Fitting Givi Rack to R1200GS

The photos of the plates in the intructions sheet do not match the shape fo the supplied flat plates. They are easily installed on the opposite side and you will have that problem where they don't line up. A friend of mine had the same problem as you have photographed, so I showed him my installation. He swtiched the plates, left to right and right to left and the holes lined up..

Hi

I realise this is an old thread but I thought I would add that I have had exactly the same problem today with the Givi rack.

First off it is very easy to get the plates on the wrong side but that becomes immediately obvious. As someone has already mentioned the pictures in the instructions are not exactly the same as the hardware in the kit.

Once you get the plates on the correct side, the holes for the right hand support bracket does not line up! I solved this with about 5mm of spacers between the support and the bike plus a longer (40mm) mounting bolt. Not perfect but it worked.

IMHO I think the problem being reported regarding the bolts shearing is down to too much tension being put on the rack structure in order to get everything aligned.

All very poor by Givi in my view.

Good lord - there has been a great deal written about this. One or both bolts snap off after not too long and they are very difficult to drill out. Givi have been known to supply better quality screws but a year ago the problem was quite common. Unfortunately my dealer charged me rather a lot of money to repair the job (that he did in the first place.) It is a much more practical box than the BMW one - BUT take care! I would suggest that you get the dealer to supply and fit and guarantee!

I fitted my givi rack over a year ago now.

The first rack didn't align so I assembled with all bolts loose and tightened job done or so I thought! A few weeks later the bolts going into the bike frame snapped! I phoned Givi who sent me replacement bolts and again a few weeks later they snapped!

I phoned Givi and agreed to return the rack for replacement thinking that it was faulty. When I received the new Rack again the bolys were misaligned so this time I phoned Givi to tell them that the new rack was wrong. After long discussions I just decided to drill a new hole in the Givi plate where the arm bolt wanted to go!

This seemed to fix the problem the rack has been fine since!

Ian

Posted prior, I fitted longer "spacers" that improved alignment.....

Fitting Issues

Hi Guys there's an old thread on here titled something like "Warning - Givi rack mount" in the 1200 section...

That has a few opinions/poblems...

Mine was like pic.. when fitting... but I found that the FRAME ENDS (the bits that protude - where the two screws are first removed)... on the 1200 were not of an equal distance from the welds..

My conclusion was that there was too much tollerance from BMW when manufacturing... and when "Givi" had used a "template bike".. it fitted some but not others... If it did fit ok.. then you was lucky!!!

Motorad Concepts had similar issues... when they produced Huggers for the 1200...

Stig

Edit... Here.. http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68998

ianm00 said:

... After long discussions I just decided to drill a new hole in the Givi plate where the arm bolt wanted to go!

This seemed to fix the problem the rack has been fine since!

Ian

Click to expand...

Thinking about it this is probably the best long term solution.

When I get a few minutes to spare I will modify my rack along these lines.

Bob, I used stainless washers as packers on the bottom of the uprights where they bolt to the light area.

To get the top holes to line up I had to pack out about 1 & a half mm on the left & 2 & a half mm on the right..
I held the washers in place with grease while lining them up.

ALL holes now line up & I put a bit of Loctite on all 15 fasteners.

P155 poor effort from Givi imho.

The Givi rack certainly does not line up too well but can be made to flex enough to fit. However if you don't tighten the bolts into the frame ends before the ones in the top rack then it's impossible to get the support arms to fit into the end of the bike rear sub-frame and that's what seems to make the bolts shear. Use stronger, bright metal bolts for the support arm/rear sub-frame, make sure the support arms fit into the recess in the sub-frame and I reckon you are far less likely to have the bolts shear. Givi now supply stainless bolts rather than the very soft ones that they supplied with my rack when new. However bright metal are stronger than stainless so I used those. It's been refitted for 18 months without a problem so I'm hopeful it won't fail again.
It's very easy to fit the rack with the support arms not fitting tightly against the sub frame, if you do this the bolts take the full force of the topbox and will fail. Properly tightened (not easy with a poor fitting rack) the rear support arms will fit into the rear subframe recess and this will then take the force rather than the bolts. Well that's my theory!

Made my own using BMW rear supports. See earlier threads.

Anyone require further info, just ask.