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Re: Top rack: M8 x 40 mm?? Where?!?!



At 04:45 PM 6/9/99 -0700, Jeff Munsey wrote:

>Here's an example of what I found to work, and even matches
>the instructions.
>
>	Consider the possible bolt positions:
>	<- back end    [A]      [B]      [C]         front of bike ->
>
>	As delivered:
>	<- grab handle [short]  [medium] [N/A]       front of bike ->
>
>	After installing the top rack and brackets:
>	<- top rack    [medium] [long]   [short]     front of bike ->
>
>Tightening the "short" bolts to the recommended "one thread showing"
>results in distorting the front piece.  I wasn't impressed.

Me either, for different reasons.  The short bolts aren't long enough 
in the front positions to get full bite on the nuts, but the 40 mm 
called for (which I went out and bought) is way too much.  The bolts 
hang down into the luggage space.  I torqued them up reasonably (maybe 
12-15 ftlbs) and will measure the extra and then buy replacements
that much shorter to eliminate the protrusion.  At 12-15 ftlbs, the
front bracket is just starting to distort, so take it easy.

Also, one of my rear bolts went soft and stripped on me at about 16
ftlbs.  This when a 20 ftlb torque is specified (27Nm).  There should 
be at least a 50% overhead on thread strength vs. torque spec, so I am
not at all impressed with the supplied bolts, which have no strength
markings on them whatsoever.  The bolt stripped into the captive nut 
on the existing frame crossbar, and it cannot now be removed by any
standard means.  The threads on the rest of the bolt protruding keep 
me from extracting it easily.  I added the nut under the rear bracket, 
and, when torqued to the specified 'one thread protruding', the rear 
bracket is torqued to spec (20 ftlbs) tight up against the captive nut, 
so no loss.  I will have to drill the head off if I ever want to remove 
the top rack, however.

I recommend to those doing the top rack to replace the Triumph-supplied 
bolts with the same size bolts (metric hex-head cap screws) from your 
friendly local Sears hardware store, which stocks all the sizes needed 
in high-quality (as noted on the heads: 9s and all) versions for cheap.

>The whole thing strikes me as a lot of flimsy brackets to install
>(and work around to remove the tail section) for a rack that clearly
>states its maximum load is 11 pounds!  After seeing the whole thing
>together, I would vote for simply bolting the rack in place of the
>grab handle and forget the other brackets and hardware that requires
>a stubby flex head ratchet to install (and remove).  It may just be
>a matter of what could they do to scare away the liability lawyers.

It may be important to get some extra stiffness back there to keep 
those frame rails from twisting.  It's not the weight, it's the moment
arm.  Anyway, it's on now.

>Once the rack is in place, it looks like it sticks up about two inches
>higher than it really needs to.  Let's see... if we put the luggage
>as high into the air as we can, what will that do to the handling?
>The thing already does nice wheelies as is.  (insert really big grin)
>It might just be time to cast/machine a shorter pair of side pieces 
>for the rack.

Yeah, with the top box on, the bike looks kinda like one of those old 
Spanish galleons with the high rear cabin hanging off the stern, or a 
sailboat trying to go backwards, flying a spinnaker off the stern.
There ain't no throwing a leg over it, that's for sure.  I have the
mount down pat, now, but a graceful dismount is still tough.

On the other hand, when driving the bike, I don't even notice the box
is there.  It doesn't block the mirrors.  And it is nice to take the 
bike on errands where I need some trunk space going there or back, 
instead of caging it.  Locking the lid in it is nifty, too, so I don't 
have to drag it around with me.

And it does come off really quick when you don't need it, and does not
require a lowered can, which I do not like the looks of.

Rich Weyand      |  _______   ___,---. ---+_______:_   |Rich Weyand
Weyand Associates| |_N_&_W_| |_N_&_W_| |__|________|_  |TracTronics
Comm Consultants |  ooo ooo ~ ooo ooo ~ oOOOO- OOOO=o\ |Model RR Electronics
weyand@xxxxxxx   |     http://www.mcs.net/~weyand/     |weyand@xxxxxxx

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