I have spent the greater part of my weekend trying to fit a Craven "L"(?)
luggage rack to my '72 R75/5 SWB. It came to me with 4 "S" shaped brackets
with holes drilled in them (2 longer ones and 2 shorter ones). The shorter
ones seem a nice fit to attach to the same bolt that holds the shock to the
frame and the offset was just right to clear the aluminum can on top of the
spring. Lo and behold the hole was the right size, too! I figured I could
attach there to start and figure out the attachment of the longer brackets,
securing to the rack and to the frame under the seat later.

Problem is that the shock are not symetrical to the frame. The left one is
secured (with an additional welded bracket) to the outside of the frame and
the right one is secured to the inside. Hmmmm... never noticed that
before.... wonder why? Anyway, this causes my rack to get all "askew" and
"caddywompus" and ruins the nice lines that are part of why I love the /5's.

I tried slipping the rack's S bracket into the additional welded piece
with the shock, but it won't go in there.

I tried fabricating another S bracket with 3/4" less offset, but then I ran
into clearance problems - the front of the rack touching the can atop the
shock and the seat not being able to open.

I tried using the longer S brackets in the front.

Then, I decided I'd just move the whole thing aft so that I would not have
to deal with the asymmetrical shock mount problem, but that can't be right.
The rack shouldn't have to be so far back behind the seat and it leaves me
no where to mount the second set of S brackets, since the plate under the
seat does not extend far enough back.

Do I have a rack that's not meant for a /5 SWB? Or.... maybe i just have
brackets that aren't meant for a /5 SWB? Has anyone figured a way to get
around this asymmetrical shock problem when using those bolts as mounting
points for either Craven or any other style rack? Don't the Krauser racks
use that same bolt? Anyone have pictures of Craven mounting hardware
actually on a /5 SWB?

If you've read this far, please throw in your two cents...
Lance
Corvallis, OR




On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 6:32 AM, Toaster.Tan <bikesx5@...> wrote:

>
>
> Fivers with Cravens -
> I will try to provide photos and info for mounting Craven panniers as I
> have 8-9 sets and a fair amount of experience with them.