Greetings to all sporty owners from Twin Cities!

I consider myself a newbie to Harley bikes - even though I've owned a Buell for several years (you can tell from my name). After out of riding for almost a year (laid off in 2008 and had to sell my Buell, and finally get back to work couple months ago), I bought a 08 nighster couple days ago, and really love it!

Now here is the question: I use the bike for daily commute and joy ride during the weekend, so I want some capacity to carry jacket/gym wears and small stuffs, but don't want any saddle bags or racks. Here is what I am thinking: use bungee cords/cargo net to attach the backpack to the rear fender. I ordered the fender bib from the dealership to protect the fender paint, now I need to figure out how/where to attach the bungee cord to the bike.

So I plan to buy the Allen Studs (with threads on both ends of the stud) to replace the bolts for the fender struts; then to buy the bungee nuts from the dealership - size 3/8 16 and 3/8 24 to screw on the Allen Studs. therefore, I will have four attach points for the bungee cords.

Is it going to work?
what size (length and diameter) of the Allen Studs I need to buy?
from where I can get them?

Thanks for reading!

 

dont they sell bolt designed to hold bungie cords?....check with your dealer before you start experminting

 

Thanks!

 

Have you considered the detachable solo rack?

 

I am still struggling with it - it's nice having it but might ruin the look of the bike.

 

hey hey, nice to have some more people from minnesota - duluth here - i would agree with will - i am sure they have something better - check with the stealership

 

What about a small backpack that you can wear?

 

opps....nevermind

 

I have a small rack on my Streetbob and use a bungee net with six hooks. You may be able to secure your gear with four hooks but I suspect it will slide around a little. I use a tote bag with the bungee and if it's not strapped down pretty tight it moves around.

I'm not familiar with the fender bib. I don't like strappng something directly over the paint. I guess the bib is designed to prevent rubbing against the paint?

Before I installed the luggage rack I used a backpack. It worked but sometimes it would wear me out due to the weight combined with catching wind.

 

Check out my album. I attached a few pics for your edification. I have a Danny Gray shorthop 2up seat as well to help carry gear. I havent taken pics with the full set up yet, but it looks good. That bar and docking kit is fairly inexpensive. I got my stuff off http://surdyke.com/ for $200.00 shipped. That's about $50 less than it msrp'd for. WELL worth the loot.