Redesigned chrome rear rack

[hcstrider]

My wife and I purchased a new 2006 Buddy last weekend. This classic sunset colored Buddy is her new scooter and she is having fun breaking in the engine. My projects are to add the accessories such as a rear chrome rack, matching Genuine sunset top case and Culpini short windshield.

On our Buddy Italia we have the original style chrome rear rack. On ModernBuddy I have read how Genuine redesigned the chrome rear rack but this has been my first opportunity to compare both the original and redesigned racks. For those of us with the original rack I thought that I would compare the two. The picture of the green Italia Buddy is the original design and the picture of the sunset Buddy is the new design.

The improvements that Genuine added to the redesigned rear rack are:

1 – a stronger crossbar support with stronger welds. In the original design the less strong crossbar weld was prone to breaking.

2 – at the crossbar attachment bolt they added a rubber gasket which is the piece that comes in contact with the plastic panels. In the original design a metal gasket came in contact with the plastic panels and some Buddies have had the plastic break. The rubber gasket will help soften the contact with the plastic panels.

3 – at the front attachment points they added large metal gaskets to spread out the downward force of the rack’s bolt and prevent the plastic panel from cracking. They also added a lock washer and changed the front bolts to a hex bolt to prevent over-tightening the front bolts. The only thing that I might add to the front attachment bolts is a rubber gasket that comes in contact with the plastic panels (similar to the rubber gasket on the rear crossbar bolt).

All in all I thought that these were good improvements in the redesigned rear chrome rack and I think that I might add some of those improvements like the rubber gaskets to my original chrome rack.

[jmazza]

They also added a lock washer and changed the front bolts to a hex bolt to prevent over-tightening the front bolts.

Thanks for posting this- I guess I have the new rack because I have that kind of hardware.

How do hex bolts prevent over tightening? I've been afraid that I might have had them too tight.

[Leeroy Jenkins]

have they fixed the bad rusting problem?

[hcstrider]

How do hex bolts prevent over tightening? I've been afraid that I might have had them too tight.

On the redesigned rack I think I should have called the front bolts/screws a hex screw instead of a hex bolt.

The original rack had more of a hex bolt head so you could use a ratchet wrench to screw it down pretty tight. I tend to get over zealous when I am using a ratchet wrench because the longer handle of the wrench allows me to really tighten down the bolt pretty tight.

The new design is a hex screw which uses hex key/Allen wrench to screw it down. Because the hex key is a lot shorter and flimsier than a ratchet wrench, I tend not tighten the hex screws quite as tight as I would if I was tightening a hex bolt with a ratchet wrench.

[hcstrider]

have they fixed the bad rusting problem?

I am not a expert but it looks to me like both the original and redesigned chrome racks are made of the same metal.