My CBR1000F daily-driver was in the workshop today for some modifications.
The Soviet and I are planning on doing a lot of traveling on the continent this year and I'll be driving it to Germany in a month or so with a view to storing it there, and flying back and forth as opportunity arises. I want to get the bike perfect so I don't have to work on it while it's abroad.
Since I got the bike about two and a half years ago it's been my workhorse and I've been gradually modifying it for greater comfort. It now sports lower foot-pegs, a Corbin seat, much higher bars and a much higher windscreen. The riding position is now perfectly comfortable and I don't feel the need to modify it any further. It feels something similar to a Pan European but maybe just a little more sporty. (Even with the boxes and the heavy Corbin seat, it's still much lighter than a Pan and the weight is carried a lot lower).
Today it was in having a couple of niggling things addressed. Firstly, the windscreen is substantially higher than standard now but it still uses the original mounting bolts. I wanted to add some strength to windscreen to stop it moving around. It's not that it was moving around - it just didn't seem right to me to have a much larger screen mounted this way. I added a couple of stainless steel tubes to connect the windscreen to the fairing lowers.
Secondly, the Givi Wingrack is a funny sort of design! The boxes are pretty good, and the way they mount to the Wingrack is efficient and secure. However, the way the Wingrack mounts to the CBR1000F is flawed. Without getting into too much detail, the entire weight of the system is carried at one point on each side of the mounting adapters. This allows the boxes to vibrate and move a lot which gave rise to fatigue fractures on both sides of the mounting adapters. (The adapter kit was bought brand new, the first crack occurred in less than 10,000 miles and the second a couple of thousand miles later).
I welded up the cracks and braced the mounting adapter with more metal which served to stiffen the structure a lot, but didn't eliminate all the movement. Today's exercise was to tie the rack to the passenger grab-rail with 8mm bar and rose joints. The end result is a much more solid structure which has a noticeable effect on the handling of the bike. It's doesn't wallow any more and it feels much sportier!
There is still an issue with the top box though and I'm not sure it can be resolved. With the top-box fitted, letting go of the handlebars will result in a tank-slapper in short order! I had hoped that fitting the tie-rods to the rack would put a stop to this but it didn't.
The box is just too heavy (about 5.5 kg empty!), too high and located too far behind the rear axle - It's just a shit idea!
Without the top-box there isn't an issue - the bike can be driven no-handed. I'm seriously considering removing the top box as the bike just feels much better without it.
However, the top-box is undeniably handy (it can carry two full-face helmets for example) and The Soviet likes the sense of security provided by the backrest. I need to think on this a bit further but I might remove the box and fit a backrest to the Corbin seat instead.
We'll see...
#CBR1000F #GiviWingrack #SportsTourer #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage
The Soviet and I are planning on doing a lot of traveling on the continent this year and I'll be driving it to Germany in a month or so with a view to storing it there, and flying back and forth as opportunity arises. I want to get the bike perfect so I don't have to work on it while it's abroad.
Since I got the bike about two and a half years ago it's been my workhorse and I've been gradually modifying it for greater comfort. It now sports lower foot-pegs, a Corbin seat, much higher bars and a much higher windscreen. The riding position is now perfectly comfortable and I don't feel the need to modify it any further. It feels something similar to a Pan European but maybe just a little more sporty. (Even with the boxes and the heavy Corbin seat, it's still much lighter than a Pan and the weight is carried a lot lower).
Today it was in having a couple of niggling things addressed. Firstly, the windscreen is substantially higher than standard now but it still uses the original mounting bolts. I wanted to add some strength to windscreen to stop it moving around. It's not that it was moving around - it just didn't seem right to me to have a much larger screen mounted this way. I added a couple of stainless steel tubes to connect the windscreen to the fairing lowers.
Secondly, the Givi Wingrack is a funny sort of design! The boxes are pretty good, and the way they mount to the Wingrack is efficient and secure. However, the way the Wingrack mounts to the CBR1000F is flawed. Without getting into too much detail, the entire weight of the system is carried at one point on each side of the mounting adapters. This allows the boxes to vibrate and move a lot which gave rise to fatigue fractures on both sides of the mounting adapters. (The adapter kit was bought brand new, the first crack occurred in less than 10,000 miles and the second a couple of thousand miles later).
I welded up the cracks and braced the mounting adapter with more metal which served to stiffen the structure a lot, but didn't eliminate all the movement. Today's exercise was to tie the rack to the passenger grab-rail with 8mm bar and rose joints. The end result is a much more solid structure which has a noticeable effect on the handling of the bike. It's doesn't wallow any more and it feels much sportier!
There is still an issue with the top box though and I'm not sure it can be resolved. With the top-box fitted, letting go of the handlebars will result in a tank-slapper in short order! I had hoped that fitting the tie-rods to the rack would put a stop to this but it didn't.
The box is just too heavy (about 5.5 kg empty!), too high and located too far behind the rear axle - It's just a shit idea!
Without the top-box there isn't an issue - the bike can be driven no-handed. I'm seriously considering removing the top box as the bike just feels much better without it.
However, the top-box is undeniably handy (it can carry two full-face helmets for example) and The Soviet likes the sense of security provided by the backrest. I need to think on this a bit further but I might remove the box and fit a backrest to the Corbin seat instead.
We'll see...
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Note the stainless stiffeners between the screen and the fairing lowers.
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I also fitted a left-hand mirror - I don't generally use two mirrors and I might remove the right-hand one once I'm abroad.
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The office - A pretty comfortable place to be!
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Note the tie-rods between the passenger grab-rail and the bottom of the rack.
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#CBR1000F #GiviWingrack #SportsTourer #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage
Hi I was wondering what mods did you do for the rear suspension .
ReplyDeleteI do alot of 2 up riding with my wife .but I still find the ride soft ,and bouncy .
I have copied what you have done .and now I have a very comfortable and reliable bike .
But. Good low budget shocks .are hard come by
Thanks for your comment. In the end, I just replaced the shock with a second-hand one off a lower mileage CBR1000F.
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