SW-Motech racks on K8: INSTALLED!

[Warchild]

Gentlemen -

It's been a little while..... just got back from a 3600-mile romp to Tulsa, OK for the Iron Butt Association's National Meet. I was the keynote speaker for this 3-day convention. It was pretty cool.

When I got back, this big old package had arrived from TwistedThrottle.com... my SW-Motech racks for the K8!

Installation was a snap, took about ten minutes. I will have to say that this was one of the most well-packaged kits I have ever seen. Each piece was carefully bubble-wrapped... twice!

I realize hard bags on the Busa is not for everyone, but if you want to do serious touring and serious mileage, you gots to have a place to stash your $hit. These tiny 21-liter Givi hard bags I am using here on the SW-Motech racks are the smallest they make... much less obtrusive than the big-ass 36-liter (and larger!) Givi bags.


Side view - Givi E21 bags appear larger then they really are here:

Better perspective to show the relatively small size of these hard bags:

View from the left......

Rear view... the mounting bracket below the license plate is supposed to hold small turning signals (provided in the kit) to account for the fact the Givi bags obstruct the stock turn signals from the sides. I have not installed these, and I just may not bother. If you are behind the bike (like a cage would be at an intersection, for example), you can oviously still see the stock turn signals... but not so much if you are at an angle to the rear of the bike:

Like I say, hard bags aren't for everyone, but these babies are sure gonna work for me!

I'll be putting up my Ventura Rack/42L soft bag for the K8 up for sale soon....

 

[twotonevert]

Sorry I missed you War. There are few of us here in Tulsa.

 

[mike1180]

I have these mounts on my 06.
I agree, excellent quality and easy to install.
Real strong too.
I also got the rear rack.
I went for the larger bags, and they work fine.

 

[Warchild]

Sorry I missed you War. There are few of us here in Tulsa.

Yeah, it was an almighty hectic weekend... and I was still working on my Powerpoint slides as late as midnight the evening prior to presenting!

Had to do that since right after formal introductions, I was the first speaker up.... did a talk on a special little ride I did last year. Linky-link ==> BBG Hell Week

I pretty much worked as Staff for this event from the time I got there, to departing right after the final banquet Sat evening. Probably wouldn't have had time to party, anyway...

 

[Munchie]

Sweeeet War! Hey dude...would you mind telling what you paid for these??? I've been staring hard at them for a while and was wondering if they do package pricing...know a contact, etc. PM is fine if you prefer...

 

[ks-waterbug]

Sweet... Thats exactly what I was hoping for in style/looks! Can't wait for mine to get here as well. How about the feel with gear, any different then say the Ventura set-up? Which lid did you go with Black gloss or mat finish? Must say I likey makes the bike look complete for the road.

 

[AndySV1K]

Great pics.

Im planning on hard luggage, looks like the sw-motech rack is the way to go.

Having never used hard luggage before this may be stupid question but:-

does the rack take any hard bag? can i opt for any givi bag, or other makes too?

how do they attach to the rack?

Andy.

 

[ks-waterbug]

Great pics.

Im planning on hard luggage, looks like the sw-motech rack is the way to go.

Having never used hard luggage before this may be stupid question but:-

does the rack take any hard bag? can i opt for any givi bag, or other makes too?

how do they attach to the rack?

Andy.

Yes and No... With the right adapter you can use almost any bag, but are primarily limited by the shape/size of bag! Check out http://www.twistedthrottle.com

 

[Greenbean]

OK, hard bags look good,

Now tell me about those extra lights you got on there. What are they for, are they helpfull??????

 

[Warchild]

How about the feel with gear, any different then say the Ventura set-up? Which lid did you go with Black gloss or mat finish?

So far, I can tell that crosswinds do not seem to affect the bike quite like they did when the Ventura bag was full. I am going to take a little 1500-mile jaunt this weekend to party with some buds, and this will be the first real trip with these hard bags. I'll post up the observations when I return Sunday.

does the rack take any hard bag? can i opt for any givi bag, or other makes too?

how do they attach to the rack?

