WARNING - Givi topbox rack structural failure

[speedySV]

Friday evening while riding home from work the Givi topbox rack on my 03 SV650 FAILED on both sides immediately behind the weld for the grab rail hanger bracket. I was very, very lucky as a couple in a Merc flashed me at some traffic lights & I pulled over (its very disconcerting to look over your shoulder and think “I could have swore I had my topbox”). The topbox was literally hanging on by the last 2mm of metal. Fortunately I was able to stretch my bungee net over the box on the pillion seat and ride home.

The rack is only two years old and as you can see from the rust in the photos I’ve posted here (http://community.webshots.com/album/549133221gtRtED) it has been failing on both sides for a while. It seems there is a small drill hole at the back of the bracket where the weld starts. This would seem to have been the catalyst for the failure which imho has probably spead due to general vibration rather than overloading (generally it only gets used twice a week to transport 5 shirts and my trousers to and from work).

I will be contacting Givi tomorrow. It may or may not be something they are aware of. Hopefully given their reputation for high quality products they’ll take it seriously.

Please check your rack particularly around any welds. The next time this happens you might not be as lucky as me.

Looks like its the rucksack and creased shirts for me for a while... :(

[21QUEST]

Glad you were lucky with that.

A timely reminder for me as well. I say that because on Friday I did notice mine(on a K1) appears to have a stress fracture around the same area. I've not been feeling too well so completely forgot about it.

I will have a look tomorrow and quite possibly will be taking it off. Mine is actually a bit older than yours. Feel free to mention the fact that someone else has noticed the same on a one for a curvy.

Not sure if I can be a*sed with complaining but pm if you need my details.

Cheers
Ben

[embee]

That looks like it's designed to fail IMO.

A long cantilever from a welded bracket (with all the embrittlement/heat affected zone that brings), and if you're right that there's a hole there too, corrosion, fatigue............... :roll:

[BillyC]

Another great reason not to have a top box! Jonboy will be pleased! :wink:

Sorry to hear about your situation... glad it didn't end in tears. Consider it a small hint from your SV - "get this thing of backside".

[Peter Henry]

Timely post! I was recently eyeing up the option to pop a Givi box on my bike! :^o

[skumlerud]

I will be contacting Givi tomorrow. It may or may not be something they are aware of. Hopefully given their reputation for high quality products they’ll take it seriously.

Have you talked to Givi yet?

Please check your rack particularly around any welds. The next time this happens you might not be as lucky as me.

I have a curvy and a Kawa ER-5, both with Givi Monoracks. I've never trusted them to carry any weight, basically you put a 45 litre box at the end of a 30cm cantilever that pivots around an M6 bolt. The bolt goes through an insert/bushing that's welded in a 15mm hole in the rack, IMHO not a very good design as this area of the rack carries the entire weight.

My wife rides the ER-5, and when I ride behind her I can see that top box sway around a lot. I didn't like what I saw at all, so I modified the rack on my SV with two additional mounting brackets. It's now a lot more rigid, and I trust it with enough weight for it to be useful when touring.

http://home.broadpark.no/~jeskars/svpics/IMG_0671.JPG
http://home.broadpark.no/~jeskars/svpics/IMG_0672.JPG
http://home.broadpark.no/~jeskars/svpics/IMG_0674.JPG

(Yes I know that's a Kappa box in the pictures, it's my "commuting box". The actual rack is a Givi Monorack.)

I'm planning on doing the same to the rack on my ER-5, until then I'm using soft panniers.

[Blindly]

FWIW

A friend at work had a GIVI rack on his Kwak, and at about 2 years old it too suffered the same failure as above. What surprised me was that the dealer told him the rack was only designed to carry 3kgs and the top box weighed just over 2kgs.

I think I'll give top boxes a miss and stick my annoying rucksack.

[Patch]

A long history of Givi mono rack failures on the VFR site the earliest as long as 4 years ago

http://www.bikersoracle.com/vfr/forum/search.php?searchid=1102290

Be very wary of the mono rack it is not up to the job IMHO

[speedySV]

Update on the rack;

Givi collected the it (at their expense) and replaced it under warranty but were unable to shed any light on why it failed. I think it may find it's way onto eBay as the cheap tailpack I bought in its absence does for what I need. So my SV is back as God intended :)

[Cloggsy]

:laughat:

Timely post! I was recently eyeing up the option to pop a Givi box on my bike! :^o

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[21QUEST]

Guess what? The curse of jonboy strikes again :roll: :wink:

I have been keeping an eye on the rack hoping to take it off at the weekend. Idea was to bolt the box onto a spare seat. Well the rack failed on Wenesday. Bumming along and suddenly bike starts weaving. My first though was 'puncture'. Got of the bike had , gave the tyre a good kick and had a good look but found nothing wrong.

I got back on bike and still very unstable and so stopped again and this time had a look at the rack. No cracks where you would expect. :? Hmmm... grabbed the arms and moved them side to side and bingo :!: problem found. Rack appears to have failed at the section where it mounts into the rear subframe(left side).

Not had time to take body work of so don't know exactly how/why it failed.

Cheers
Ben

[northwind]

There's a guy who works here with a Givi rack on his ZZR, and it's got on a huge sticker on it saying "Do not exceed 3 kg". So, the top boxes are apparently designed for carrying around feathers. Ridiculous... IIRC the Renntec rack for the SV is rated for 7 kilos.

[DanAbnormal]

Just spoke to a chap here who has a Givi topbox and rack for his VFR800, he said that there is something on the Givi website about a product recall. He clicked a link, entered his details and a few days later recieved a set of two re-inforcing brackets free of charge to make the whole setup a lot sturdier. He says it's now rock solid.

[Filipe M.]

Timely post! I was recently eyeing up the option to pop a Givi box on my bike! :^o

See? I told you you'd be better off with those lime green panniers! :?