Looks like now is the time to take advantage of Phil's luggage rack with 10% off.
I just purchased one of Phil's racks, so that should qualify me to make an evaluation. First off all, I would like to start out by saying I'm a very picky person. Every detail is extremely important to me anytime I make anything. I'm a gun builder and competition shooter, so attention to detail has always been important.
Now back to the luggage rack. My first intention was to write a CNC program, and make the rack myself. By doing this I would be assured of quality that I would approve of. After all, if I can make it myself, why pay for someone else to do it? Sometimes, that is the best way to look at it, and occasionally it's the wrong way. If you do everything yourself, you never have time left to do anything else. This was one of those times. When Phil's rack came in, I just kept looking at all the attention to detail. This thing is a work of art. This is what kawasaki should be making. This was one of those rare times (and I mean really rare) that I was really glad that I just paid someone else to get what I want.
For mods, I purchased the Givi NNT Monokey, and the E135 light kit. The trunk goes really well with my black bike. The light kit has some nice design to it, but not without it's problems. The contacts that are supposed to connect when you close the lid, didn't make contact. I had to heat and bend the bottom mount sideways about 1/16". The next problem was the location of the knockout in the bottom of the trunk. It was in a bad location to use Phil's rack. I corrected that to a location that allowed me to bore a hole in Phil's rack that finished out beautifully. My next disappointment was the fact that it was brake lights only. I was hoping the LED lights would be dim for running lights, and bright for brake lights. This problem was solved by putting a diode in the brake light and running light wires. It was also required to put a resister in the running light wire to make the LED's dim until the brake was engaged. That method works perfectly. It is also possible to re-key the lock, and use the same key as the bike. This can be anywhere from free, to $30, depending on the security level you need. The free way for me was that two wafers (or tumblers) were usable. I don't have to have the utmost in security. All I know is that now my bike key works, but the original trunk key doesn't. The $30 method is to buy the trunk lock from Kawasaki, and move the wafers around to match your bike key.
The other mod was a charging port. Since I used a barrel connector, it can easily double as an accessory port. See pictures below.
Michael
