Concern about weight of Givi Outback Trekker top box

[Grape_salad]

For those who have a Givi Outback Trekker top box - are you concerned about the weight hanging over the back?

I recently got one of these and mounted it on my AltRider rack. When i ride around it does rattle about a bit. The entire case also hangs behind the mounting points, which means the weight is multiplied on the mounting points. Given that the case itself is about 7kg empty, it just worries me that there's too much weight and I risk damaging the mounting points. Typically when I'm riding i use the top case to carry a backpack and maybe 3 litres of water, so maybe 5-7 kg of cargo at most.

Particularly when riding offroad, I'm worried that it bouncing around will overload those mounting points.

As much as I really like having it, I'm just concerned about it damaging the rear mounting points, to the point where i take it off if I'm going to be doing any offroad riding. I'm considering going back to a plastic topbox.

Thoughts?

 

[Little Joe]

If its rattling then you need to make some rubber spacers to take out all play when its latched down.


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[Strummer]

I have had it on for 40000 km ( 25000 miles ) always full loaded because I hardly use the other two lateral luggage.
I tend to pack it with soft stuff (eg spare pair of gloves) at the extremities in order to prevent the rattle...
I definitely load it slightly over the 7 kg indicated and so far never had any issues BUT I only do offroad only when I get lost so not sure how that would affect it....

 

[fac191]

I would jack the plate up and move it back towards to passenger seat. The angle of the box will give you some extra room. That altrider plate will probably split in half anyway. Best thing is to make a custom plate for it.

 

[fac191]

Also you could use throwover bags as you have racks there.

 

[bimota]

i would not worry about it till you said it was mounted to a ALTRIDER rack because most of them crack so as said i,d get a better rack for it

rob

 

[bimota]

my givi trekker is mounted to a givi SRA2101 and its over loaded to be honest but not had any issues in 7 yrs

rob

 

[simmons1]

Looks like you have the rack mounted in the low position. It will break eventually almost guaranteed. I have broken two of them over the years. The first one mounted in the high position Altrider warrantied and sent me a new one for free. The second one I had mounted in the low position like yours and it broke on the way to the 2015 Super Tenere Rally in Arkansas.

The replacement for that has been mounted in the high position and along with being a little more careful with loading has been fine since then.

 

[Grape_salad]

Looks like you have the rack mounted in the low position. It will break eventually almost guaranteed. I have broken two of them over the years. The first one mounted in the high position Altrider warrantied and sent me a new one for free. The second one I had mounted in the low position like yours and it broke on the way to the 2015 Super Tenere Rally in Arkansas.

The replacement for that has been mounted in the high position and along with being a little more careful with loading has been fine since then.

do you have a picture of the high mount position? The rack was on the that came with the bike when i bought it, so i didn't realise there was another configuration.

 

[simmons1]

do you have a picture of the high mount position? The rack was on the that came with the bike when i bought it, so i didn't realise there was another configuration.

The standard or high position has an extra bracket under the flat plate. If you look at the picture carefully, you will see that when using the bracket the rear mounting screws for the flat plate are several inches more towards the rear helping minimize how much the rack is cantilevered.

Altrider no longer sells the rack, but there are all kinds of Chinese clones on Ebay.

 

[WJBertrand]

Replace the rack with a Givi SRA2101. The Altrider racks are known to crack frequently due to poor design/materials. I’ve almost 100,000 miles on my Givi Outback Trekker and SRA2101 rack. Admittedly, I tend to remove it for off road riding along with the side bags but it has seen some pretty rutted and rocky fire roads. As mentioned above I tend to pack it with lighter stuff (jackets, gloves, cover, etc.) mostly so as not to upset the handling dynamics of the bike.

 

[Grape_salad]

I finally got around to fixing this - I used some 20x20x1.5mm aluminium angle to create braces from the back of the rack to the pannier frames. For where it attaches i just cut away the angle to make a tab, and bent that to fit. The rack is now rock solid, where before there was significant flex and bounce in it.

The other idea i had was to essentially re-enforce the rack by brazing some 20x10mm box section aluminium to the underside of the rack, to give it extra rigidity, but that would have required removing the rack and the rubber mounts - I don't think the rubber mounts would have survived another removal/re-insertion, and being givi parts they are not cheap ($AU33 for a set of 4)

If I'm going for a trip I'm still going to remove the top box and just use a bag on the rack just so I'm not carrying the extra weight of the top box, but at least now I won't be worried about breaking the rack if I do have the top box on when I'm on some trails.

 

[Grape_salad]

Slight further mod - the right hand side support blocked access to the givi toolbox mounted inside the pannier frame, so I changed that side to run off the pannier mount. The angle is much tighter, but it still seems to make the rack sufficiently rigid.





It is a bit cleaner looking, and doesn't obstruct the indicator. I might end up switching the other side to the same, but for now I'll leave it asymmetrical.

