Lockhart Tail Piece

Lockhart Tail Piece

EVALUATION

Funny thing about racks. They are one of the most popular accessories for motorcycles (outsold only by crash bars), yet there is hardly ever anything written about them. In times past a rack was what you bought to carry stuff on if what you had to carry couldn’t fit in your coat and saddlebags weren't acceptable.

Now comes touring as a big business and full dressers are an art form. Racks, for their part, are becoming sophisticated. Sure, there’s still the same not-too-wellchromed collection of steel tubes being sold. There’s also the Lockhart Tail Piece.

Unlike many of the racks seen before, the Lockhart rack isn’t made of tubular steel, and it isn’t chromed. It’s made of three pieces, all aluminum. There are two side rails that bolt to the upper shock mount and the rear signal light mount. One of the mounting holes is elongated to make sure the side rails will fit despite production tolerances. Mounting between the two siderails is a flat cast aluminum panel, curved in front and in back to lend a little style and allow the seat to hinge up without contact with the rack. Six countersunk bolts hold the side rails onto the main rack with the help of self-locking nuts.

For the black Suzuki GS750 the Lockhart Tail Piece would be mounted on, Lockhart sent a rack with shiny black sidepieces. Polished chrome also is available. The top part of the rack is the same for either model: Polished aluminum with four pieces of ribbed vinyl inlaid on top of the flat portion. The appearance is, at once, both more attractive and less obtrusive than other racks.

In terms of carrying position, a rack is inherently all wrong. No way should extra weight be carried behind the rear axle and up high. Yet racks are popular and we all use them to carry items because they are convenient. Lockhart has a label on the rack warning riders not to put more than 30 lb. load on the rack. That’s a reasonable figure, the rack appears able to hold that much safely, yet the sticker isn’t likely to keep inveterate packrats from trying to carry 100 lb. duffle bags on the rack.

Being different isn’t always good. In daily use the Lockhart rack had one minor shortcoming, or, more correctly, a nuisance. Strapping bungie cords to the Lockhart rack is difficult at times. There aren’t the usual tubes and edges ready to hold any bungie. Instead, they can be strapped to the side pieces up front or to the rear edge in back, though that’s not the best grip back there. No, the Lockhart rack requires the rider/teamster to develop new strapping techniques which we’ve yet to fully master.

And what about the rack’s ability to carry a common box? It’s large enough, at 12 by 12.5 in. But mounting most of the rear boxes means drilling holes in the pretty aluminum casting.

What the Lockhart rack does best is simply be there. The touring rider with a hundred accessories around it would never appreciate it. The utilitarian rider will be just as happy with a rusty old chromed rack.

For the rider who appreciates style and occasionally needs a rack to carry items, the Lockhart is just fine.

Lockhart’s Tail Piece is a quality product and comes with a lifetime warranty on the main metal pieces and a one-year warranty on hardware and the vinyl mats. It’s also expensive at $99.95 for the black version and $119.95 for the polished aluminum.

Available through dealers, or contact Lockhart Industries, 15557 Texaco St., Paramount, Calif. 90723.