ST1100 Cracked Tail Frame

ST1100Y said:
.............I've seen bikes with the notorious Givi Maxia................
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Notorious? Maybe infamous or evil, but not notorious.

Mine is the 52L one and it likely contributed to my bracket cracking. I make a point transporting just clothes in it when travelling but I've never actually measured the weight of what I've put in there. The Givi mounting bracket design certainly allows it to bounce around a lot and I'm sure that doesn't help. I've replaced the 2 rearmost rubber cushions with much thicker ones to take virtually all of the bounce out of it.
 
John OoSTerhuis said:
Pretty sure that’s the actual spec, Martin, and I’m not surprised that you’d catch the apparent anomaly of 5.6 lbs for the big topcase that I poSTed. But here it is:
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Yeah, my guess is that someone had the idea over the bigger case having higher net weight... :shrug2:
I for one have identical labels in both case sizes...
But like I said, light stuff like thermo liners, variation on gloves, etc... don't do much harm, whilst hauling 3~4 editions of the Yellow Pages have significant impact on handling...
 
paulcb said:
Came back last weekend from an 8 day trip with my brother to UT and CO and found my top box was a little ‘wobbly’. Pulled the rear tupperware and found this...

View attachment 256464

I’ve read about this failure, but didn’t expect it. During our trip, we did ride quite a few miles on some pretty heavy washboard. I was usually able to ride fast enough to kind of float over it, but sometimes it was really, really rough. My top box had my clothes bag in it, weighing 15-20 lbs. Pretty sure it wasn’t fully broken when we left, but maybe it was already cracked?

Fortunately, I still have my ‘spare’ ST11 from my low side a few years ago, so just pulled the good tail frame off that one and got it installed. My son’s a welder, so going to get this one welded with a plate. Then I’ll still have a spare.

Note that I could see and feel the crack with just the seat removed, so check yours!
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Sending it up to me. I can welding it up for you. But, you gotta pay for shipping it back though.
 
I have been aware of the weight limits for the top and side cases since I bought my 1300 (they are similar to the 1100's limits). I also have to admit that I've considered these as merely a suggestion and have packed whatever tools and clothing into the cases that I thought I might need on rallies, camping trips, etc. For daily use, all of these cases weigh in at under spec. The problem occurs on trips.

It would probably be instructive for all of us to weigh the cases (or at least their contents) just before we head out fully loaded. These brackets will not break when unloaded; nobody wants trouble on a trip.
 
JuST a note: the Hondaline topcases require the matching, unique rack from the Honda engineers that has a certain amount of “play” built-in. The cases are allowed to move around, and in fact do so while underway. My (admittedly heavily) loaded 21 ltr case survived 500 miles on the Dempster Hwy to/from the Arctic Circle just fine, IMO due in part to the rack design.
I still check mine, of course, and all of you with ridged-mounted topcases should be especially vigilant. FWIW

John
 
I just got the MMoto (Ukraine) rear Givi rack (replaces the grab handles and covers the top of the saddlebags), Pricey but I'm hoping with the reinforcement it has it will help with the cracking issue. Only time will tell...
 
ST1300A said:
I just got the MMoto (Ukraine) rear Givi rack (replaces the grab handles and covers the top of the saddlebags), Pricey but I'm hoping with the reinforcement it has it will help with the cracking issue. Only time will tell...
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I have been using the Mmoto rack on my ST1100 (just the one that holds my Givi topcase - and not over the saddlebags). The Mmoto design of attaching to the forward grab handle mounts allows the moving of some of the stress that the heavy Givi topcase mounting plate and topcase itself puts on the 4 top bolts that attach to the tail subframe - making the cracking less likely.
 
STraymond said:
I have been using the Mmoto rack on my ST1100 (just the one that holds my Givi topcase - and not over the saddlebags). The Mmoto design of attaching to the forward grab handle mounts allows the moving of some of the stress that the heavy Givi topcase mounting plate and topcase itself puts on the 4 top bolts that attach to the tail subframe - making the cracking less likely.
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Ray, didn't we wire-up your broken sub-frame @ WISTOC one year so you could continue on out west?
 
John OoSTerhuis said:
... Hondaline topcases require the matching, unique rack from the Honda engineers that has a certain amount of “play” built-in...
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Same lateral movement on my GF's NT700 OEM carrier stay, so I think all OEM racks have this sophisticated mechanism embedded to minimize/dampen airflow/vortex transferring into the ride, increasing tendencies of speed wobble...
 
One time I was riding my 1100 and somebody I was riding with noticed the top box was bouncing around. When I took things apart, thankfully nothing was cracked, but one of the bolts had come off and another was loose. I remedied it by loctiting all the bolts and re-torquing to spec. It's probably a good idea to inspect these whenever you're in there.
 
So, Honda systems back up today and I ordered a new bracket. Is $85 in the US and $104 CAN locally, which works out to about $75 US. Fairly unusual to see an OEM part selling for less in Canada than in the US, but who am I to argue with Mother Honda. Honda backed up and part will be at my local dealership mid next week.
 
So bracket came in early, picked up and now installed and bike ready to move to cottage for the balance of the season. It's not Ohio or Kentucky, but lots of relatively good roads up there to enjoy given the constraints we have this year.

I've been thinking about the weight of my topbox and that I always just packed it with clothes, so I really don't think an overloaded Maxia caused the crack in the bracket. Could be wrong, but what did it I think was a mid October trailer trip to Maggie Valley, NC, about 1,500 km there and back, and the fact that I used the grab rails to tie down the rear end of the bike. Both sides were ratcheted down pretty tight and I think it more likely that this caused the bracket to crack on one side. Given the way the rack/topbox is mounted and the plastic that attaches to it I'm lucky both sides did not crack as the whole tail light assembly and the topbox would have ended up rolling down the road at a most unfortunate time.

Based on my first bike trailering experience the rear grab bar straps are not required, I'll just use a strap to hold the rear wheel in position so it does not move side to side.
 
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"Based on my first bike trailering experience the rear grab bar straps are not required, I'll just use a strap to hold the rear wheel in position so it does not move side to side."

Can you have too many straps?
 
@ReSTored , I can make you some tie down strap loops. I use them on my Triple tree to attach tie down straps as well as putting them on the rear frame rails under the seat, that way I bypass using the grab handles.
 
I would fab a few square 1/8 inch thick plates to cover the holes weld them on to cover the hole in each bracket. - a cheap & permanent fix, I bet.

BTW, I'm sorry I didn't buy a wire welder years before I did. They really come in handy.
 
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