Last Summer I took my CBR1000RR to a friend's wedding in the South of France. I took the ferry from Portsmouth to Caen and took two days travelling down, stopping for a night in Nantes. The wedding and associated fun was to last 5 days so, like most people who have attempted to tour on a sports bike, I filled my Kriega US30, US20 and US10 dry bags with gear, lashed them down to the pillion seat with a few bungees and went on my way with a tower of baggage behind me. As the majority of us know, Kriega gear is fantastic. Excellently versatile, exceptionally rugged and waterproof. However I found a few difficulties along the way: if ever I stopped and needed to leave the bike but didn't feel it was safe to leave my kit alone, id have to disassemble my baggage tower only to rebuild it before I set off again. This was no easy job considering that I had a lot of kit and it needed significant use of bungees to make it feel secure. Additionally, I would occasionally remember that I needed access to something that I had packed, and couldn't always remember which of the 3 dry bags I had packed it in. Even worse was the fact that, having lashed the bags down, it was a serious effort to gain access to the bag to retrieve the item(s). The majority of these issues were my fault, and the Kriega gear did its job and delivered my gear to France clean and safe, but I couldn't help but look at those people also touring through France on their larger bikes with top boxes and think......"Now that would be an easier solution!" So I set about finding a way to get a top box onto my Fireblade. The common method for this is to buy a second hand pillion seat off ebay and drill an adaptor plate on to it, but on the few examples I've seen, the cushioning on the seat prevents a truly flush fit and makes it look a little unsteady. In principal I liked the idea of fitting the top box to the pillion seat, because although Givi and a few other brands make specific mounts for the CBR1000RR, these tend to be long-term fits, like bolting a rack onto the back of the bike. I only wanted the top box for touring or for the few occasions I take the bike somewhere for a long weekend; for all other times I want my sleek seat cowl to be on there. I found a German firm called Hepco & Becker who manufacture an excellent product called a Sport Rack, which is basically a pillion seat-shaped item made of thick anodised aluminium, which clicks into place exactly like the pillion seat. This has zero cushioning and gave me that flat surface I needed to work with. I then bought a Givi monokey V40N top box and the all-important universal adaptor plate. I fitted this Givi adaptor plate to the H&B Sport Rack, which required drilling four holes and using the provided bolts to fasten. (see photo) I could now fit and remove the combined sport rack/adaptor plate to the bike as easily as a seat cowl, and the next stage was simply adding the top box which clicked in firmly and solidly. Everybody will have their preference on which luggage to use, and I rate Kriega gear highly, but for me this solution is far more user friendly. I can pack my kit much faster, access it much easier, secure it without the need for multiple bungees, and when I need to remove the kit, e.g. during the ferry crossing, it is so much easier taking the top box off that it was removing all my kriega bags. The sport rack cost £120 which was a bit painful, and the Givi top box and adaptor cost £140 combined, so all in all, £260. However my US30, US20 and US10 equalled a not too dissimilar figure, and I feel its money well spent, especially if I can sell the Kriega. Hope this was informative and if anybody has similar thoughts or wants to do something similar, id be happy to help, although to be fair, it's an incredibly simple job. All the best, Martin
I have thought about this and the problem of sports bikes and luggage, I went for a slightly different solution, post my luggage in advance to the destination or the one I am using next week when we go to Spain is to borrow / rent some space from the other lads who are taking GS & KTM adventure bikes they have more space than your average estate car, for the price of a dinner and some beer they will carry it for me.
Thats brilliant. I love the way it looks so out of place...a sleek blade, Racefit can installed with the GIVI top box! I bet you've had some interesting conversations with that setup.
Have you thought about the Ventura system I got one for my Daytona great bit of kit easy to use and remove and when you park up for the night two clips and it's off I even took the other half to Le Mans loads of space for all the kit and when your solo just turn it round onto the pillion seat
Really like that. I used to have a givi box and frame mounted to my RRY. Made the bike so useful for commuting. I'll see if I can find a picture later. Can't get anything like that fro my 2007 as far as I'm aware.
Finally got around to testing the top box setup at 'enjoyable motorway' speeds, and pleased to report it was solid as a rock without any noticeable drag. It also gave me more space on the seat than my tower of soft luggage, which always slipped forwards a little. Stopping at my destination and unlocking box to get required gear and locking helmet away securely was also such a pleasure following my 'Kriega years'. All in all, a definite improvement.
I must admit I'm seriously thinking of doing this to my Tuono. I already have a 37 litre Givi box on my old scooter and have an Hepco and Backer rack for the Tuono which I used last year with Kriega gear, but always felt a bit vulnerable when parked up due to the Kriega being easily lifted by opportunist thieves.
SP1N99, Having now tested it a fair bit I'd encourage you to make the change from Kriega as this is much better in my opinion; especially as you already have all the requisite parts. All I'd say is that Givi do both the Monolock and Monokey ranges and I looked closely at both. The more affordable monolock series have a significantly less substantial locking mechanism which would be fine for a scooter or small bike, but is only rated to hold up to 3kg. Because I wanted to hold more than this (monokey is rated to hold 10kg) and because the Fireblade will be going MUCH faster than a scooter, I paid a bit more for the more substantial locking system. I think it's worth it as once it clicks into place it feels incredibly well planted, even whilst going quickly. Fingers crossed you have a monokey top box already! Martin
Great write up.......I have been using this method for the last 5 years . Commonly known as Hagglers House , it has toured Scotland the past 5 years on my 06 Blade and can happily say it's good even at a steady 140 mph . I used the pillow seat but inserted spacers so that I did not tighten down onto the seat foam.
Hi bud, I am about to order the Hepco and Becker sport rack, but I was wonder which adaptor plate you went doe as there are so many different ones to choose from. I also have a Givi monokey 40 litre box to fit on. Are these definetly ok to use with box fixed to them Many thanks John
What make was the adapter plate you fitted? I have a Givi box and I have just ordered the tail plate so wondered what adapter to get as there are loads to choose from
Inspired by this thread, but dismayed to find there isn't a Hepco & Becker rack for my vintage of Fireplace, I attached a very cheap and flimsy Oxford top box to a spare pillion seat cover of Chinese origin. Speed tested to 29mph with a cargo of a cheese sandwich and some disposable face masks. Seems well up to the job of crawling through the urban jungle and - added bonus - constantly checking your mirrors to see if it's still there after each pothole adds excitement to every commute.
You modern lads with all this fancy kit, the Blade boys that went before you didn’t feck around with all these fancy gizmos, just bungee’d it down and went full bore down Bruntingthorpe
