[MrSandman818]

I was wondering, why not just have the space accessible from under the seat and have NO doors. Seems like you would have cleaner lines and you wouldn't have thing s falling out when you open the doors.

Thanks guys for the support! Im all about the cause, thats why im shareing my idea and how to do it. Maybe it'll inspire someone to come up with something else. I actually already drew up a diagram for haveing the 2 saddle bags without doors and the front and rear seat would be a one piece unit and they would be on a hinge that mounts to the side and the rear subframe would be re-arranged to make more space along with the wheel well being cut out and moved down a little for a super huge trunk that would be able to carry almost as much as a full dress bagger. You could have a cowl instead of a rear seat but im married and my wife would be ****ed if i got rid of her seat. But that may be the direction ill end up takeing later. This was just a prototype.

But I did take it for a 50 mile test ride and it held up. I didnt even notice it was on the bike! So Thats good to know. I Just have to work on the hinges now and get em all lined up and install the weather stripping then it should be ready for the rain!

Heres what it looks like on my bike so far...



And heres a pic to show the clearance between my size 12 and the bag

[barryjay]

Not looking bad. Thanks for the update.

[Waltari]

Still looking a bit rough, but the idea is coming along nicely. How long before they're in primer/paint?

[Fullmetal]

Huh... Pretty cool man. Very creative.

[garrisonls]

It's lookin' good man, but that's a lot of work. You could just use regular saddle bags and tie a pitbull to your bike.

[600toStart]

[ThAzKat]

Good Concept! Good Creativity!
I was also wondering why doors on the side not the top or inside access?
I really like the idea tho! I also would have built the turn signals into them! The wider look is sweet!

[MrSandman818]

Still looking a bit rough, but the idea is coming along nicely. How long before they're in primer/paint?

It's lookin' good man, but that's a lot of work. You could just use regular saddle bags and tie a pitbull to your bike.

Good Concept! Good Creativity!
I was also wondering why doors on the side not the top or inside access?
I really like the idea tho! I also would have built the turn signals into them! The wider look is sweet!

Waltari- Im still tryin to fill in the low spots and get the hinges where I want them, Still haveing clearance issues with the door.

garrisonls- If it was easy then everyone would be doin it. And the pitbull idea is nice and all, but id have to do it like in Turner and Hooch and ride really slow with the dog on the leash runnin next to me.

ThAzKat- Thanks man, Inside acess is pretty unrealistic because its such a tight space and you wouldnt be able to acess it, much less shove your crap in there. and if the door was on the top like how I was going to origionally do it then it would be too skinny. I had to keep the bag width down to keep it as sleek as possible. I figured if that if I couldnt fit my hand in it then how would i get my crap outta the bag. much less use the whole bag because the storage space goes all the way back to the tail light. Its super small but you can shove some wrenchs and screw drivers back there and keep the larger things like your wet weather gear up by the door. And for the turnsignal idea I was really thinking about like frenching them into the bag but I wasnt too fond of haveing to disconnect the wires and reconnect them everytime I needed to pull it off. Granted I am running some wires into the bag for the interior light. Guess im only part hippocrate.

And thanks to everyone elses support and questions and or comments. Weather its good or bad.

[ThAzKat]

I do like the concept, hope to see more updates! How often do you plan on putting them on and taking them off? seems you plan on doing that a lot.

[garrisonls]

garrisonls- If it was easy then everyone would be doin it. And the pitbull idea is nice and all, but id have to do it like in Turner and Hooch and ride really slow with the dog on the leash runnin next to me.

Well, I'm anxious to see the final product. It's looking awesome so far. You have more patience than I do. If I had another bike, I might take a stab at it myself but I don't want the down time. Keep the pictures coming. I think you have everyone's interest.

[MrSandman818]

I do like the concept, hope to see more updates! How often do you plan on putting them on and taking them off? seems you plan on doing that a lot.

Well, I'm anxious to see the final product. It's looking awesome so far. You have more patience than I do. If I had another bike, I might take a stab at it myself but I don't want the down time. Keep the pictures coming. I think you have everyone's interest.

ThAzKat- Thanks bro, Once the bags all said and done then the only time im going to take em off is to replace blown fuses. I just like to try and keep things somewhat simple. Its hard to not go OCD on this kinda stuff.
I try to get to the saddle bags as much as possible but im also a full time student at a diesel tech school and im doing a engine swap on my 68 mg midget. Im dropping a bmw m10 with the 5 speed gettreg tranny and a t3 turbo in it...slowly but surely. And dont get me started on my 3 dirt bikes and my atc. too many pipe dreams, haha.

garrisonls- Im pretty stoked about it too. Everytime I actually get down and dirty with the saddle bag I just go crazy and end up in the garage till like 1 or 2am and I gotta get up for school at 0530. The next day usually sux @$$ though. Plus this is the only way ill get maintance done on it because ill end up riding it till the wheels fall off. And riding in Washington this time of year sucks without heated gear. Hope Santa pulls through this year with the heated gear!

[MrSandman818]

Re-enforced the door and starting to make backing for the weather stripping! So far so good.








Heres some pics of the back side of the saddle bag to show the relief spots to clear the fuse box and subframe bolts.


