OEM Rear Carrier Re-enforcement

[Alabama Al]

Upon receiving the Honda OEM Rear Carrier, I discovered it is made out of some form of plastic and has a Maxium load rateing of 22lb. I decited to re-enforce it so if and when I put too much weight in the rear trunk I won't have problems. I had some small pieces of door skin plywood called Lauan. It is about 1/8" thick. I cut it into 2"X11" strips and proceded to make a template for each side. I removed the mounting screws from one side, covered the painted panel with masking tape to prevent scratches. After I was happy with the support, I cut it with a bandsaw and reinstalled it to make sure it was what I wanted. I transfered it to a piece of 1/8"X2" alunimum and cut it out with a bandsaw. I held in place and took a drill bit and marked were the rear hole goes, removed it and drilled the hole. Then I reinstalled it and marked the front hole and driled it. You can use the origonal screws and nuts, just remove the washers. I don't have any idea how much more the carrier will hold, but It should be a lot stronger.

 

[TechiePilot]

Pics please...

 

[OriginalRocket]

Post photos!

 

[MZ5]

Yeah, I'll need photos, too, I'm afraid. I'm really tired and can't make my brain focus on the description properly. You are aware that the hand grips/support bars that hold that platform on are made of the same material, yes? At least that's what they feel like to me.

 

[Beemerphile]

The load rating may have something to do with vehicle stability in addition to just what the rack will hold. This is the absolute worst place to put weight on a motorcycle. It will unload the front wheel and can introduce a steering wobble. It always affects handling more than the same weight placed forward and/or lower on the motorcycle.

There will always be the story of someone who has carried an engine block on the luggage rack with impunity, but weight high and aft should be kept to a minimum.

 

[dduelin]

+1. The weight limitation is for safety reasons not structural.

 

[Alabama Al]

Support Brackets

Here are the bracket photo This one is with the rear hole drilled. Do this first, then remount it with the bolt thru the hole, then install your 8mm drill bit thru the front hole to know were it goes and trace around the bracket to match the carrier.Remove it then drill and trim it, file the sharp edges off and mount it. There is no need to paint it as it is not visable unless you are looking down at it. Also the bracket that the saddle bags and rear carrier mount to is made from the same plastic, but is much stronger than the mount for the rear carrier. And yes, I know that heavy luggage should be carried as low as possable, but if the bike could not handle it, there would be no place to carry a passanger. I just wanted to strenthen the mount. It is no fun when something starts coming apart when you are 2.000 miles from home.

 

[Beemerphile]

Passengers don't sit on the luggage rack. The rack is an overhung load, whereas the pillion seat is not. I'm pretty certain that if you don't overload it, it won't need reinforcement, and if you do, that handling, stability, and safety will suffer.

 

[duk2n]

Can't agree more to what Beemer said

 

[frozenpoet]

A passenger will also move with the driver (or should anyway). 22 lbs is still a lot of weight, and just for my sanity I wouldn't go much over that if at all... But you don't have to take my word for it.

Safety concerns aside, good job at trying to find a fix for a problem.

 

[Alabama Al]

I agree that putting weight at the extream rear of the bike is not what you should do. I just wanted to reenforce the mount.

 

[mike5100]

I know - it is weird stuff that the rear carrier is made of - and I too at first thought it was some kind of composite, but now I think it's metal - some kind of weird alloy or manufacturing process - you don't think they are using 3D printing for these do ya? (they are expensive enough )
Mike

 

[Beemerphile]

I know - it is weird stuff that the rear carrier is made of - and I too at first thought it was some kind of composite, but now I think it's metal - some kind of weird alloy or manufacturing process - you don't think they are using 3D printing for these do ya? (they are expensive enough )
Mike

3d printing only makes sense for very limited quantities and the material choices are limited.

 

[Alabama Al]

It's some kind of plastic, I had to drill some holes in it to install my Givi universal mount