Installation of SW-MOTECH Side Racks on 2002 (1st Gen) SV650n

I recently embarked on the installation of the SW-MOTECH Side Racks on my 2002 (1st generation) SV650n (naked). The installation is fairly straightforward, but I had some questions going into it, and I could not find any resources on the internet concerning the installation. The only installation booklet I could find is in German and is on the same Twisted Throttle product page. The bags I chose were the Givi E360 bags. This was a hard choice as I didn't want to choose a bag so small that it would be useless, but I also didn't want to sacrifice width more than absolutely necessary.

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The key questions I had going in were:

• How difficult is the process? Not very. Future installations would take well under an hour.
• Is the stock plastic fender necessary? Yes. See below.
• How much weight will I be adding to my bike when the bags are not mounted? The brackets and bolts that remain on the bike weigh just under 4lbs.
• How much weight will I be adding to my bike when the bags are mounted? All told, shipping weight was 40lbs.  Not much of that was packing materials.
• How much width am I adding to my bike? How manageable will it be? About 18" from the widest points without bags (the foot pegs) to the widest point with bags.
• How much will this affect handling? Still not sure.  The bike seems more floaty now, but I didn't adjust pre-load.  I'll have to evaluate this later.

If you have a 2nd generation SV650, then you can find a similar walkthrough on the SVRider forums.

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The materials (minus the actual racks) are lined up first to make sure everything is present. The brackets that come just for mounting the racks are very solid pieces of metal coated with a hard black paint.  They feel very sturdy and are probably significantly stronger than the rest of the system.  The failure will not come from these brackets. The brackets included with the system:

• 2 top grab-rail mounts (straight black metal).
• 2 turn-signal relocation brackets (S shaped black metal)
• 1 license plate bracket (V-shaped black metal, connects bags to fender).
• 2 large rectangular metal brackets with three arms off of them - The bags mount to these.
• 2 passenger peg brackets (F shaped, mount to passenger foot pegs)

All necessary supporting hardware is included with the system.  All of the nuts are metric sizes and all of the nuts use hex bits. The mounting hardware for these brackets included with the system is:

• Grab rail hardware:
  • 2 long bolts - these replace the stock grab rail bolts.
  • 2 short spacers - these go under the brackets to keep them off of the fairing plastic.
• License plate bracket hardware:
  • 2 long skinny bolts
  • 4 washers
  • 2 locking nuts
• Turn signal relocation hardware:
  • 2 big bolts
  • 2 big washers
  • 2 big nuts
  • 2 small bolts
  • 2 small washers
  • 2 small nuts
• Passenger foot peg bracket hardware:
  • 2 bolts - these replace the stock bolts

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The instructions included are very unclear, unless you can read German. I can not.

I did manage to partially translate into English using Google Translate, but the results were non-spectacular. Luckily, the steps are not very difficult, especially if you do not insist on trying to use the turn-signal relocation brackets on the passenger grab-rail (this took the most of my time before I realized my mistake).

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Step 1 - Install Passenger Foot Peg Brackets

This part is the easiest by far. 1) Remove the two bolts holding the passenger foot peg. 2) Install bracket with replacement bolts (slightly longer than the stock ones) and washers.  Proper order is <inside> > bolt > washer > bracket > bike > passenger peg > <outside>.

Be sure to use blue (removable) thread locker to make sure these bolts do not wiggle back out. These are very obviously installed in one way only: Both sides are exactly the same, excepting the muffler holding the right side in place.

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Step 2 - Install the Grab-Rail Bracket

The passenger grab rail bracket is actually a lot easier to install than I originally thought. As I mentioned previously, I was trying to use the S shaped turn signal relocation bracket here, but you need to use the straight brackets. The diagrams provided by SW-MOTECH really could make this clearer. Once you have the right parts and order, it's just a matter of coordination of a bunch of parts that don't want to line up properly. The correct order of parts is: > Bolt > Grab Rail > Bracket > Spacer > Rubber Grommet > Use the long replacement bolts here.

