V7 H&B rack with C-Bow mounts - It can be done!

[Clancy]

I recently got the Hepco & Becker C-Bow mounts & bags for my birthday (49th!).
When I first got the bike I installed the Hepco & Becker rear rack.
Imagine my surprise when after spending a cold but enjoyable evening in the workshop installing the new bag mounts, I found that the grab rail on the rear rack fouls with the C-Bow bag mount.





Since they both come from the same company, I figured I must have installed them wrong, but close inspection I realised it couldn't be done as is.
Checking the H&B website, I found that there are no pictures of a V7 with both C-Bow & rear rack.

I wanted to keep the rear rack since I can add a top box for longer tours, I like using the raised bar at the end of the seat as a handle when pushing the bike backwards and this same bar helps pillions feel more secure.
So, I opened another beer and started to figure out how to make it all work.

The simplest solution seemed to be to space out the actual "C-Bow' attachment and, after adding a bunch of washers, I reckoned 1/4" would probably do it.
Scrounging around my (woodworking) workshop, I found a 1/4" bar of aluminium jammed under a cupboard to level it  .
So I made up some spacers and it worked!









Add some black engine paint and some longer (& nicer) socket head bolts, and you wouldn't know it didn't come from the factory like this.





Woo Hoo! 

[Zoom Zoom]

Outstanding! I agree, you cannot tell it was not supposed to be that way. Nice work.

John Henry

[Kev m]

This is how we do it!!! 

[Cam3512]

If they were smart, they (HB) would make and sell those to work with THEIR own rack. 

Looks great!

[Toecutter]

??

I installed both the H&B rear carrier & the H&B C-Bow on my bike with zero issues. No interference whatsoever.

Odd.

[jas67]

??

I installed both the H&B rear carrier & the H&B C-Bow on my bike with zero issues. No interference whatsoever.

Odd.

+1.   On my V7R.   Things where a little tight, but worked.

[Toecutter]

Wasn't even "a little tight" for me. Everything fit perfectly and easily.

[Kev m]

??

I installed both the H&B rear carrier & the H&B C-Bow on my bike with zero issues. No interference whatsoever.

Odd.

I wonder if there are differences in bracket kits based on production times or changes in applications?

[jas67]

I wonder if there are differences in bracket kits based on production times or changes in applications?

There are two different part #'s, one for Classic/Stone/Special, and another (what I have) for Cafe Classic & Racer.

The Cafe/Racer version is higher and tilted forward to clear the up swept exhaust, which is why the bags that Cam now has on his Special didn't look right on my Racer.

[Kev m]

So you knowingly muddied the waters by not saying the Racer kit fits whereas the OP says the Stone/Special doesn't. 

[Clancy]

If they were smart, they (HB) would make and sell those to work with THEIR own rack. 

That was my first thought once done.

+1.   On my V7R.   Things where a little tight, but worked.

The racks for the V7R are different, as JAS67 explained

??
I installed both the H&B rear carrier & the H&B C-Bow on my bike with zero issues. No interference whatsoever.
Odd.

Is yours a Stone/Special?
Mine definately wouldn't work with a straight install, and I couldn't see how I could mount the C-Bow bracket in front of the rear rack bracket (at the attachment point under the seat).
If I've done something wrong I'm happy to be educated on the correct installation.

[Kev m]

Ya know I was thinking earlier he had a Racer, but checking his old posts it looks like he has a Special and his wife has a Stone.

So I wonder what different or what he did differently.

[Clancy]

Dunno then.

Here's the bottom 'exhaust' mount.
I tried placing the C-Bow arm between the exhaust & the frame but it didn't add enough to the spacing of the 2 racks.




Here's the top 'seat' mount.
No way of moving the C-Bow outward, although I did consider using the unused hole behind it and rotating the mounts slightly.
(The shroud inside the rear mudgaurd covers the inside opening, so I would have had to take the wheel off to drill a large enough hole in the shroud for a bolt head to fit.)




Here's the actual C-Bow mounting.
Everything came labelled left & right, but even if they were labelled incorrectly, nothing lined up swapping them over.




?Shrug?

[coastdude]

I have a special and when mounting the same combination of HB rack and C bows had to use a number of washers to gain enough space. No issues since doing this but it did seem odd at the time.

[Toecutter]

Lemme see if I can take some pics of my install. All I have right now are pics of the bike, all nice and set up, nothing showing "the works".

BTW... I ride a Special.

[Clancy]

I took the racks off for the DGR.
While they were off I had a closer look at them.
They are NOT the same.
Go figure?