When I decided to buy hard luggage to fit my new GS1200SS I never considered the idea that maybe it hadn't been already tried. After all the bike had been available in Japan for at least 3 years, and here in New Zealand for at least 2 years, and it is a sports/touring bike, so I was sure that there would be custom made luggage to fit.
I therefore didn't expect to find that Suzuki didn't have a luggage rack that would bolt straight on, and that GIVI only had available a universal mount that they were "pretty sure would do the job". The price for the GIVI system was bang on my budget for luggage, so the order was sent.
I was very pleasantly surprised at how quickly the delivery was made, and on getting the rather large package home, the first item on the agenda was to open the box, find the instructions, and check that all parts, fittings, nuts and bolts etc were included.
On finding the mounting instructions, I discovered that they weren't very clear and were rather hard to understand. This situation was easily remedied by putting on my reading glasses and turning the page the right way round. Now I could easily see how all these rods, clamps, S plates, spacers etc would bolt on to my bike in the manner shown. I was pleased to find that almost all components were of a high quality and suitable for the purpose. The only exception is the indicators that came with the wing rack, which are rather flimsy. Unfortunately the original indicators have to be removed to fit the rack, so the replacement ones must be used.
The GS1200 SS has two very solid grab rails at the rear which, on first sight, appear perfect for fitting the wing rack to. However Mr Suzuki is not one to make things easy, and the mounting bolts (8 mm Allen key screws) and spacers are attached at an angle to both the vertical and horizontal plane.
I therefore made my first attempt at fitting the wing racks using the universal fitting kit and following the instructions as supplied. The result was a fit that was either splayed out slightly at the bottom, or made an angle with the length of the bike. The luggage once fitted seemed solid enough, but ended up as being rather wide. When riding at any speed above 100 kmh the luggage appeared to shake slightly which was slightly disconcerting.
The grab handle mounts still appeared to be a good looking option for mounting the rack directly, so attempt #2. I removed the grab handle spacers from the front mount, and trimmed one end of each to a 15 degree angle. By rotating the spacer I was then able to produce a mounting surface that was parallel to the bike's line of travel, and to the vertical plane. I took two of the S plates that were supplied with the universal mounting kit, and bent them very slightly to produce another flat mounting surface when attached to the rear grab handle mounts. The entire wing rack could then be bolted directly to the bike. The end result is a mount, which is solid, and looks good. The luggage is steady when riding, and doesn't jut out too far into the wind stream. A trial ride with my wife as pillion over 2 days and 600km showed that the pillion was squeezed a bit with not much leg room, so more work was obviously needed.
Next, I fabricated a mounting plate out of 5 mm steel plate that bolted directly onto both grab rail mounts, and with a number of holes drilled in various locations. This allowed me to fit the panniers slightly lower and further back giving my wife a lot more room on the back.
Our next real test was a 7 day ride around the South Island. We both felt comfortable, and using both panniers, and a soft overnight bag strapped to the top plate, we were able to carry sufficient gear for the trip.
Handling is affected at higher speeds, particularly if the weight distribution is too far rearward. I did see over 165 km/hr at one stage in a straight line and that was ok, but cornering was limited to around 130 km/hr before the rear end felt a bit unstable. However at a normal two up cruising speed of 110 - 120 km/hr everything was just fine. Any side wind effect is more noticeable, but that is also to be expected with extra flat surfaces at the rear.
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Originally Posted by Bonez
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