Hepco Baker C-Bow racks?

I know several people here use them but how are they in terms of their robustness?

It seems to me that the use of only two mounting points would make them stress fracture prone and a bit fragile.

The reason I ask is because I'm thinking that once the bat flu subsides I might like to undertake one last bike tour in the US before Jude and I get too old.

Now the last time we did a tour was 2013 and we had a Cali 1400. A huge mistake as the whole time we were riding we kept saying to each other "I wish we were on the Mana!". Now to my eternal regret I sold my Mana GT that was fully set up with bag racks and a rear rack but I'm now thinking of buying another GT as they are available for fair money but the luggage racks are NLA.

Hence my interest in the HB set up.

Unless of course LCB knows where my old Mana is and the latest owner wants to sell it back!

I find them more than robust enough Pete. I did replace the as shipped bolts with stainless items because I could. In fact once fitter, I have never taken mine back off, and though I checked a few times, none of the bolts even looked like loosening. The issue I see is the range of bags available for C-Bow is only 22 or so litres. Might be worth getting the hangers and fitting them to bags such as your barge arse ones, or the like.

Pete,
Had a big crash with them on (you know my history) and they survived all be it with scratctches and scuff marks, the brackets were also distorted but still intact and functional. My experience with them also includes at least 2 other instances where they survived the bikes falling over when stationary, the bags prevented any damage to the bike. From my experience they are pretty dam robust and I have since bought a new set to replace the scruffy ones. You can also buy parts for them such as the mounting fitted to the bags.

Mark

They are fine and plenty strong enough. Survived a crash with no damage or distortion (me, I broke a leg).

Pete, I have those on my GRiSO and both V7's.

As with Tony and others, I have had no particular issues with mine.  I use the soft H-B luggage and the small Orbitz hard bags.  

The former hold more but you have to pack carefully.  I also reinforce the over-saddle strap to reduce sagging.  

The hard bags I have are tiny, and unless one packs more carefully than I am wont to do, usueless except for overnighters.  I've taken multi day trips, but added tank and tail bags.  I have considered getting large hard cases or trying to mod my EV's H-B cases to fit the C-Bows, but real life (and maybe luck) got in the way.

But those are "bag issues," not hardware ones.  The metal mounts have never given me concern. I also took a hard dismount on my GRiSO with 'em. All fine. Not even a bend.

Bear in mind, Pete, that if Kathi were along -- and she isn't on GRiSO or V7's -- not sure that stress wouldn't be an issue.  I do NOT mean her exactly, but her "essentials."    Lordy, Lordy, she has "needs" that displace mine.

If your next visit gets you near here, we look forward to sharing some of your time in Viriginia.

1921!

Bill

Pete, There are some Mana GT's over here for sale, don't know if that would be an option for you. 4-6 thousand US.

Oz1200Guzzi wrote:

The issue I see is the range of bags available for C-Bow is only 22 or so litres.

My first set of C-bow bags were the Hepco & Becker C-Bow Nevada Bags 28 Litre leather (for a Cali 1400).

I also have a pair of Givi E41 panniers with Hepco & Becker adapter plates to fit the C-bows.  It seems that these adapter plates might not be available from Hepco & Becker anymore, possibly because they were losing too many pannier sales.  They don't appear to be listed anymore.

H & B also offer the Orbit hard bags, at 22 litres.  I purchased a set for the V95, but find it impractical to utilise all the space.  For example a pair of shoes will take most of the space for one bag.

The current range can be found here.  https://www.motorcycleadventure.com.au/luggage/c-bow-bags/

Pete, you may remember that you gave me a crash damaged pair of C-Bow racks.
After having the crack in one of 'c-plates' welded up and bending all the mounting bars back to shape, they having performed perfectly for 24000km of almost daily use from commuting & shopping to loaded up touring. No cracks or further bending.

The soft bags on the other hand have been a bit disappointing. I've had to re-glue the carry handles, some zip pull tags have broken off and the plastic C-Bow bracket snapped on one bag when I dropped it (fixed with JB-Weld). Having said that, these are the same bags from when I had the V7-11 so they have actually had another 20000km of use, 44000km in total including a crash, so maybe I'm being too critical.

