Anyone building/selling side mounts/rack

First topic message reminder :

Hi,

As the title says...i'm interested to buy a rack for side mounted panniers.

I saw Randy's great setup in his gallery here and just wondered if anyone is able to build and sell a setup for the Swing?

Many thanks in advance.

Oliver

Meldrew I agree with you about the railings and they are not my cup of tea, but then so many other items that people add to their rides are not in my desire list either.

My wife and I tend to pack as smart as possible and I, in principle, agree with you - less is more. In practice I've noticed over the years that I have found more things that I can't be without for a 10 - 14 day ride out into the country. At present we only put the top case (GIVI V46) onto the bike if we absolutely must. It doesn't go on if we are only going to be out for a long weekend. We don't have tunnel bags or a waterproof bag for the seat or saddlebags and I doubt I'll ever install side cases, but for those who would like to install them - I'll do what I can as a site admin to help them out.

Having lived out of a ruck lashed to the side of my track for more than a couple of months I'm pretty low maintenance on the clothes required. Clean socks and undies and I'm ready for the day...

How much storage do you really need? I can only answer that for myself. Others may have more need.

The only things I'd hang from the Fehlings bars are towels - they just aren't strong enough for mounting boxes.

As John said - and so have I - the chrome is not the best quailty. It can't be stressed enough that it rusts at the joints unless protected.
One is looking at £400 to have it stripped and redone properly - that's for the complete set.

I recieved a reply from Fehling GmbH regarding my question of the item listed as a "pair".

Hello,

sorry, but we haven´t other photo. The left side is identical to the optically.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards

Ernst Fehling GmbH & Co.
Gabi Fehling

So, now the only questions I have outstanding are:

1. Does this mount fit on the FSC/FJS model SilverWing?
2. How do they mount on the LH side?

And apparently the ever present question regarding the Fehling rails - How do you defeat the (inevitable?) rust?

Vaseline on the joints - it works for stone-chips on car bodywork, too.

WD 40 works, too. Wash bike weekly.

And the folks from Fehling GmbH have responded to my query about the SW-T racks fitting on the FSC/FJS model:

Dear Dale,

We designed the parts for the new SW-T models, we have not checked if they will fit the FJS models.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards

Ernst Fehling GmbH & Co.
Joachim Fehling

I'm inclined to think the racks will indeed fit on the FSC/FJS model. I say this because the rack that is shown (RH) looks just like the rack that GIVI used to build for the RH side of the bike. However, GIVI did not make one for the LH side and so I have never seen how this rack would attach.

My thought on the racks shown on the Twisted Throttle website - they are merely retailing the Fehling product.

Kudo's to Fehling GmbH though for stepping up and offering the product and for answering the questions. I may have to go back and ask them if they will offer site members a small discount...

Well, from all the latest posts, it looks like I may have been burned. I ordered a full set of chrome - I would have preferred black powdercoat but all they offer is chrome - from them because I couldn't find protection anywhere else (and I do mean anywhere! Google lead me nowhere.). I've already dropped the bike a couple of times and I hate wrecking the tupperware.

Oh well. I haven't received them yet so I can't comment on them. Thanks for the tips on Vasaline and WD40.

It's funny reading about putting Vaseline on chrome to prevent rusting.

I did that in the late '50s on my British made bikes (Ariels) every Fall. It only took about a week for the Vaseline coating to go black from all the road grime from my daily 40 mile commute. Cleaned it all off in the Spring & chrome was rust free!

Dale,

The reply Fehling gave me was that the 7811 side mounts would not fit the FJS/FSC models. If you look closely at the photo I would tend to agree. It looks like the SWT has a much flatter side covering and the mount hugs it very closely. Our FSC models have a very definite V-shaped side covering which could very well interfere with the fitting.

Pleased you've established that, Mark. It's easy to miss the exact model when looking down lists of accessories.

MarkB wrote:

Dale,

The reply Fehling gave me was that the 7811 side mounts would not fit the FJS/FSC models. If you look closely at the photo I would tend to agree. It looks like the SWT has a much flatter side covering and the mount hugs it very closely. Our FSC models have a very definite V-shaped side covering which could very well interfere with the fitting.

I understand, and yet as You can see from their written communication to me:

jdeereanton wrote:

And the folks from Fehling GmbH have responded to my query about the SW-T racks fitting on the FSC/FJS model:

Dear Dale,

We designed the parts for the new SW-T models, we have not checked if they will fit the FJS models.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards

Ernst Fehling GmbH & Co.
Joachim Fehling

I'm inclined to think the racks will indeed fit on the FSC/FJS model. I say this because the rack that is shown (RH) looks just like the rack that GIVI used to build for the RH side of the bike. However, GIVI did not make one for the LH side and so I have never seen how this rack would attach.

I will reiterate - The rack that is shown looks just like the rack that GIVI used to build (make / sell / provide) for the RH side of the FSC/FJS model.

While I would think that the profile of the rear fenders of the SW-T does look different from the FJS/FSC, at least as observed in the 2-D photos available. It is hard for me to judge the clearance of the rear fender from a straight on photograph. Maybe if I could see one taken from the rear along the RH flank of the bike I could tell you how much clearance I can observe.

I am blind in my right eye so my depth perception is not what one would like to have... Yet I really am not sure how one would be able to view a 2-D photo and determine clearance.

Well, my fehling bars arrived and I finally mounted them. (I updated my avatar so you can see how it looks.) While I agree that it offers less protection than I would have liked, IMO it's better than nothing. At least now if I drop it, there's a chance no serious scratches will occur.

And since my order include the rear bars, I guess I'm no longer looking for sidebag mounts. When I was writing to Fehling about my order, I asked them whether the mounts would fit on the FSC - and, if so, to substitute the mounts instead of the rear bars. But since their reply was negative, i just went ahead with the original order. A mistake, I think. I was tempted to get the side mounts and send them to Dennis to see if they could be adjusted (fairly) easily. In any case, I really don't have a big need for the extra storage.

The bars are smaller than I had hoped for. The mount points seem to have been well thought out, though, and the hardware contains longer replacement bolts and spacers. It took me longer to install than I imagine most of you would take - but it was really fairly straight-forward. I didn't even have to remove the Nelson Boll Leg Deflectors. The side bars went right around them. (Although I did have to trim them near the top. No problem.)

In any case, I like the finished look.

Just an update on my earlier post...

I'm embarassed to admit it but I did drop the Swing again. I had parked it awkwardly at work and after starting it up I tried to power-walk it in a full-on left-hand turn - when it got away from me and dropped. I quickly switched it off but before trying to raise it up I took a moment to have a look at how it was resting. It was lying entirely on the crashbars (and the wheels, of course) - no tupperware in contact with the ground at all. So I have to say already I've seen a return on my investment. It does make me feel better about buying them.

Good result (sorry about the mshap, though).
I've been tempted to buy at least the rear bars; I may just go ahead and do so.

Twistedthrottle now has the price listed for side mounts if anyone is interested. If someone already posted this ignore this. $349.99

Hear is the link to twistedthrottle.

http://www.twistedthrottle.com/trade/productview/7210/286/