Fitting Ventura rack system

[oldwobbler]

Anyone had experience of fitting the Ventura kit to an S1K? I’ve just fitted mine and there are a couple things I’m not happy about.
The L brackets mount at the front of the bike to the pillion peg mountings. Solid –happy with that.
The problem is with the rear mountings which use 2 bolts into the number plate hanger. It looks to me like these just screw into the square steel tube of the sub frame? I can’t see any captive nuts in there. If that is the case then the bolts are held in place with a thread in the sub frame about 1.5 mm thick! Fine for a number plate hanger which weighs 0.5 Kgs – not a bag weighing 9 KG.
The other problem is the bag is elevated when fitted. In the past on other bikes using this system the bag has rested on the pillion seat, so the seat takes all the weight of the bag. Not on the S1K, the bag does not touch the pillion seat so all of the weight is on the brackets which are only held in place by the weedy fixtures mentioned above.
I guess the main question is does anyone know what the 2 number plate hanger bolt fasten into?
Cheers.

 

[Doctor strange Luv]

I`m please you posted this, I`ve just bought a Ventura rack, bag etc and haven't fitted it yet, I`ve got a planned trip soon so I`d better try and fit the rack and have a look what the 2 number plate hanger bolt fasten into.

 

[awg]

Hi,

I've done a couple of thousand miles with mine fitted, fully loaded, without any issues. I place the rack forward, over the pillion seat, so the bag sits on that. All the weight is on the brackets but it all seems fine.

The one thing I would mention is that the bags are not waterproof (even the new Mistral which I use) so you do need a storm cover or put all your stuff in a bin liner first. It's fine in a quick shower but a couple of hours pissing rain does get your stuff wet. I found this out the hard way...

Allan

 

[fatbob]

As Allan said it ain't waterproof get a cheap cover
My bag just touches the seat also , I understand what you mean about screwing into the thread inserts .
Having said all that I've had **** loads on mine with no mither
I think the main bolts take most of the weight with the small ones holding it in place , rather than suspending all the weight

 

[Lumpy]

What you got in there Bob? Food

 

[fatbob]

What you got in there Bob? Food

Heh heh yeah , went for 9 days camping with ration packs , tent , bed , clothes , tooo much other ****.
was my second year with the tent so i left most of it in Monza , piss wet through , so got faster and faster coming home
Bike still did 180+ with all that on , rucksack lifter off my back though , but the rack was rock solid

 

[oldwobbler]

Bob - my bag is no where near that big! I should be safe.
I know the bag is not water proof. So I bought the Ventura "waterproof" cover - its still not water proof! Waste of money. Bin liners are the way to go.
Thanks for the feed back - appreciated.

 

[Lumpy]

**** me not sure I want to risk 180 with a ruck sack and rear luggage - fair play!

 

[chuggy]

my mate has had Ventura on his mk1 and now his 2012 mk2 bike.
Unfortunately on his 2012 bike, the main tube bracket snapped immediately rear of the lugs used to screw into the numberplate holder.
i.e. the fasteners were fine it was the round tube that completely snapped in two!
he's now had a bar inserted into teh broken halves and had it welded up - just completed approx 3k miles in Europe like that with no further issue

his bike is quite hard at the rear (suspension setup) so we think it was the constant vibration at basically a pivot point that caused the failure

 

[chuggy]

oh and I like the system so much I just bought a set (i.e. 'm not put off by the fail he had)