Leave the bolts finger tight until you get the entire system mounted, as you may need to shift the brackets slightly.

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Step 3 - License plate bracket

Unfortunately, the previous owner had chopped the bike's fender to pieces for appearance reasons.  It was necessary to order a new fender, as part of the rack's support system involves the rear fender.  There is a single bar which attaches to the license plate bracket portion of the fender.  The installation here is straightforward - just unbolt the license plate, and then remove the license plate bracket.  Install the long black metal bar behind the fender so that the final mounted installation is rear>license plate bracket>fender>side-rack bracket->inside.  Be sure to use the replacement bolts, washers, and locking nuts.  (The long skinny bolts). I do not have the stock license plate bracket in these pictures, so the license plate is bolted directly to the bolts provided by SW-MOTECH.

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Step 4 - Turn Signal Relocation

Not having the stock signals or stock fender, I didn't need to do this step... That means some left over parts:

(Stock bolts also "left over" pictured here as well)

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Step 5 - Mount the Side Brackets

The final step is to mount the side-brackets on the mounting hardware. The long arm goes down and towards the front. The side-brackets always go on top or in front of the mounting tabs. The mounting screws thread through, with the small metal washers between the side-racks and the mounting tabs as so:

The first time you put the washers on, they will take a little force to get over the metal tabs. You will need a screwdriver or coin to tighten the mounting screws. Fully mounted:

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Step 6 - SW-MOTECH to Givi Adapters

The Givi adapter kit is also straightforward, although the picture doesn't quite match the actual hardware. Particularly, bolt holes aren't labeled where they physically are:

The mounting hardware installed: The key differences from the diagram involve the mounting of the rubber grommets. In the diagram they are shown as going into the far holes on the left and right sides - in reality they belong on the inside holes. Also, the plastic piece on the top should be mounted so that the notch is pointed downward.

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Step 7 - Mount Luggage

The luggage mounts very easily. Make sure the key is unlocked, and slide the bottom part onto the two pegs. The top part clips right in with a light push.

The luggage are Givi E360 cases, also purchased from TwistedThrottle.com. Each case is supposed to hold 40L and can hold one large Shoei RF-1000 full sized helmet if you remove the document holder (which I see little use for anyway).

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All Finished

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Width Concerns

There's no way around it, the E360 cases are wide. This definitely adds a lot of width to the bike, to the point I was initially concerned that it would be more of an annoyance than it helped. After a couple of days riding with the bike, I can safely say that the convenience factor is significant - and probably enough to overcome the extra width. An ideal situation would be to have support for a tail bag as well - and switch out the side racks for just one E360 on the tail when you don't need all of the storage space. In terms of hard numbers, here's what I measured: Stock bike at widest spot (foot pegs): 24" Just the racks (no bags): 19" E360 bags installed: 42" So approximately 18" extra width in the worst place possible - behind you. It's a lot easier to evaluate if you'll hit something if the front is wider.

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Handling Concerns

As I mentioned at the top, the bike feels more floaty with these bags. I think that's partly due to not adjusting the pre-load, which I will do and re-evaluate. The bike also seems more susceptible to cross winds, which makes plenty of sense (bigger surface area). There's definitely more weight in the back (remember, 40lbs empty), so it's much more prone to lifting the front wheel under hard acceleration. Otherwise, handling seems perfectly fine. One huge benefit is I feel a lot less constricted than I did with the soft tail bag on the passenger seat. I can move around and the bag's not constantly sliding into me. That's a huge benefit for enjoying the ride.

