Bear in mind....right now, ya likely won't see any crackin' - the ABS is still "fresh", an' therefore very pliable. With exposure ta sun an' other oxydizers, however, ah'm thinkin' it'll git more brittle - jest as the Wings did. Price a TP lid, then compare ta the cost of a coupla star washers....

 

Haven't had any problems thus far with mine. However, seems like everytime we hit the road, the wife packs more stuff. On our last 2300 miler, had a suitcase, leathers and a bunch of other stuff on top of the tour pac. was thinking about beefing it up like TR recommends with the washers, since all that weight is focused on the 4 small mounting points where the legs of the rack bolt to the tour pac. Ended up getting a Bushtec trailer instead. Still can ride with no problems through the twisties, but without the extra weight (especially up high on the tour pac). Only problem now is limiting how much war paint the wife absolutely has to take.

 

over 20 pounds over time will cause cracking.

 

In reverse order of comments, yeah -- it was 78 here in Houston yesterday, and I put 430 miles on the bike going up to east Texas, through the Piney woods, etc... Great ridin' in Texas in the winter!

Now to the TP issue: Yes, I've heard of the TP cracking, but you should have seen the bags -- and weight -- the guy was carrying! I've done several things to hopefully avoid having to replace the thing:

1. The 'star' washers mentioned above are great for distributing the weight.
2. I limit the bag's weight to no more than 25 pounds.
3. The bag that is inside the tour pack is full, and the lid of the TP closes down on top of that bag -- it gives the lid more support from inside. If there isn't enough stuff inside the bag in the TP (rarely happens), I take something out of the bag on top to 'pad' the top of the inside of the TP.
4. Tie the bag on the TP very tightly to the luggage rack -- it keeps the possibility of pounding and slamming to a minimum when you hit one of those road hop-then-dip undulations.

Hope that helps!

 

Have my tour pack set up with detachable hardware, so when not being used, just pop it off, put it up on the shelf and install the passenger backrest / sissybar .

[IMG]local://upfiles/39392/339C0FC016A6472FBD4C4E44786980D2.jpg[/IMG]

 

I've had some hairline cracks in the lid -- appear to be more in the paint than the plastic. This was caused by my own stupidity. Be sure when and if you put your helmet in the tourpak that there's nothing under it and that it fits completely without putting force on the lid. A few times at work I put the helmet in on top of a gloveand it put the lid under slight pressure whenclosed. At least I noticed the hairline cracks before anything serious happened. Really not noticeable except to me (but I see it all the time). [:'(]

 

First slightly over stuff the inside of the TP with soft stuff, that will help support the lid and prevent the weight on top from cracking it (small yippy poodles work good).

Texas red why would you use a star washer to prevent cracks?
A large outside diameter fender washer would supply more surface area.
Star washer is like a lock washer, holds everything tighter (just has more biting teeth around inside or outside circumference).