GSA Pannier Damage - Remedy?

[Narcoda]

Hello,
I have recently had a spill on my GSA (dont ride back roads in Scotland in Winter!) Luckily the bike didnt come off too badly thanks to engine guards, bars and having the panniers on!

As a consequence my R/H side pannier clasp (standard gsa panniers) has loosened, as it took the weight. The clasps are rivetted on and i'd like to know if anybody knows of a way of tightening the rivetted clasp so it doesnt wobble when i attach it to the frame?

Anybody had experience with anything similar? or have a method of tightening fixtures that are rivetted on?

I look forward to any replies

 

[VAL. H.]

Hello,
I have recently had a spill on my GSA (dont ride back roads in Scotland in Winter!) Luckily the bike didnt come off too badly thanks to engine guards, bars and having the panniers on!

As a consequence my R/H side pannier clasp (standard gsa panniers) has loosened, as it took the weight. The clasps are rivetted on and i'd like to know if anybody knows of a way of tightening the rivetted clasp so it doesnt wobble when i attach it to the frame?

Anybody had experience with anything similar? or have a method of tightening fixtures that are rivetted on?

I look forward to any replies

That sounds a bit of a pain in the arrs. you seem to have got out of it ok though.

In many cases it's possible to re-compress a pulled rivet. Basically the off has stressed the metal of the pannier and the clasp causing it to bend stretching the rivet or 'more likely' folded the edges of the rivet head back causing it to become loose.

So it should therefore be quite easy to re-compress the rivet simply by hitting it with a appropriately sized tool or two.

However it's normally much better to drill out the old rivets straighten out the metal work and then re-rivet everything back together using suitable rivets. If you prefer you can substitute the rivets for small nuts, bolts and washers.


Val.

Another oft used remedy is to wedge something in the gap between the two bits of bent metal.

 

[swissrob]

if you can give me the diameter of the rivet hole and the material total thickness i can send you some replacement blind rivets http://www.cherryaerospace.com/html/product/blindrivets.html

or some solid dome head aluminium rivets - whichever you prefer.