HB have just released some x-trail bags for C-Bow. 25 litres capacity. Through MAP they are on "backorder" - yeah probably for months.

Oz1200Guzzi wrote:

HB have just released some x-trail bags for C-Bow. 25 litres capacity.

Too bad they're soft bags. Otherwise I would be interested.

I see that HB also do racks for the Mana for their ordinary panniers as well. I have a pair of those, Guzzi branded, that came with the EV so that's a possibility. They do look as though they put the bags a long way back though. I was thinking about the Orbits as a possibility and they would probably be fine for me solo but if Jude comes along we'd need more space and Jude travels light.

One of the things that makes the Mana such a great tourer with the factory set up is its carrying capacity. The Givi 35 litre panniers, a 30 litre top box and probably another 20 litres in the 'Tank' compartment means there is an abundance of space, most of it quickly detachable. Travelling alone on the GT on my second trans-continental trip in the US I had far too many tools, a laptop, cables, riding gear for all weathers as well as off-bike gear and the usual travelling crap like toiletries, drugs etc. and I still had most of the top box, (A vast, incredibly ugly 40 litre Chineseum monstrosity.) virtually empty! Dressed like that it would purr along at 80mph without a care in the world, sipping fuel and almost silent behind the very good stock fairing. It would of been happy going even faster but all that luggage made it a bit squirrely over 80 and I had no desire to end up having to spend time in some festering midwestern gaol for going too fast!

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Pete Roper wrote:

I see that HB also do racks for the Mana for their ordinary panniers as well. I have a pair of those, Guzzi branded, that came with the EV so that's a possibility.

One of the things that makes the Mana such a great tourer with the factory set up is its carrying capacity. The Givi 35 litre panniers, a 30 litre top box and probably another 20 litres in the 'Tank' compartment means there is an abundance of space, most of it quickly detachable.

I'm confused, Pete.  Are you saying that you're hoping to fit the Givi 35 litre panniers to the H & B racks?  If so, do you know of an interface between the (standard, not C-bow) H & B racks and the Givi panniers?

No, no! HB do racks, not like C-Bows, that fit the HB Junior, (I think they're called?) bags which are the same as the ones on my Hydro Cali. No, the Givi bags would be a total non starter!

Sorry I got confused with your mention of the Givi 35 litre panniers in your previous post.

The H & B Juniors are 30 litre, those I run on my 1200 Sports. H & B also do a 40 litre version, usually fitted to the earlier Californias as addons.

Mine is a 2002 Hydro in a sort of melena stool sort of brownish red colour. The bags are colour matched so they look like turdlets. Not sure what size they are? 'Bigish' I suppose, so they could well be 40's. They are the type that HB make racks for the Mana for though.

First ones on this page methinks.

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You see what I mean about putting the weight a long way back? That's why I was interested in the Orbits and C-Bow system. Better yet would be finding a set of NOS racks for the Givi's.

The 2002 Hydro would have come with H & B 40 litres originally, if it was the EV Touring model. Great panniers, leak proof, what more would you want?

Mine are pretty beaten up, like the rest of the bike. It was a heavily abused shitter and a Hydro to boot! I've done the final recall on it, new clutch, gearbox rebuild, ew rings etc. I just need to motivate myself to finish it off!

The racks for the Mana do seem to put them a long way back and at an odd angle but probably no worse than the Givis.

The only problem I have with the c bow is the small size 22ltr and the lock pin that stops the bag from being pinched. That looks like it might wear out eventually. I do find the plastic carry clips great for attaching large seat bags.
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The luggage appears to be sitting quite high. Is this not a concern?

You jest! You ought to see what my Mana looks like from the rear! With the Givi 35 litre hard bags on it it looks like Kim Kardashian twerking!

That bag is sitting on the back seat and the red thing is my sleeping bag. The other small bag is carrying all my beauty products.

what about the fuel bottle how did you attach it and where?

I made a bracket from sheet metal and attached it to the c bow bolts.

On my C-Bows I run a camp chair and stretcher in behind the brackets, one each side - both attached with velcro. Keeps some things a bit lower to assist he centre of gravity.

My C-bows. Work well. Plus looks rather discrete with the bags of.

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