HD hard lockable bags are handy, but I like to detail the bike when I wash it. Wrestling the bags back on and chasing the bracket inside the fender drives me nuts, ans tips here?

 

I have the Distressed Leather Bags. What you can do is get some all-thread and acorn nuts. Cut the all-thread to the lengths you need. Loctite the all-thread to the brackets, mount the bags and secure with the acorn nuts. You could also measure your bolt lengths and use studs.

 

Easy Brackets might be an answer. I went through the same thing on the wife's sportster. Every time we needed to take the bags off it was a pain in the a$$. With the easy brackets the bags are off in 30 seconds. Also nice when traveling over night. just take the bags off and take them in the room for the night.

 

I had ghost brackets on my last bike. Easy on/off but they rattled and it drove me nuts. With my new bike i`m thinking of giving cyclevisions bareback brackets a try this time around.

 

Thanks guys. I think I like the stud idea over the spendy brackets. As I have a QD backrest and hardware, I can use the acorn nuts and use as a bungie tie down.