Our natty naked roadster gets some useful luggage bolt-ons
WE'VE HAD Suzuki's GSX-S750 on test for nearly six months now, and it's stood up well so far. It's a hoot round town, is surprisingly good at wheelies, and while it's not amazing on track, for a budget roadster, it gets a solid 'A' from me.
Like all naked bikes though, it's not super-practical. Carrying stuff is a faff for a start - the tail unit is commendably svelte, which is great for sporty styling and minimising mass. But I live in London, and a bike needs to be useful as well as fun. Carrying a load of shopping, a big parcel to go to the post office, or some heavy car parts to a garage - I've done them all in recent weeks, and had to use my old Burgman with its Givi top box and underseat storage space.
Plus, when I stick the kids on the back of a bike to take them to parties, sports clubs, scouts, school and the like, I prefer to use a bike with a top box, just as an extra protection against them falling off the bloody thing...
All of which is a long, dull way of saying I wanted to fit a topbox to the GSX-S750... And as luck would have it, Italian luggage-maestri Givi have come up with a kit to do just that. The Italians love a naked bike, and the GSX-S is popular over there, so it's a natural one for them.
Sadly, the GSX-S isn't a natural bike for a top box. The tail unit is small, and there's little in the way of external bracketry to attach too - no standard grab rails or visible metalwork at all. Givi's good at this though, and the kit fits in cunning fashion, with minimal metalwork. I fitted it at the weekend, in less than an hour, with a leisurely pace. Here's how...
PREP
As ever, I like to get the bike up on stands. Just a rear paddock stand today - my trusty R&G Racing one, fitted to the R&G swingarm bobbins. A bungee round the front brake holds it all steady - if you want, some cable ties round the bobbins adds even more stand security.
Unpack all the parts, and check it's all there. Givi has sent me a set of panniers as well, which we'll fit next - but we'll focus on the rack and top box for the moment.
Underseat supports
The stock bike uses four bolts to attach the numberplate holder and rear fender unit. These go right into the rear subframe, so Givi uses them to bolt on a solid mounting plate. Remove the pillion seat, and using a 10mm socket, unscrew the four bolts which screw up from under the tail unit into the subframe. The fender is also held on by plastic clips, so should sit in place without the bolts, just be careful not to knock it while the bolts are out.
Get the four longer bolts from the Givi kit. These pass through the support bracket, and into four flanged spacers, which hold the support plate in the correct position. Screw the Givi bolts into the subframe - they'll pass through the subframe, and Givi supplies four cap nuts and washers to screw onto the ends, for extra security and strength.
Side lines
Next, we have a pair of mounting plates which bolt on behind the pillion peg brackets. Simple enough - make sure you have them on the correct side (they bend inwards slightly and fit with the scalloped sides upwards). Remove the stock mounting bolts, and replace with the longer Givi bolts.
The stock bolts had thread lock on them, so we used some on the Givi bolts too.
Main support act
Now, we have two long side support bars. These attach either side, with their end plates facing in towards each other. They bolt onto the pillion peg bracket plates and the underseat support bracket plate, with four M8 Allen bolts and nyloc nuts. A 6mm Allen driver and 13mm spanner will do the job to tighten these up.
Plate it up
We now have a flat support point for the Givi Monokey plate, and this attaches with four M6 Allen bolts, washers and nyloc nuts.
Give everything a final check for tightness, and fit the plastic covers to the Monokey plate bolt holes, and the main Allen bolt heads. Clip on your chosen topbox (we have a new V47 box - very nice), refit the pillion seat and you're done! Now get out there and load it up with all that useful stuff...
The Givi rack kit for the GSX-S750 costs around £110, plus £40 for a Monokey plate. Top boxes range in price, the top-end V47 is around £200.