 

[Andylaser]

If its rattling then you need to make some rubber spacers to take out all play when its latched down.

This is what I did with mine. The rubber will last a couple of years or so before it becomes too compressed and the rattles return. Just pull it off and replace. Cheap and easy fix.

 

[cycledelic relic]

My 1st Ten...a 2013 already had an Altrider rear luggage rack installed when I bought it in 2016 with only 1300 miles. It also came with a Givi 56Ltr plastic top case which I didnt use much at all. Mostly used a Givi 35 Ltr case lightly loaded & never had any problems.
However, after reading of many folks who were having Altrider rack issues... & wanting to incorporate xtra storage under the plate...I came up with a simple steel mount which could be used with several different top plates.
There is an older thread detailing my mount with pics.

Rear Rack Tuck Under Storage...A different solution

I have a different storage solution for the Super Ten. If you're interested.... Lookin at all the wasted space under my luggage rack plate...I came up with this idea.... A relatively simple solution using a Pelican 1150 case...a Givi M3 series plate ..& the custom bracket I designed The bracket...

yamahasupertenere.com

 

[whisperquiet]

Just some FYI on luggage weight.

I bought a used 2022 BMW R1250GS that came with the Vario side cases and a GivI Trekker 42 L top box. All three boxes are heavy….very heavy empty. Per Givi’s info, the Trekker weighs 13.29 lbs empty. Mine has the passenger back pad which must add another pound or so. The Vario side cases weigh about 13 lbs empty.

So, right off the bat the empty luggage weighs about 40 lbs! I have a set old Givi E36 cases that only weigh 6.5 lbs each and use them as top cases on my Super Tenere and my BMW for around town/local riding. The heavy cases for both bikes only go on for a trip….I have a set of 45 liter V2 Micatechs for the S10 mounted on SW Motech detachable racks.

I also have a V46 Givi top case…..it weighs 9.7 lbs empty.

 

[Longdog Cymru]

Get a Givi rack. I did thousands of miles with my Givi aluminium top box mounted on a Givi aluminium rack and most of those miles were done with an overloaded top box without any problems at all. Altrider racks have a reputation for cracking and breaking.

 

[Grape_salad]

This is what I did with mine. The rubber will last a couple of years or so before it becomes too compressed and the rattles return. Just pull it off and replace. Cheap and easy fix.

When it comes to this situation, it was definitely the rack and not the rubber bumpers. The Alt-Rider rack has a certain flex and springiness to it that was causing the case to bounce around. I suspect that it is to do with the materials and heat treat used by Alt-rider. Absolute guesses here, but perhaps alt-rider uses 7075 aluminium vs the Givi racks using 6061-T6? While the plate thickness is the same, the Givi rack has a different lustre and surface finish, and you can feel the flex and springiness by hand with the alt-rider rack.

I ended up re-doing the supports to run off the pannier frame mounts on both sides. Much cleaner and more compact that way, and the rack feels just as solid.





Unfortunately it seems that some cracks did develop in the plate from the case before I got this bracing installed. Now that the bracing is there I don't thing these will develop further, but I'll have to keep an eye on them, and if they do, well I guess I'll just need to upgrade to the Givi rack.

I've recently got some Aluminium brazing rods, so next stop will be to drill the end of the cracks out (to prevent further propagation) and then try and fill in the cracks with the brazing rod.

 

[Grape_salad]

Just some FYI on luggage weight.

I bought a used 2022 BMW R1250GS that came with the Vario side cases and a GivI Trekker 42 L top box. All three boxes are heavy….very heavy empty. Per Givi’s info, the Trekker weighs 13.29 lbs empty. Mine has the passenger back pad which must add another pound or so. The Vario side cases weigh about 13 lbs empty.

So, right off the bat the empty luggage weighs about 40 lbs! I have a set old Givi E36 cases that only weigh 6.5 lbs each and use them as top cases on my Super Tenere and my BMW for around town/local riding. The heavy cases for both bikes only go on for a trip….I have a set of 45 liter V2 Micatechs for the S10 mounted on SW Motech detachable racks.

I also have a V46 Givi top case…..it weighs 9.7 lbs empty.

The top box especially is very heavy on its own. I haven't weighed them, but the 42l top box is significantly heavier than 37l or 48l pannier boxes. Now for the panniers I don't mind that, because I've dropped the bike on them many times and lighter weight plastic panniers would have been destroyed many times over. But for the top box, now that I've lived with it for a while, I think is completely overkill. I'd actually prefer a light weight plastic top box. I haven't been able to find a cheap one though that uses the same lock barrels (and hence allows me to use a single key for all my luggage).

For me, the top box is for convenience around town, to store my helmet in when I park the bike. For trips away, I have been taking the top box off and either using a small tail bag, or if i have more stuff, a dry bag strapped to the rack. Removing the top box removes makes the bike a lot less top-heavy.