Trying to spread a little motorcycle goodwill

I've been riding my motorcycle a lot more recently. Logically I can attribute this to the rising gas prices, but I don't want to complain about that.  Honestly, it is lot a more about the enjoyment I get from riding it. Riding the bike is so much unlike driving a car that it's hard to describe to someone who hasn't experienced it. You're not just traveling along through the landscape, you are part of it. The weather affects you directly (there's no avoiding it), and the road is just mere inches away from your feet. In the car, the transportation is something you participate in. In the motorcycle, you are the vehicle. In the car turns and bumps jolt throw you around, but on the motorcycle you and the machine move as one over the bumps and through the turns as if you are a single entity. It's easy to step outside and look at the entire endeavor as simple thrill-seeking, but it's not as simple as that. It's liberation, it's power, and it's wonderful. Riding a motorcycle through the countryside through the turns and hills, it must be like what a bird feels. Commuting on a bike isn't quite as nice as all of that, but it's still a lot better than driving a car. Even in the oppressively hot summer, the drenching cold rain, the deluge of dusk-released bugs, and the occasional fear-inspiring lightening blasts, I'd rather be on the bike. That's not to say there aren't challenges... Take, for example, transportation of items other than yourself. Space on my bike is very limited. This morning, I wanted bagels. I had to resort to desperate measures.

People are often offended by motorcyclists. The few bad apples are remembered, and so people resent all of us. Perhaps there's a twinge of jealousy behind the resentment as well. This arrangement at least gives me an opportunity to spread good will. Maybe I will toss bagels at people who give me cross grumpy morning stares... I will NOT attempt to spread cream cheese, though - that would be unsafe. I really need a better luggage situation. Laptop, clothes, climbing gear, and a five pound bag of rice stress the limits of that Nelson Rigg bag... Yesterday I rode to lunch without anything on the back for the first time in a while. If you commute daily, unload sometime and just go have fun. It really is a different beast without the load. I don't know how people enjoy riding with a backpack - especially the long distance - and especially in the twisties: (thanks to Killboy.com for the picture) I just feel so restricted like that.

A little ride down the Blue Ridge Parkway

At the time of writing this, I had only been riding for about 4 months, and, until that weekend, I hadn't done any trips longer than a single day. I wanted to make a longer trip, and the Blue Ridge Parkway seemed like the perfect choice. It's filled with long stretches of well maintained roads, lots of curves, and some beautiful scenery. The weather turned out to be absolutely awesome, so I packed up the bike and off I went. This doesn't really qualify as "adventure" compared to a lot of the other reports, but it was still a lot of fun. I don't have much to say, and the pictures are the best part of most ride reports. Hopefully someone's work day is a little less boring because of this. :) The plan was a two day trip from Washington, DC to... wherever I felt like stopping and back again. I ended up making it to about 50 miles south of Roanoke, VA. All loaded up and ready to go. She's not "adventure", but she tries. She might be ugly, but the beauty's on the inside (even though some of it's leaking out in various places). The Nelson Rigg bags worked wonderfully.

Mr. Garcia watched me pack and blessed the trip. It helped.

And I'm off!

I thought omniscient would mean you don't need guidance? I'll stick with my Garmin.

Finally, scenery. Looking far over the VA countryside. The parkway gets a lot twistier and has more elevation further south, but the view in VA is always beautiful.

Pictures never capture the real spirit of the experience ... still, you can't see these and not want to be there.

The clouds were absolutely beautiful The bugs didn't want me to see them.

No pants? Signs like these are usually reactionary. I wonder what the story is. Depending on gender, I'm not sure these rules need to be enforced.

Night time... Time to find a hotel. Unfortunately, everything was sold out where I ended up. I finally found something... and it definitely qualified as adventure!

Next time I'm taking the stuff I need to camp.

The night clerk gave me a discount and gave me a room where I could park "my scooter" outside the window. Thanks!

Sunday On Sunday I took some back roads for a bit instead of getting back on the parkway right away. The fun stuff (to see) is definitely on the back roads, but so is the gravel on the roads. The clouds were out again.

Deer suck, but imagine one of THESE running across your path.

I FOUND IT!

Built by ancients? Magical powers? Whatever, it's punny, and I like it. I'd almost consider going to see it...

Guess not. Maybe it's wrong of me, but I laughed for a bit.

