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I have made no secret of the fact that I was not very happy with the way Givi designed the hardbag mount system for my 2002 Yamaha FZ-1. It was way over-built, and just plain ugly. Yes, it did get the job done and well, but the rear directionals were mounted to a bracket that extended out past the entire rear of the bike, with the wiring exposed and just hanging there. Though the system was functional, it did nothing for the lines of the bike, nor was it easy to remove. I knew I could fix it, and I did.
After looking at how the rack mounted, and measuring how far the OEM directionals extended out, I knew that there was enough room to mount them back in their factory fender mount position, and still have the Givi rack work properly. With the directionals back in place, the wiring could be hidden under the tail section as before, thus cleaning up the rear. I might need to shim out the rack a little, but the directionals would fit.
I removed the side racks and brought them to my Yamaha dealer. They have a small machine shop there, and have done some light metal work in the past. The bracket I wanted removed was welded to the outside of the main unit, so it would just have to be cut, and then ground down. I wanted to do as little damage as possible to the main rack itself. I left the rack with my dealer and left with crossed fingers. For what this Givi system cost me, I would hate to have to replace this bracket.
When I returned two days later to pick up the finished product, I was blown away. You couldn't even tell where the offending bracket was unless you looked really hard. It looked perfect! The resulting unit still has three mount points, and with the rated packing weight of the side bags at only 20 lb's, there was zero danger of any type of movement or damage. And now the directionals can go back where they belong.
I now pulled apart the entire tail section of the Fazer in order to mount up the directionals and properly hide the wiring for them inside the unit. Pulling the tail section apart on this bike is no small feat, however it is one big piece. With a little patience removal is fairly straightforward. There are four small push-in buttons that hold the under-tail to the silver bodywork. I had to replace those as you practically destroy them when they are being removed. Luckily, they are inexpensive through Yamaha! With the directionals in place, and the tail section replaced, it was time to mount my refurbished bracket. I mounted the top-box bracket to the bike, as the side box bracket mounts to it. I didn't tighten anything down, it was all kept loose to help facilitate the fitting of the unit. Once the bracket was mounted, I could see how much room the directional needed to clear the unit. The bulk of the directional fit into the empty main area of the bracket, but did not extend enough to ever hit the hardbag. Only the signal lens itself was in danger on hitting the bracket. After experimenting with washers, three were found to be thick enough to allow enough of a gap. The directional will never hit the bracket, and I have a clean mounting system now!
I am very, very pleased with the end result. Givi should have done this to begin with, unless there was some DOT or Euro safety regulation with regards to directional mounts that forced them to make the extra bracket. I now have the directionals in the factory location, the wiring hidden and the brackets can be removed in about five minutes if I want a cleaner look to the rear of the bike. I will leave the top box mount on, but having the option to remove the sides is nice. The system still has three mounting points - two on the top box rack, and one to the passenger peg bracket - and you can easily lift the bike from here. There is no chance of any damage. Now, it just looks right.
A huge debt of gratitude to Mike Sousa of Baer's Yamaha Kawasaki in Springfield, Mass. He did the metal work for me. He's a great guy, and very nice to deal with. Dave
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