Hey "Steves"- Heres the rear mounting bracket that bolts up to the rear grab bar, Works great. It didnt fall off on the 50 mile test run goin up to 80mph.

[BigFish]

Hmm, the only weirdness is the 90 degree angle that is made between the sides of the seat and the custom fairing. I wonder if making the seat wider would fix this. On the other hand I've always thought saddle bags looked weird and like your solution a great deal more.

[Wheel]

Neat idea. It is that time of year when I can't just ride in with a single jacket. It's too cold in the morning for mesh, and it's 85 when I ride out. I gotta run my saddlebags all year except in the summer.

I don't have any heated gear, I've found that waterproof (windproof) gear along with some good thermals (fleece stuff is awesome) is enough to stay warm. That, and handlebar muffs :P

But yes, gotta have a place to store all that crap!!!! I like the concept. I think you could make the door look cleaner by making a new door that fits with tighter clearances after straightening up the hole a bit. Have you considered making it a slider instead of on hinges?

Another option for the door would be to make it a lot longer, like the entire length of the fairing, and hinge it on the bottom so it opens all the way up more like a real saddlebag. You could put a net that runs the length of the "bag", but only halfway up if you know what I mean, so that you could open the whole thing up and not have stuff falling out.

Also, Is this going over the stock fairing piece? why not remove the stock rear piece altogether and make this as a replacement for that? wouldn't you have more room inside that way?

Just throwing ideas out there, don't mean to criticize. I know how it is, those of us who aren't doing anything find it easy to criticize the work of those who are.

[MrSandman818]

Hmm, the only weirdness is the 90 degree angle that is made between the sides of the seat and the custom fairing. I wonder if making the seat wider would fix this. On the other hand I've always thought saddle bags looked weird and like your solution a great deal more.

Neat idea. It is that time of year when I can't just ride in with a single jacket. It's too cold in the morning for mesh, and it's 85 when I ride out. I gotta run my saddlebags all year except in the summer.

I don't have any heated gear, I've found that waterproof (windproof) gear along with some good thermals (fleece stuff is awesome) is enough to stay warm. That, and handlebar muffs :P

But yes, gotta have a place to store all that crap!!!! I like the concept. I think you could make the door look cleaner by making a new door that fits with tighter clearances after straightening up the hole a bit. Have you considered making it a slider instead of on hinges?

Another option for the door would be to make it a lot longer, like the entire length of the fairing, and hinge it on the bottom so it opens all the way up more like a real saddlebag. You could put a net that runs the length of the "bag", but only halfway up if you know what I mean, so that you could open the whole thing up and not have stuff falling out.

Also, Is this going over the stock fairing piece? why not remove the stock rear piece altogether and make this as a replacement for that? wouldn't you have more room inside that way?

Just throwing ideas out there, don't mean to criticize. I know how it is, those of us who aren't doing anything find it easy to criticize the work of those who are.

jtdybr-What do you mean by "weirdness is the 90 degree angle"? Im not trackin.

Wheel- Im not looking for a bunch of yes men, Constructive criticizem is always a good thing in my book. I totally understand about the freezing your *** off part and not being able to afford heated gear(or wanting to drop that kinda chedder on it). The other day when it was 34 outside I got desperate and shoved hand warmers in my gloves, taped them to my hand grips, and taped them to the tops of my shoes along with wearing a t-shirt, 2 thermals, and the winter liner and mesh armor jacket. Then i had thermal pants, jeans and my snow boarding pants and 2 pairs of thick black socks. Needless to say I was soo bundled up that I was fairly warm but not as agile on the bike. So it was yet another interesting 25 mile ride to school.

Now for the door. Its still a work in progress, the door has been stareing at me like a huge pimple on prom night. Im working on the alumunium strips that will be the base for the weather stripping. Once those are all said and done then im gonna pull the gel coat out again to fix all the high low spots along with door gaps and cockeyed lines. Now for the "slider" door, id honestly have to see it to get it. Im thinkin of something like a slider window on a jeep. I just wouldnt feel comfortable with something like that holding my worldly possesions when im goin 120. I want to be concentraiting on the road and not on weather or not my gear is safe. Especially since im going to have wrenches and such on board. Thats deadly to a fellow biker or motorist at those speeds. Maybe im just paranoid(well im always paranoid). This isnt supposed to be like every other saddlebag out there, thats why im the first to make it. The door would be too small by the tail section and it would just be a pain in the *** to try and squeeze my mitts in there to get something. And the saddle bag is a one piece unit that bolts right up. Your stock rear fairings come off and get hung on the wall or put up on craigslist if you so desire. I made the outter mold then once that was all said and done I made a second mold of the rear fairing and then I glassed the 2 together. If you look at the pics on page 6 I believe then you can see a couple shots of the back side of the saddle bag and you'll see that its all fiberglass back there.

You guys are definitly throwing out some valid points and im just picky with my vision. It took me 3 months to look for hinges and I ended up just buying some that were there the whole time just to modify them to do what I wanted. I appreciate all the resposes and I have already incorperated one of your guys ideas on the bag and its that much better for it! And thats also why im posting my build up, so maybe it will spark that light bulb and get some other project goin, or even a better version of what im makeing. Its all about the sport