Best Hard bags for 6th Generation

It's a no-brainer. The OEM bags ARE GIVI, and they ARE awesome. My bike came with them when I bought the bike, along with the bag liners. The bag liners are ok, but they only fit the inner half of the entire hard case. Can't complain though since they also came with the bike when I bought it. Just a heads-up if you were thinking about the liners.

 

The OEMs are nice but the deciding factor for me is the way the stay kit blends into the VFR's lines, unlike the standard Givi stays which, IMO, stick out like a sportbike at Sturgis...

 

I have pictures posted of what they support looks like. With my white bike, I don't think it looks bad, most like a bracket that protects the exhaust.

 

Actually, I've thought the same thing...:first:

 

I have the OEM bags, but would go with the Givis if I had to do it again.

 

Well, color me curious, why would you go with the GIVI's over the stockers???

 

Uh, you do know the OEMs are also made by Givi?

 

I heared that same thing, which is why I was curious as to why he would go with the GIVI branded bags over Honda's.

 

Id only ever go OEM you can get them cheaper online. like under $900. better than paying dealer cost. everyone I know loves them! color matched and contoured to fit the bike! Do a google search for better prices

 

I dont think thats true

 

OEM here. Biggest problem is the cost. Other than that, totally worth it. Buy some cheap and paint them to match if need be.

 

The Honda ones are definately by Givi.

I would go with the Givis for a couple of reasons, one, I hate the design of the "Honda" mounts, very poor for an OEM application. Maybe I was spoiled by my BMW or FJR1300, but the Honda rack to me is very poorly designed, looks bad after a fair amount of use, the powdercoat scrapes off and rust starts to show. This isn't an issue I ever had with the Givi racks, since the attachment points aren't metal but instead plastic. If you loose any parts, as I did, Honda doesn't sell the parts seperately, the only option you have is to buy the whole mount kit again. With Givi or BMW for that matter, they allow you to go back and buy whatever parts you need/want. Both also also sell parts for the bags, like reflectors, logos, lock cores, etc. BMW will even sell you the lids seperately if you have a tipover and don't want a whole new bag. Honda won't. The install on the Honda ones are ridicoulous too, why would I need a drill for OEM bags?? The Givi rack would also give you a much larger choice of bags, you want small, you buy small, you want cavernous, you can buy those too. With the Honda ones, you have the one size only. Also, the Givi are cheaper, and you can take them with you to your next bike, or if you have a Givi bag from a previous bike, all you need is the bike adaptor. Pretty cheap overall. I had a Givi topcase that was on 3 different bikes, if you amortorize the cost over multiple bikes, it is fairly cheap. With the Givis, you can also get a brake light on the top case and blinkers on the sidecases if you want to increase visibility, important for those of us that commute a lot. The top case on the OEM set also doesnt' have as much room as it looks like. The only reason to go for the OEM one is that they obviously look more integrated, but that is it.

 

cheaper here...

A friend referred me to this site. The bags are a lot cheaper. I didnt get mine here, wish I would have.
Motorcycle dealer selling, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha and Honda Motorcycle accessories

 

I got my OEM cases and stay kit from Rich Rouche Motorsports for $804 shipped, where the local shop wanted $1545, plus tax.

While I'm thinking about it, does anybody have the top case? Comments?

 

Hi Spike,

You have some excellent points ... hight price and rusting metal bracket. I didn't have to drill for my install though. I prefer to have to repaint the metal bracket rather than have to deal with a plastic bracket. Besides if the metal bracket breaks I can run down to the machine shop and get it fixed.

Honda does not seem to sell spare parts for the case so don't break it. Not sure what that is all about.

 

There is a way to get parts for the OEM but you have to be determined and not take any variant of "no" for an answer. While installing the stay kit, I'd tore both rubber spacers (brain farted and put 'em on the wrong sides) and was told replacements could NOT be had without buying a whole kit. I called "Greg" at Honda Customer Relations and he said he'd look into it. 2 months later a pair of brand-new spacers arrived in the mail. The guy had stuck with the thing long after I'd given up hope and forgotten about it and when he couldn't not find spacers any place else had a set pulled "directly off the factory assembly line".

 

Everybody on here has great posts about what they've got, whether it's the regular Givi or the OEM. Both have their pros and cons, but it all comes down to what you value most. Do you want something that looks better without sacrificing a lot of performance, or something that has a lot of performance without sacrificing looks? I've got the Honda bags on my '07 RWB and love them.

 

I had the Givi V35 on my last bike. First time I opened them and the screw that holds the strap in place to stop the lid fully opening rips out. The case on one side fitted and came off with no problems but on the other I had to force it in to the bottom two lugs and was nearly lifting the bike off the floor to remove them.

 

Never ever had or heard of a problem with a givi rack, and not all of it (at least the ones I have personally seen) is made of plastic, but the points where the bags rub is. And it is not like some sort of flimsy flexible plastic, there is no flex in it. And if I am not mistiaken, even on the Honda bags, the part that grabs the rack is plastic, but I might be wrong, can't remember for sure. So it isn't like a built in fail point because it is plastic.

As for the part, a couple of years ago I moved, and lost track of the metal bracket that goes on the fender under the license plate. I used to take the rack off when I didn't need the bags, since I found the rack so ugly. But this might have been from when I bought the bike used, and the rack came unattached, don't remember. Figured, OK, I screwed up, I'll have to buy that stupid piece of sheet metal for a stupid Honda price. Went online for the part number, couldn't find it in the online parts fische. Went to my dealer, they couldn't locate it either, either in their parts listing, nor by calling their rep with Honda. Next I called the 800 number, national Honda America customer service, they couldn't locate a part number or way to get it either. Said they would look into it and call me back. They called me back a couple days later and said nope, couldn't do it, they only imported the kits as a whole, not the parts to the kits. Couldn't break up a kit. Givi America said no, they couldn't sell or even order the Honda parts as Honda had the rights to them. I couldn't get the part at all. Stupid little piece of metal and it cost me like a couple hundred bucks for the whole kit again, plus express shipping as I was leaving on a trip. Someone on here was kind enough to trace it for me and mail it to me so I could make my own, but I ended up not having time.

If you look at how well the bag mounts are integrated on most BMWs, like the K series, or expecially the Yamaha FJR1300, where when the bags are off you really see nothing to indicate the mounts, you really wonder why with Honda's engineering skill, they couldn't have done something similar.

 

That really surprises me, having had Givi bags on several bikes, I never had any problems at all -- well besides me scuffing them up with my boots sometimes getting on and off the bike. They always worked well, and I used to put 20-25,000 miles a year on my bikes.

I really thought about going with the Givis on this bike, given the positive history I had with them, but in the end I went with the Honda ones because I thought they looked better, and didn't imagine what a pain it would be to put the rack on and off when I wanted to. I also no longer had my Givi bags that I had used on several previous bikes, because when I bought my FJR1300 it came with saddlebags, so I sold the old Givis off on EBay.