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European Parts on a US Suzuki S40 LS650

The Europeans seem to have large pool of aftermarket Suzuki Savage parts than we have in the USA.  I wanted to update my luggage rack from the flimsy OEM version and wanted to replace the sissy bar that I hacked off to mount my luggage rack.

Finding a Sissy Bar on EBay


I wanted something different than an OEM Sissy Bar and the "artistic" Sissy Bars that show up on the US EBay site.

I purchased a JF Motorsport  256220000650 Aluminum SissyBar on Ebay.  The product sticker makes it look like the bar was made in 1999. Freight from Europe was reasonable and 3 weeks later it showed up. 








I really like the look of the bar and back rest.  It is the same height as OEM with a larger pad. You can see it mounted on my bike here. The turn signal is loose because in preparation for mounting the luggage described later.

There are, however, some things purchasers should be aware of.
  1. The padded backrest is bigger than the OEM and significantly less rigid. The backing panel is smaller and the pad wiggles from side to side.  Screw holes are different than the OEM so they can't be swapped.
  2. The top screw hole on the bar is one size smaller, essentially the same diameter as the turn signal mounting bolt. This means you need an extra pair of screws if you wish to replace an OEM bar with this one.

Hepco and Becker Luggage Rack.

The German company Hepco and Becker makes two luggage racks for the LS650 and two luggage rack / side mount combinations.  The luggage racks are described as 96 and earlier and Post 97 with Original Sissy Bar. I ordered the Post 97 because my bike is a  2007.  That was probably a mistake.  They are talking about the German specific sissy bar that apparently started being used in 2007.  The German Side Rails have a turn signal extension on them that moves the turn signals back about an inch. The rack mounts using two screws on each side.  The 96 and earlier bar may be a better choice for non-German bikes.

One bolt replaces the bolt that goes up and into a threaded opening on the end of the Sissy Bar. The other replaces the turn signal retaining screw. Hepco and Becker supplies all of the hardware.  I found that the screws provided to go into the sissy bar were not long enough. I couldn't get it to catch with the provided washers.  The screws are a little short for my taste especially with my aluminum Sissy Bar.  I replaced them with slightly longer Metric screws I purchased at the hardware stores.  You can see the rack with German side rails in the next picture.   The racks take 4 weeks to come from Germany so I decided to instead order a pair of German side rails. You can see all of this in this picture.


Side Rail Variations

There are two side rail variations in the USA and apparently another one in German.  

  1. Side Rails with Sissy Bar mount points that were standard on pre-S40 bikes and that come with the S40 Sissy Bar upgrade kit.  They mount with 4 screws and are slightly longer than the non-sissy-bar compatible rails that come with S40 Boulevards
  2. S40 OEM standard equipment rails. They come with 3 bolt mount points that are in the same locations mount points on the earlier versions. 
  3. German side rails with Turn signal extensions added. They move the turn signal mount point moved back about an inch.  The H&B rack I bought mounts to the extensions so that is what I now have on my S40.

The following picture shows the German rails on the outside, the traditional Sissy Bar compatible LS650 rails next in on each side  and,  the newer S-40 standard side rails in the center. I'm not exactly sure why the newest rails have the most rust on them.


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