This is Part 1 in a three part story:  Part 1 or Part 2 or Part 3 of this drama.

One of my checklist items was to remount my Pelican case and start sorting out my handheld CB and antennae mount on a plate I had made.

I was pretty tickled with myself for the mounting plate, finding the recessed fasteners, and even powdercoated the plate for the original Pelican case farkle.

However, I spotted a problem. My rear subframe was cracked! So much for my fabrication skills.

So, I’ve been glumly thinking about the rear sub frame, priced a new one out as around $500, had a little trouble finding a welder, and generally bummed. The moment arm of the case caused too much flex for the cast aluminum to take and I had only put about 2000 miles on the rack.

I ran across Tobie Stevens that now has the FJR that is actually the 2003 bike pictured in the original article and told him about my dilemma. I made a bet that he had the same problem even though he has over 100,000 miles on the bike and pushed on the frame a bit and it seemed intact. He had an extra clamp installed and may have helped.

I also worried about Lisa’s ‘06 as it has a Pelican installed too. We couldn’t see them at the scene because they had fuel cells install, but Tobie e-mailed confirmation a couple of days later 2003 had some cracks, but happily Lisa’s ‘06 seemed intact.

Tobie’s cracks were pretty similar to mine.

But the extra clamp he had run down ran through the two round holes to reduce moment-arm flex had actually broken a chunk completely off the bike and another hairline crack.

Tobie calle a few days later and said not only did he find a welder to repair things and he had him weld in some reinforcements.

I’d have used the same welder, but he’s increasingly booked up over the Spring and couldn’t leave my bike for two days when I live 100 miles from home. So, I took my bike to a local guy and he was all gung-ho about fixing it and even gusseting it, but when I asked where I should park my bike he gave me a very blank look.

“……Park? I guess you could do that. You brought all your tools?”

“Yeah, the plastic pops off relatively easily and figure a wet towel under the tail will keep slag from burning things.”

…another blank look. “You’re not thinking of leaving the subframe on the bike are you? The high-frequency from the TIG welding could kill your electronics.”

…now I have a blank look. “But, my buddy Tobie did it.”

Suffice it to say that I rode the bike home and am rethinking my plan. With various ABS sensors and being in the IBR I just don’t want to risk it. It’s going to be a bunch of extra work, but there will be another article and pictures about about taking off my subframe.

I’m planning on starting this weekend after a RTE Saturday.
Meanwhile, I’ll rethink my bracket design and have some pretty good ideas using the existing rack as a mounting point. It holds on at 5 points instead of 3. New and improved design to follow.