These racks will carry Givi (Monokey bags only, not the new PLX series), Hepco & Becker, Krauser, and a couple others. They use hardbag-specific adapter kits to attach the bag to the racks. SW-Motech does have the side racks specific to the new PLX bags, but that rack allows you to use PLX bags only, not others.

Now tell me about those extra lights you got on there. What are they for, are they helpfull??????

The are to help keep me alive in heavy deer county at night! lease:

Those are Hella Micro DE HID Driving Lamps. Each small lamp puts out more lumens then the stock low and high-beam combined!

 

[AntiTrust]

Those DE lights are sweet....wow.

How much were THOSE bad boys?

I really like the rack and bags, I am going on some looooong trips next summer, I may have to duplicate that.

 

[Warchild]

Those DE lights are sweet....wow.

How much were THOSE bad boys?

They are horribly, brutally expensive. If I had to pay retail for them, I would not have been able to get 'em. They are like $730/pair, retail.

I scored this set off Amazon.com, where some re-seller was going out of business, and so I scored them for $430. Which is still an off-the-hook price, but if these lamps help me avoid just one deer-strike over the lifetime of the bike, they will have paid for themselves.

If you scour Amazon.com hard enough, you can find them for several hundred dollars off. Below is an example link.... a brand new set for $501.34! Score!

Hella Xenon-Driving-Lights - amazon.com

 

[Munchie]

Sweeeet War! Hey dude...would you mind telling what you paid for these??? I've been staring hard at them for a while and was wondering if they do package pricing...know a contact, etc. PM is fine if you prefer...

War!!! You got everyone back but me... Sooo...War, KS, does twisted throttle do packages or are prices as listed - no better deals? How much $ would I be looking at to duplicate your setup???

 

[kwm works]

Like the bags and the laser beams !! They are a little pricey for me at the time though.

 

[Warchild]

War!!! You got everyone back but me...

Sorry, mang!

How much $ would I be looking at to duplicate your setup???

Sadly, I got no "deals" outta TwistedThrottle this time. Paid list for the privilege of getting them in time for a couple more runs this summer. $239, something like that. On the plus side, their customer service and attention-to-detail was top-notch, as usual. They took my order many weeks ago, they got it *exactly* correct, and didn't charge my CC until the day they shipped. :agree:

Re: the Givi E21 hard cases, these I have left over from my Blackbird. These are the matte black bags. The E21's are a pinch on the small side, but in a way, it's good because it forces me to pack as efficiently as possible. And the final weight is less, so it's less force acting on the rack system (compared, say, to a fully loaded Givi E36 bag).

A few minutes of googling for best price on Givi bags will probably yield a pretty good price. Good luck!

 

[ks-waterbug]

War!!! You got everyone back but me... Sooo...War, KS, does twisted throttle do packages or are prices as listed - no better deals? How much $ would I be looking at to duplicate your setup???

10% off is the best deal I've seen... I also paid list because I didn't fit any of the discount scenario's Have to agree with War on the customer service! Over the top with details... War, your also the reason I took the plunge on this set-up. My good friend Honda-Jon has been running those bags on his Blackbird as well and between the two of you it just made since. Especially after seeing them on your ride...

 

[rockadaous]

nice set-up. I know someone that would kill for those

 

[Munchie]

War, KS...thanks guys! The hunt is on...

 

[scotty - 12]

War:

Im not an Iron Butt guy like you but a buddy of mine is - on his ST1100 with 120K miles. Anyways we rode 700 miles in 2 days and my butt was about the only thing hurting. Have the Helis and Buell pegs. What seat do you use?

 

[Italian Trev]

Sorry Dude but that just looks sooo wrong :wtf:

I run hard panniers on my GS but never will on my Busa. I've done a 2 week 3000 mile trip on my K8 and just used a soft bag made by Kriega strapped on the pillion seat and it worked a treat;

http://www.kriega.com/pages_uk/us20/US20-topframeset.html

40L is more than enough for me