I followed this stream up for a while...

... and the pavement disappeared. Single-sport? So? I'm not afraid of gravel!

This was going to be a self-portrait, but the grass got in the way, so I gave up. This turned out to be a cool shot anyway.

I found the parkway. Gravel roads end sometimes... Sometimes they end right where you want to be. (Proper attitude means they always end where you want to be, I guess.)

The sky is visible again.

If you don't give the road equal attention it will throw gravel at you.

If you look closely, you'll see the inner beauty leaking out, just like I said.

Adventure riders! I had to stop. The first I saw of the weekend, and then suddenly they were everywhere. This couple happened to be from close to where I grew up. We spoke of gravel, the mid-west, and the rumours about a F800GS... They didn't have an ADV sticker, but, then, neither do I.

Kissin' Counsins He barely paid us any attention. Probably didn't recognize mine for what she is without the makeup on. Poor girl.

And I'm home... Too tired to take any other pictures. It's all boring from there on out. Lots of traffic and lots of interstate. All in all, a really fun trip. No incidents, great weather, and fun roads.

Cutting my 1993 EX500's Fork Springs

This is meant to serve as a simple step-by-step instruction for cutting the springs on an EX500 in order to change the spring rate and feel of the motorcycle's handling. This is a poor excuse for getting the proper springs, and is not an exact science. More expensive options will potentially provide significantly better (and more predictable) handling due to the springs not necessarily having linear response and being more accurately engineered. Also keep in mind that spring characteristics change over use, so any calculations you make will be affected by your specific springs. Finally, the spacers used in this example have the potential of failing, which could lead to disasterous results. This was originally posted by me in this thread on cutting ex500 springs. I wanted to compensate for the lack of good pictures available on the topic. There is a wealth of information on this subject in that thread and in others on that board, so be sure to read up on everything. The original post follows.

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I did this today. Drained out maybe 50ml of oil - which explains why I was bottoming out under moderate braking. There's definite a difference (and, I think, an improvement). At the very least, I can lock up the front at 30mph without bottoming out - a huge improvement! The roads were too dark when I went for a test ride, so it was hard to really test the change out.For other people who can't really visualize things, I took some pictures. Hopefully these help!

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Necessary Parts / Tools

• fork oil - about 800ml, so get the liter bottle
• a gear puller for removing the plug
• a couple of feet of 3/4" PVC pipe (you won't use it all, but it's best to have extra)
• something to cut the springs - I used a dremmel and a cutting wheel
• 6mm allen wrench to remove the handle bars
• 10mm socket/wrench to remove the drain plug (1st gen only)

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Step 1 - Remove handlebars

Get rid of the two bolts pictured below. Pull the caps off first, of course.

Step 2 - Remove the cap on the shock

This is where the gear puller comes in handy. You could do this with a screw driver, but the gear puller is SO much easier. Thanks, FOG.

You're pushing it down to get to the metal ring that holds the cap from popping out. Once the cap's out of the way, remove the clip:

Step 3 - Remove the cap

Now that the clip's out of the way, unscrew the puller. The spring will push the cap out:

Step 4 - Extract the spring

There's a lot of it - 20.1875" worth on my '93. The next generation has a bit shorter spring.

Step 5 - Remove the oil (drain, pour, or suck)

If you're lucky enough to have a drain hole, use it. If not, follow FOG's instructions (search) on putting your own drain plug in. Or suck the fluid out.

Step 6 - Cut the springs

Use the calculations from the thread on cutting ex500 springs (original spring length / new spring length X original spring rate = new spring rate) to figure out how much to cut. It's easy enough to do again but hard to undo, so be conservative.

Step 7 - Cut the spacer

Again, read the rest of this thread (and the cutting spacers thread as well).

Step 8 - Refill with oil

Pour in the proper amount of oil. Read the rest of the thread and your service manual for the proper amounts.

Step 9 - Reassemble

Spring, washers, spacer, plug, and push it all back together. Put the clip back in.