Top box advice........

Could I have a bit more detail on the direct-to-rack mounting of Kappa or Givi universal plates, please, as I'd like to abandon the side-armed Givi rack arrangement I have at present - it sits a bit too high and seems a bit prone to floppiness under load (Strikes me there's excess leverage on the handrail bolts). Thanks in anticipation.

I do not know if they are the same as the Givi Monokey and Kappa boxes but an RJays brand top box is available in Australia very cheaply.

The box comes with a baseplate that appears to have the same attachment detail as the more expensive brands.

I fitted the plate by drilling straight through it and tapping 6 M6 holes in the TDM's rack. As stratman suggests in his posts do not put it too far forward as it can hinder seat removal. The bolts used are stainless button head these are flat enough to ensure they do not interfere with the box when it is fitted. The rear pair of bolts required a packer so that the plate sits flat. You may be able to see the nuts that I have used in the picture from the side.

The box is detailed at RJays top box

And you can see my mounting pics at My Pics

I have had the box on for about 6 months and it seems to be holding up fine and can take a case of beer without any problems.

Hope this helps

Mick from Tassie.

I have a givi top box mounted onto a top plate only on the 900.
it fits directly with bolts and W shaped plates onto the 900 rack(not the grab bar). the rack fits straight onto the grab bar using longer bolts. the only prob i have found is the givi mounting plate pushes slightly into my other halfs lower back, cured by putting a bit of pipe lagging foam just there on the plate.

I currently have a monolock base plate fitted to the grab rail/rack on my 900, it bolted down very nicely using the fitting that where used by the dealer to mount a small Givi topbox on my wife's wee 125 (I inherited (pinched) the top box when we part-ex ed it for the TDM). The W plates are the Givi parts but I am not sure if the bolts are the originals or slightly longer. When I started fitting it I thought I would need long bolts but by playing around with different options off holes it went on a treat.
I am now on the lookout for a larger box so will probably change to the stronger sounding monkey system, or do you know better.

The hangovers has settled down now so I have edited this to make more sense (I hope)!

Edited by Andy K, 01 January 2007 - 02:16 pm.

How Antipodean! What about the prawns for the barbie?

Both the salesman at the local motorcycle parts store and my dealer advised against mounting the plate straight onto the original rack as it wasn't costructed with that kind of load in mind. On the other hand there's a number of people on here that have done it and haven't had any problems.

The Givi side arms can indeed feel a little floppy under heavy load, but I just tied the plate down to the original rack. It's much more stable now and the load is divided between the handrail bolts and the Givi arms/entire tail section.

I was abit concerned about the weight rstriction, then I thought back to my Rentec sports rack I used to have on the FireStorm, which advised no more than 3kg! Given that it doubled as a grab rail, I think passengers exerted more than 3kg of force when accelerating/braking,

Also, if you check the rec weights for panniers on Monoracks, you could just about pack 3 pairs of socks in each.

Common sense also tells you that keeping the topbox light has to be the best option for handling too.

Edited by Stratman, 01 January 2007 - 05:07 pm.

FYI

The Krauser 850 top box mount just replaces the grab rail. This suggests to me that the 850 grab rail has strong enough mounting points to just bolt a top box on to it. I very much doubt that the grab rail itself would fail as it seems quite a sturdy lump?


The Krauser 900 top box mounts on the grab rail but there appears to be another bit of bracketry to strengthen things up. Maybe this suggests that Krauser don't reckon that the grab rail alone is strong enough? Or maybe they spec their carrying capacity to be higher than others?


Read into it what you will........I haven't got a top box myself, I think they're ugly and increase the problem of cross winds but I do have Krauser panniers though.

I just thought I'd throw this info into the melting pot!

I did both. The GT model comes with the bellypan as standard (which I like), but I still wanted crash protection. So I searched on to find a set of crashbars that could be combined:



These are made by Fehling, you can order them via a German Ebay shop. More pics of the bars here: http://piloot.smugmu...gallery/1870807

As you can see, the bars are very close to the bike and positioned rather high. When I dropped my TDM on a rocky slope in Spain (Picos de Europa), they turned out not to be so practical (like 1400 euros worth of not so practical, fortunately I could use my insurance for it):



I replaced them now with a nice pair of Puig sliders, again from a German Ebay shop called bs-motoparts, which I think will prevent more damage if I'd drop it again (they are lower and wider... and I think they actually look cooler too):



They also got a very nice Puig bellypan for 105 GBP, which I think is a lot cheaper than the Yamaha one, I think it looks nicer as well (my GT version came with it, otherwise I would have gotten this):






About black mufflers, after the drop damaged one muffler I replaced both of them with stainless steel "poppy style" black mufflers from Superpole. They are Dutch, very well made, EC approved, have a removable db killer, sound great and are probably twice as cheap as a pair of Ako's (don't know though, just guessing):



Since I have the GT model and since they only had experience with regular TDM's, mine needed some extra bit of attention which was done while installing with no extra charge. The pipes had to be lowered to accomodate the Yamaha bags (since normally aftermarket pipes stand higher than the Yamaha ones). After lowering we figured they also had to be put wider to prevent them from getting close to the rear swingarm. On top of that he had to weld a little handmade plate on it to put the standard rubber stop in for the standard centerstand (standard on GT model) to rest on. The sound is amazing, even considering it's an CE approved model with the DB killer still in. It's legal but loud enough as it is, already enough to almost wake up folks in the street when I have an early shift. Almost is perfect for me, I can always remove the db killer anyway.

