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.
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.
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
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).
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.
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.
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.
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)
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:
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.
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).
All Finished
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.
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.