Pillion Mounted Topbox.

[damoace]

First off, many apologies for pitching this in two places but I wrote the other thread in PaulH's thread in Accessories before getting to look in here. DOH!

What I'm looking for is a convertor plate that lets you take off the pillion seat and clip on a BMW Topbox where the pillion seat normally goes. Now i'm sure i've seen that somewhere in a photo but cant remember where or who makes them. My Dealer claims "no BMW dont make them", so i'm a little stuck.

Can you guy's help at all.

Many thanks in advance...

Damo

[marc]

Don't know about the BMW top box, but Jesse and Best Rest both make plates that attach in place of the rear seat. I have a pelican case attached to a Best Rest plate.



// marc

[Fox2A]

Hi,

Take a look at the German site, Hattech.de, which has a neat one called the "Big Solo", or something like that. I asked Dave at Best Rest whether they could/would make one similar and he replied that they were "studying" it.

Barry

[andyclift]

I also posted this on the other thread. The kit for the standard BMW box is supplied by BMW but my dealer talked me out of it saying that every time they sold one the buyer came back for the rack mount. Seems the problem is mounting the BMW box on the pillion seat makes it a sod to get on and off the bike.

[damoace]

Right. After a week on the bike, I've had a good chance to test out the latest pair of mods to the Stormtrooper.

Before piccy:


After piccy:


Courtesy of a Corbin saddle upgrade and the BMW mounting kit that I was told didn't exist (thanks for the heads up Andy - I went back and 'hounded' after reading your advice:



To be fair, I fitted the Corbin and the pillion topbox mount a while back but have not had a long run on the bike to really find out if they made any difference until the last two weeks.

The new saddle got very tested on a run down to sse a mate in Devon a couple weeks back. Now, I kinda knew it would be an improvement on a long run, and so it proved the case. 200+ miles in one hit (a distance that is possible on the standard seat but not a pleasant thought) and the verdict is that its great. However, I had my doubts about a scratching session on it. The width of it ,thought I, would make it difficult to get the weight forward in fast turns. Well, after a week of to and fro on the work run, its proving out just fine. I'd recommend a Corbin Saddle to anyone. Mrs. Ace reports a ten-fold improvement in pillion postierior comfort with the Corbin also.

The re-positioned topbox got a pretty good try-out this week also, being the first full 'riding to work week' that required me to be a fully self-contained fighting force. This means about 15kilo's of "Man-Crap" which has to be carried at all times. As most of you may know, the standard topbox position is wayyyyyy out the back there, up high and full of potential energy, just waiting to give me a heart attack should I dare to enjoy meself just a little bit. Now thats just fine when touring with SWMBO sat behind me, the side panniers full and topbox full also. I ride slow, and much more smoothly because of the loading and personnel onboard. It's not so good when it's just me and the aforementioned 15kg's of boring engineery bit's are stuck out the back there. Espesh if I feel that a little progression is in order. Then it feels 'orrible, no fun and in tight flick-flack chicanes can be downright nasty.

The new and improved version however, is just grand. For the £40 that it cost for the mounting kit and a second base plate, I would have to say it's made the most improvement to the bike (as I to use it anyways) as any mod that I've made so far. The weight is lower, directly over the back wheel, and feels much more part of the bike now. Very nearly to the point that I dont really notice the extra weight at all. Reasonably spirited riding is now achievable without having to factor in the extra mass hanging about out the back.

There are some drawbacks however. Getting on the bike for one thing, as Andy mentioned it's a Sod. And at 6'4 I've got freaky long legs and still have to perform "The Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch to mount up. Another is the lack of any kind of grab-rail (the one the bike comes with has to be taken off) and this makes using the centre-stand a little, er, interesting.

Overall though, I'm still pleased with both the mod's. They make the bike much more usable for me, and that means I'm much more likely to use it. Cant be a bad thing, no?