For the same price you can choose whether you want round, oval, which length, which material and which color (for the SS Poppy material). Since you can buy directly from the factory they're pretty cheap, I believe mine were around 600 euros including installation in the (very small) factory / shop. Here you can see the TDM including the Monokey plate on top of the Yamaha rack (very, very sturdy) plus the pipes:



Black is beautiful:



I think it could be possible for Carpe-TDM to make a day out to Superpole, just take an early ferry to Hoek van Holland and arrange a "factory tour" there (it's very small though, they do like to give tours to clubs, very nice guys) and perhaps install a couple for those that are interested on the spot. The money you'll save on the pipes is probably much more than the ferry costs and you got a nice day out on top of that too .

For those thinking about side bags (Givi or otherwise), consider the quiclock racks from SW Motech. I had those on my Sprint ST, they can be removed within seconds, leaving almost no trace. They're solid and compatible with Givi, H&B and Krauser cases. See more quicklock rack pics on my Sprint ST here: http://piloot.smugmu.../gallery/478017 (2 pages!).

Considering Topboxes, SW Motech also makes a rack that can be mounted right on top of the rear grabbars which is the base for the Givi/Krauser/HepcoBecker plate (whichever mounting kit you choose) which clicks right on in seconds. A drawing here in the mounting instructions, available in black or silver / alu: http://www.sw-motech...6_235_100_s.pdf

Plenty new and cheap (also cheap Givis and combinations with quicklock racks) SW Motech kit with German ebay shops, very good value for money (both Givi and SW Motech). The Givi MonoLOCK mounting (plate) should be identical to the Kappa mounting if I'm not mistaken (Kappa took over Givi anyway... actually I think Givi even made the Yamaha bags although that seems unlikely looking at the inferior Yamaha design (at least they're waterproof and look nice-ish).

So before going for a topcase plate, hard (top or side)bags, sideracks, crashbars, sliders, screens, bellypans or a pair of mufflers... be sure to do your homework first

Hi, thanks for all that info, just going to trawl through the websites and price some of the gear up.

I've got a question for you, please excuse my ignorance, but whats the difference between a TDM and a TDM GT?

Since 2006 Yamaha (in Holland at least, where also the European HQ is at Schiphol) brought out a couple of GT versions for several bikes. Right now a GT version is available for the Bulldog, Dragstar and TDM900A: http://www.yamaha-mo...tcm:26-11949-32
http://www.motorfrea...et.php?id=16634



For the TDM that includes the Yamaha tall screen, bellypan, centerstand and sidebags (including luggage rack which is ideal for Givi plate mount). The black versions TDM (GT or not) have been sold out very quickly, they seem popular (just the black ones though).

Cheers for that and the piccy's, that black bike is a fine looking beast!

Mine has the belly pan and centre stand, I've put on a taller screen just missing the luggage and a sexy black frame..........which could be a project for next winter............................

I agree that the Puig bellypan is the nicest. Do I detect that you had another one first - looks like a Pyramid one in your side picture?

(Later) OK - looking again at your earlier posting, I realise now that it was part of the Yamaha GT package Is the Puig a proper under-engine pan - i.e. does it have a full-length centre to it?

Edited by Pict, 02 January 2007 - 10:32 pm.

Dunno...doubt it...

I think it's time some company tried to tap into the adventure potential of the TDM and make an alu belly protector pan in combination with a crash bar setup plus handprotectors. Put a couple of Tourances on 'm and it will sell . Not that the suspension is properly setup for it, but just see how good that V-strom Black Rhino version sells...

Here's my two cents worth. I have Nonfango luggage on my 900 (on the bike when I bought it). It seems to be up to the job. Haven't tried it on a trip but use the topbox everyday for work. Just happens they have a site with a TDM as an example.

http://www.nonfango.com/eng/home.html

The panniers are quick to put on the bike and even the missus reckons we have enough space now to be able to travel for a weekend. She doesn't travel light.

Interesting screen design on the Rhino - tall, with spoiler and lower vents.

Edited by Pict, 02 January 2007 - 11:05 pm.

That's just the MRA screen, like the one I have on the TDM. The Suzuki crashbars and bellypan come from SW Motech. Weird thing about the screen is that the standard V-strom screen is already adjustable, so with the MRA addition (which for me wouldn't be high enough by a long shot, but too high to prevent turbulence) there are double height adjustments and indeed the slot is double.

I'd love that, I already have the handguards installed but am still looking for a proper bash plate. Unfortunately the wheel size doesn't allow for tourances, scorpion syncs or battle wings or I'd have them fitted already...

Steady dK - sounds like you're falling into thinking of scythe blades and other pointy bits: wrong site, wrong site!

My appologies to both yourself and mr sat nav, I did promise some piccies of my installation.

well been on 12 hour nights last 3 days so not seen daylight at all.

however armed with a torch i shall go see if i can get some pictures now in the shed be back soon