I traded a Mustang Vintage Wide seat with backrest for a tripper with backrest and added new Willie & Max compact saddles ($95 shipped off eBay). I like the tripper seat better because it's much lower and smaller than the wide and feels more comfortable to me. I wanted small saddles so I didn't have to move my signals and I personally don't care for large bags unless you really need them. They are throw overs and I turned them into rigid mount by making brackets for the bottoms and adding 1/2" longer bolts for the fender behind the upper shock mounts. They are very solid and it's just what I was looking for. Big enough to hold some junk when needed but small enough to keep on the bike at all times without looking to huge. If I go on trips for a few days I also have a Kuryakyn classic tour bag to put on my solo rack. I'm looking forward to the ride to Sturgis this year now.

 

The bags look really good and for 95 bucks you scored...maybe more info on how you hard mounted them would be nice

 

I had a couple pieces of aluminum brackets from somewhere and some flat stock that I made mounts out of and painted black. They aren't the prettiest things in the world but no one is going to be getting on the ground to look under on how they are mounted. You are looking at the bottom of the left bag. I made a similar one for the other side but the flat stock was a little longer and a drilled and tapped a small hole in the outside of the swing arm for a mounting point. I made the mounts so I could actuate the bags to get them perfectly even. Then I bent the mounts using some force (while mounted tight to the bike) to get the spacing away from the fenders just right. Again, they aren't pretty but work like a champ.

 

So they don't attach to the struts or fender at all? Just the swing arm?

 

I put a 1/2" longer bolt in the fender behind the strut mount so it is attached. If I want to remove the bags I take out the longer fender bolts, put in the originals and take out the bolts/screws in the swing arms. About a 3 minute job total to remove.

 

So they can pivot independently when the swing arm moves but still remain attached to the struts right? Pretty clever.

 

They do some because there is a small channel in the flat bar at the top and bottom. Also the bottoms of the bags aren't real rigid so there is some give there. I don't think it's the best way to do it but I was trying to think outside the box. I took a 60 mile ride today and nothing seemed to be out of whack when I got back but I still might try to create something else as I like to tinker. Or I'll break down and spend the money on a mounting kit and put one of the mounts in front of the signals.

 

"Sounds" like an ingenious idea, however I would be very leary of having them attached to both the swingarm and the fender/strut. If something shifts or binds, you're gonna have "issues". JMO

 

I agree 100%. There is enough give in the bags themselves that it would just scrunch them up and down some (worst case scenario) but I don't want to do that. After my ride today I don't see anything wrong anywhere but I've got some more thinking to do on this. Maybe a bar attached to the bottom of the bag and one attached to the swing arm with a channel in both to make a slip joint that can ride up and down? Hmmmm.....

 

Only thing I see is under weight and stress something is eventually going to give way. When that happens you are either going to have a bag go to the ground and possibly catch a stationary object in doing so, or something fold over into the tire or sprocket possibly causing a catistrophic failure. Those would be the worst case scenarios I would worry about.

Remember, if its gonna break, the. It's going to do so at the complete, most outrageously worse time it possibly can. Always.