Re: [ST] Ventura Bike Rack

[Michael Young <myoung@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I had Venturas fitted on my Bandit. The rack is pretty rigid, but I'll stop
short of recommending you ignore their warnings. The rack frame is thick
walled steel tubing; the ends are necked down to fit inside the mounts at
the rear of the brackets. The fit is very precise; there is very little give
in the tubing to allow flexing into place. About an inch
of the ends of the rack tubing bears inside the bracket, and are held in
place by setscrews. The manner of attachment isn't the major weakness,
though. The height of the rack makes a long lever arm. A fraction of her
body weight on the top bar would cause a strong bending moment and possibly
local buckling at the mount point. Not saying it won't take it; I would want
diagonal braces in the fore-aft direction maybe six inches up from the ends
to feel safe. If you still want to go that route, consider adding a pad down
low, structurally rigid, and thick enough to make sure her weight won't be
on the top bar when she leans back.

The Triumph top case is pricey, but it's designed to act as a pillion
backrest. Storage capacity is numerically less but subjectively about the
same as a single Aeropack. It holds two full face helmets, rain gear for
two, an electric vest, and a small toolbag, with cramming room left for
small odds and ends.

- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Bryce" <bster13@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <ST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2003 3:36 PM
Subject: [ST] Ventura Bike Rack


> Price- $259 for L-brackets, sport rack, pack rack, 45
> liter bag.
>
> Can anyone beat this price?
>
> Also, to those that have the system installed:
>
> How sturdy is it?  they say not to use it as a
> backrest for a passenger, but I'd like to give it a
> shot.  My 5-4 110lbs GF wants a backrest and I don't
> want to buy another corbin seat for the new bike.
> Wondering if this is sturdy enough for a backrest if
> say I added some padding between the tubular rack and
> her back.
>
> Comments?  Questions?  Picks of the system installed
> on your bikes?  Used ones for sale?


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