My bike has hauled a bull moose 4 miles out of the bush on the racks in 2 trips, my wife's has hauled a large, cast iron wood stove over to the neighbour's place. I believe the old rack limits were set on the very safe side by lawyers and we could push the limits much farther. Now that we want more power (bigger bikes) but no extra weight, we are paying the price of weight savings in the racks.

 

yeah, I looked at the weld and bracket set up near the coolant tank and the voltage box... I am not exactly impressed as If i welded like that in school I would have had to take the class again

 

I can accept that they are trying to save weight, but there is no excuse for poor welds. If some robot (or even a real person) is doing the same weld over and over there is no reason it shouldn't be perfect. Any one else have poor welds on their Hondas? I'm not knocking Honda (yet?), but poor welds would be a sign of sloppy manufacturing and/or lack of quality control.

 

Thanks for your reply.I have a plastic box that weighs about 25lbs and i carry about 60lbs of camping gear. i do ride over rough trailes. i had a 300 four/trax and road the same trails for 6years with more weight and never had had a problem.

 

TexMud.A 25lb plastic box with about 60lbs of camping gear. i beleave honda rated the rear racks at 165lbs.

 

thenewfiebullet:you are 100% correct.the older honda was a better built wheeler.

 

I put a total of 85 to 90lbs on my rear rack. i beleave honda rates the rubicon rear rack at about 165lbs. i beleave its poor welds,light metel. so they can keep the weight down.