The purpose of building this rack was to give the passenger more room when compared to off-the-shelf racks when mounting a Givi E55. I mounted an E55 tech case which is no different except for the asthetics. Its worth noting that the colors of the box almost exactly match the bike.
Standard Tools Required: Permanent marker, scissors, jig saw (w/ wood and metal blades), drill, drill bits, finish sander, scotch bright pad. You may need a dremel.
Non-standard Tools: Counter-bore bit (available on ebay).
I started off by tracing the plastic OEM rack onto a piece of cardboard and then added 2 inches to the length. The important part is to get the width correct so it fits between the rails and get the bolt holes correct. Everything else is up to your artistic discretion.
Once you get it into the shape you desire, trace the cardboard template onto a piece of wood. I used a 5/8” particleboard because it was thick enough to bolt it up and put the case on it…and it was sitting in my garage unused. I cut out the wood template with the jig saw and used a finish sander to do the final fitment adjustments. At this point, I didn’t have the counter-bore bits so I used a Dremel to recess the bolt holes. A counter-bore will give you a flat bottom bolt hole where a counter-sink with give you a cone-shaped bottom. These bits are available on ebay.
I was unable to find a local aluminum retailer so I bought a 3/8” thick piece of 12x12 on ebay for $25. The final length of my rack was 11 ¾” so this left no room for errors. Place your wood template on the aluminum and scribe it using a scratch Al. You could also use a permanent marker. I used the jig saw to cut aluminum but used a very fine tooth blade. Its very important to let the blade pull itself through the material. Do not try and push it through or you will destroy your blades. This takes a lot of patience so have a few beers handy.
Once its all cutout, use your finish sander to sand the rough/sharp edges. I then used a scotch bright pad to give it a uniform finish. Its going to get scratched taking the case on and off so no need to spend money on powder coating. I used my corded drill to counter-bore the holes. I damn near broke my wrist when the drill caught too much material.
The Givi mounting kit was bought from Premier Cycles. Make sure you get the kit with the shorter pieces made for mounting on a flat surface or the box won’t rest on the plate. I’ll load the URL when I find it.
The end result is a unique, functional luggage rack with more than enough room for a passenger. This took a good bit of time and if you don’t have this kind of patience, do yourself a favor and buy a Phil’s Rack. Awesome customer service over there.
