Well at weekend we finally picked up the H-D Solo Luggage Rack for the Deluxe and Heritage that we order back in March Part Number 50300154, (The Gloss Black version being Part Number 50300156)
Well Where do I start, it eventually arrived after after being ordered back in March... lots of delivery dates that then changed!
The issue, nobody knew if it was going to be detachable or not!
H-D USA site and catalogues say it is not and it is shown with pictures, H-D Europe site and catalogues say it is and again show pictures... the issue, they both have the same part number!
The excitement when we open the box, non-detachable, so that means we don't have to buy the extra detachable fitting kit!
Right, so the rack looks like the US site one, but really could have done with the chrome being polished more where it mounts to the seat fittings.... It also will fit with saddle bags, another uncertainly, not answered by H-D
The next issue, the holes do not line up well with their counter parts on the rails, so a fair amount of force required to get it to fit!
So we get the Rack fitted, looks good, enough clearance, although close to the rear fender (we are talking less than a quarter inch more like 3/16ths at the tightest), very solid no movement when forced down.
However now if you want to remove the seat you have to remove the rack first, so two side bolts and the two seat nuts. Makes adjusting the suspension a bit of a task and more than a five minute job now requiring a Torx driver for the saddle bag bolts and deep socket for the nuts, you'd struggle with a spanner, you'd also really want to consider putting a towel or something soft between the rack and fender when removing it so as not to mark the paint.
(This could have been a real issue if detachable as shown above, because once you undid the set mounting nuts it would have a real tendency to slip back on the bobbins and mark the paint!)
The next issue, go to refit the saddle bags, very tight on the right side front bobbin, in fact pulls the rubber off the bag getting the bag off
On inspection the bobbin goes too far into the rack and basically makes the gap too small.
So we need a spacer of the right size, if too big the bag will be loose and rattle, that's the easy bit! The spacer has to fit inside the rack under the bobbin and needs a 3/8 clearance hole!
The right thickness was easy enough to determine, by just placing washers in the hole and seeing what thickness washer was required to get a snug fit on the rubber but on too tight!
The difficult part was getting the right size to fit in the hole in the rack and have a 3/8 clearance hole in the middle..... try drilling a washer out... especially a stainless one, not easy....
Solution a nylon washer and some good old gasket punches to get it the right inside & outside dimensions...
We now have the rack and saddle bags fitted!
Could do with some more polishing on the seat mount, the chrome is quite dull
Conclusion it is a good solid rack that is very usable but H-D are regressing in time and going back to the AMF days, when nothing fitted and things had to be modified to work, if their quality and quality control carry on like this they are in very big trouble as people either can't or won't be able to fix it or put up with it!
I had the same confusion / dilemma and ended up not ordering one. I actually wanted a detachable arrangement to conveniently remove for the pillion saddle, shock preload adjustment, etc, when needed. Now i’m glad I didn’t order one. Will have to wait and see if what I want ever eventuates. Thanks for the info.
Sorry to hear it's a bit of trouble. However, it does look good on the bike. Thanks for the pics because I now see how the new detach system works. I think I like the old way better. Motherwell is where I get my fender racks. They will probably have one for the 18's soon, if not already.
I ordered the solo rack and at the time it was backordered. Received it yesterday and what should've been a 15 minute job turned into a couple of hours. Same issues; had to open up the forward mounting holes just to get the rear holes close to where I could start the bolts. Cross threaded one of the nut plates and had to use a tap to clean it up. It looks good but it should've been a quick install. I bet they get a lot of returns on this rack.
08-06-2018, 01:35 PM
2018 Deluxe & Heritage Solo Racks
