I started a thread " How much ? " on the K1600 GT/L .... the top box on display in the window, which I have to say was about the same size as my dear wifes' suitcase just before we went on our hols, was an optional extra for £1054 !! That's right, over £1000 for a top box .... I bet that wouldn't wobble  ;D

I know!!  I looked at them when they first came out and as nice as they are (and they really are nice) the K does it all, I've fitted all the bits K should have done (hugger, heated grips, cruise control, wind deflectors, alu rack = about £400.00 worth) and SatNav and it is everything I need.  WIll tell you after next week what the GT1600 is like - testing it back to back with GTR, Pan and RT1200RT in France.

The top box for the GTR was bought as a E470 Givi (£10 more than the Kawasaki 'OEM' !!) then I got the colour matched cover.  About £200.00 in total.  OK so it's not as substantial as the BMW one but I've carried loads of heavyish stuff in it and it's been fine.  Consider that the BMW ones are double skinned and I imagine the capacity internally isn't much better then the K OEM.  And nearly £700 more expensive!!

[Hans]

Hmm.... I'm a bit confused!  8)

Yes - I do have the "large org. Kawa top-box".
Yes - It do wobble a bit....
No - I have not seen any sign of damages!

Would the sw-motech alu-plate do the trick? What else? Can i switch-over the "top-box-lock-thingy" to the sw-motech - that's it?
Or should I also buy an sw-motech "thingy" adapter... to have the big org. kawa-top-box fitted again?

/H

[Gas Man]

Hmm.... I'm a bit confused!  8)

Yes - I do have the "large org. Kawa top-box".
Yes - It do wobble a bit....
No - I have not seen any sign of damages!

Would the sw-motech alu-plate do the trick? What else? Can i switch-over the "top-box-lock-thingy" to the sw-motech - that's it?
Or should I also buy an sw-motech "thingy" adapter... to have the big org. kawa-top-box fitted again?

/H

I'd get both if I were you and yes they will sort the wobble out. Call the guy from the other thread and mention thie site for the discount.