DeLewis
Husqvarna
AA Class
So I recently took the bike to a playground for sand riding - Beachport, South Australia for those who know it - with another inmate around here (Dandydisco) and others. The riding was great and the sand very soft. Needless to say, the bike was laid down several times - sometimes pretty heavily into firmer sand. I had the BR Moto pannier racks bolted on - they are nice sturdy racks! On my return, in the process of cleaning up the bike (damn that sand gets everywhere!), I found that the subframe has been bent at the RHS pillion peg weld. Futher examination showed that the whole subframe when viewed from behind is canted to the side and has a slight twist.
What appears to have occurred is that the impact of dropping the bike on a firm surface has caused the rack to transfer the impact to the subframe which has bent at the weakest point - where the rack mounts to the pillion peg mount. While wiser heads around here know all of this, it demonstrated clearly to me the potential downside of luggage mounts that are too strong - or at least stronger than the subframe they're mounted to. On the other hand, if I had had my soft panniers attached at the time, they would likely have softened the impact.
Either way, I managed to find a subframe at a reasonable price from one of the TRs currently being parted out.
Here are a couple of pics that show the damage.

What appears to have occurred is that the impact of dropping the bike on a firm surface has caused the rack to transfer the impact to the subframe which has bent at the weakest point - where the rack mounts to the pillion peg mount. While wiser heads around here know all of this, it demonstrated clearly to me the potential downside of luggage mounts that are too strong - or at least stronger than the subframe they're mounted to. On the other hand, if I had had my soft panniers attached at the time, they would likely have softened the impact.
Either way, I managed to find a subframe at a reasonable price from one of the TRs currently being parted out.
Here are a couple of pics that show the damage.

