OK, so I have been fortunate enough to get several compliments on my work of putting RK police/touring bags on my Fat Bob which I really appreciate cause I know some people would probably say they are ugly as **** in their opinion. I am also going to put a fairing on my bike when money allows and just call my bike a Fat King as it is IMO the best of both

I am going to go ahead and post pictures even though I am embarrased about the paint job which is a rattle can job cause I can fab damn near anything but I suck at painting. But after the cost of the bags and other stuff I just can't afford $600-900 just to get the bags painted for the time being. Still need a good tuner and some other stuff.

Anyways the details, they are Road King police model bags from a 2008 I bought off another forum member here (DTDK) for a really good price. These are the non ABS version so no cutout. He also did a trade with me for a 7" LED headlamp (which sadly didn't work with his aftermarket bucket) for some Edge brackets. The QD brackets came with two lengths of mounting plates and I used the longer ones to be able to mount on either side of the center indents. I mounted them by drilling 4 holes (gonna put more on later if needed) and I used button head allen bolts with nylock nuts to make sure there will be no rattling off while going down the road. The bags do wobble a bit but getting them to mount stiff with no movement using QD brackets is impossible because the brackets themselves allow saddlebags to wobble. I have not heard of anyone losing their bags due to Edge/Ghost brackets so I am assuming its a sound design.

When I got the bags they were all gloss white so I sanded them and rattle canned them with Rustoleum high performance flat black. Right one came out beautiful, left one according to Murphy's Law looks shitty up close. The mounting spacers for the Edge brackets I reversed so the brackets sit 1/2" farther onto the bolts but I had to grind the locking plate center tooth a little so they would slide over the bolts but still lock in place. I could have mounted them much closer in if I did away with the QD sissy bar brackets and relocate the turn signals but for now it is the way it is. I have LED rectangle signals I may swap out to later but for now I was tired of the bags sitting in my garage instead of on my bike. If your curious the stock turn signals are sitting closer in because I pulled them off, got rid of the wedge shaped bolt spacer between the turn bullets and frame and used a shorter bolt so they now sit flush with the frame. Also need to get some more hardware for the bags, atm I am trying to decide on inserts for where the piano hinge brackets normally go for the touring bags. The police bags usually just have plastic decals in there cause the side hinges take care of the lids opening and closing. Also gonna see if I like the hockey pucks long term, might replace them with lock kits made to replace the pucks.


Anyways, I will post pics for your approval/disapproval. Please if you think they look like **** at least respect the effort and the willingness to share so others might benefit from the information

 

And more pics for your viewing pleasure.

 

change your fender to a full one and your good to go bud!

 

You know I like them. Thanks for the write up and sharing the pics. Going to start working on mine and get them mounted.

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Not gonna happen any time in the near future if ever. I love the bob tail fender which is part of why I like the Fat Bob so much so no plan to change it. I know most people would highly disagree with that cause they would prefer the look of the classic style fender with bags. To each their own . Thank you though for the positive comment .


Please feel free to post pics up here if you get them done as I would like to see your Fat Bob done up with them and thank you for the positive comments both here and by PM on the pics.

 

Damn...that looks GREAT!!!!

 

Love the look and the the utility cannot be beat. A bag that large should be supported at the bottom though. Normally they are connected to each other through the bumper at the base of the rear fender. 50 years ago they were sometimes connected together by a brace running over the fender. SURFOR Chop is using Shovelhead bags (3/4 the size of yours) and made a brace to go behind the rear tire. I am using a Road King rear fender with the rear "Fender to Saddlebag bracket" inside the fender. The bottom of my saddlebag brackets are connected to the fender bracket. The bracket at the bottom of my fender also has braces inside the fender running up to the fender struts so the fender itself is not doing all the support work. I have an Ultra Classic also, so I designed my Street Bob/Duo-Glide saddlebags to be supported in a similar fashion. I could put 50lb of stuff in each one and not have a care in the world of anything sagging.

I would seriously consider myself not done with this project just yet. It will be worth the trouble because your bike looks great with the bags.

Just trying to be helpful, good luck.................

 

Xantasm, what kind of seat is that?

 

they turned out really nice

 

I appreciate the input and I have been puzzling that same issue out in my head repeatedly and I just don't see any way to effectively do a lower support bar to the Edge brackets without just adding weight with no benefit. I definitely think hard mounting the bags would benefit from a lower support bar and I may do that somewhere in here. So I guess unless I decide to change up the mount setup I am going to be the guinea pig who gets to find out if Edge brackets are really all they claim to be lol. So far so good, but I am keeping a close eye on them to see if it was a bad idea lol.

Thanks

Its a C&C solo with backrest and the matching pillion pad which I got them to make in that distressed brown leather that they normally would not offer as they were curious to see how it would come out. I was also just going to go with the solo seat and backrest but they said the piece of leather they used to cut covering for the front seat was not something they normally would carry so if I wanted the pillion to match I would have to get it while they still had that leather piece in stock. I've had lower back injuries in the past so my lumbar was killing me with the other seats I tried so I had to go with a riders backrest and I am very glad I did cause it rocks.

Its very comfortable but at 15" from nose to backrest it sits you a few inches forward compared to stock but with the Fat Bob forwards that isn't really an issue. They said that's their normal seat length so might not work good on a shorter reach bike if your a tall guy. I'm 5'10" with a 32" inseam so with the FB forwards its a very comfortable riding position.

Thanks