Are they on yet? You outta be ashamed of yourself if they aren't.

 

Hey Dave,

Love 'em! Sofar I was able to just get the right side bag installed, working a little here and there when I could this weekend.

Size and fit:
This particular size (Iron Max) is Max's largest bags for softails.. The bag fills up pretty much all the square footage of the rear end of the bike, but enough space between the end of my rineharts for exhaust. I'll have to try boss bags measuring method someday with 12 ounce drink eh-hem cans to see how many it takes to fill one. Enough for a party, I'll wager.

The shape is excellent.. Though large, they compliment the lines of the bike. Max has the shape-styling down perfect in all his bags.

Leather and Construction Quality:
The leather is superb.. Thick and stiff.. 12-14 ounce Hermann Oak leather.. Vegatable tanned.. Stunning. Smooth and beautifully finished. As result, the lid is stiff to open, but that break in with use. Riveting, seams and back plate are top-notch. Strong steel brace across the top front. bottom lining, lid lining with stampled leather Ironbags label on the inside.. Nice touch. These bags will hold their shape very well, with proper care. The conchos are simple but a nice fit for the black fatboy, I think. Long streaming tassles aught to look cool going down the road. [8D]

The backplate is shaped to the contour of the bike so not to waste storage space.. They fit nice and close. The mounting is simple threaded studs, nuts and washers. All easily replaceable if you ever needed. The steel brackets are super-heavy duty. You could probably somehow go detachable, but you'd never have the strength this conventional mount has. Easy enough to remove for washing with three bolts. I won't miss quick-detachability for having that much strength for lots of storage.

Leather Care Product included:
Donna included great instructions on how to care for the bags. They provide some extra dye, kiwi polish and grease.. Never heard of putting grease on a set of saddlebags.. But then again, I haven't had this caliber of leather. The instructions advise to keep the bags at least 1/2 full to retain shape (which is a lot of stuff) , and she's specifies when to use the products.. Appears that the grease is very important for preserving the leather.

Snaps and Buckling Hardware:
Military grade snaps for the flap buckles on front and rear, which came with a little break-in grease. The straps are also the stiffest, thickest I've seen. The buckling hardware is equilly heavy-duty.

One small criticism about the buckles on the cargo straps:
About the only thing I could find to criticize is just that the top cargo-strap buckles do come up against the fenders when you open the bags widely open, but isn't really an issue if you're just careful about it.. The way the buckles have to be located for the cargo-straps, it's a necessary thing by design.. I imagine as the lids loosen up, it won't be an issue.

Weight:
There's some serious weight to these bags. I'd say 50% more material in these bags compared to others I've seen. I can see why the hardware is also heavy-duty.. The bags themselves weigh as much as small bags after they're full to the brim with stuff. Yeah I might want to watch out for bottoming out now. hehe

Workmanship and Durability:
I have great respect for Max's craftsmanship, just in looking at the seams and construction as well.. I can only imagine what force it takes just to bend the leather just right to sew the corners and edges. I would have to be convinced there's a tougher bag on the market, anywhere.. Maybe boss bags might come close, if you like their styling, for maybe just the reason of the full lining, pretty much like a hard bag covered in leather.. But I'd stack these bags up against them in 10-15 years easily as far as durability.

If I had a bagger type softail, Heritage or other, with a set of aging bags with

 

Got one side on and the toolbox sitting there waiting on me. Took a while to get the signals off. Couldn't get started until last night.. Had to wash the thing first because the bike was filthy, and fix myself a place in the basement to work. yeah yeah yadda yadda.. excuses excuses.. [sm=coolness.gif] I'll get pics up soon.

 

Ok guys.. Please excuse the terrible basement lighting. The scoot is sitting in the middle of our future home theater room.. Makes for a good service bay at present.

The lighting stinks, tons of glare and flash and no signals, license plate or taillight... But here ya go.. some pics of the new bags on the bike.

I'm thrilled.. Along with the cargo strap thing which I can live with and actually I think I can adjust, about the only other thing that isn't asthetically too clean is the bracket under the rear fender, but it gives the bags some serious strength, so I can live with it.. I think this is unique to the Iron Max bag.

Oh yeah, these are the first pics since I lowered the rear end also..

 

The bags look great on the bike.
I also was concerned when I lifted the lid and the cargo strap buckle made contact with the fender. When I was done with the installation I put my detachable sissy bar back on. The cargo strap buckle makes contact with the side plate of the sissy bar now instead of the fender. That was a lucky break.
How does your additional rear strap setup attach to the fender?
Tom

 

Thanks. I think the cargo straps can be adjusted to bring the buckle more to the center of the top of the bag, if you didn't mind the end hanging over a little longer on the front face.

The rear strap is a straight piece going under the rear of the fender, attaching to a bracket on the bottom rear of each bag.. seen in the rear view pic. Actually doesn't attach to the fender.. but instead the bags are supported against each other.. looks like a really strong design.. I'll be painting the bolts black to hide it a little bit better, but it isn't too terribly conspicuous I think/hope.

 

Could you use the rear bag crossover strap hardware as a place to mount your rear turn signals?
I tuck the end of the cargo straps under the lid of the bag. That is how it looks like Chris does his.
Tom

 

Ya know.. That's some pretty good thinkin' there.. [sm=confused06.gif]

I think it'd be tough to clear that bottom corner of the bags, with regular size bullets maybe, but that's pretty inventive..

I'll have to throw some thought on that one.. Actually the studs are hard welded to that center bracket, so that would limit what you could attach to it. The studs were the smaller size like the one on the front bracket, I think 5/16".. Don't know the thread though.. My guess fine thread pattern. Just might be able to mount up something there if a guy wanted to I think. Since it's in the center of the bike, don't have to worry about scraping in corners.. It can mount pretty low there.. Maybe some little bullets to accompany the regular signals.

.. man, looking at my scoot next to yours and Chris's.. I gotta get rid of some zinc plated crap fasteners and fugly stock footpegs and do some chrome! You guys have some good lookin' rides.

 

Those bags are huge
You must be planning a trip around the good ole US of A

 

Hoping, rather than planning! I can only imagine just how much stuff I can cram into these.. We'll see, hopefully sooner than later.

Per the website.
Iron Max's fit FLH, FX, Softail and Dyna.
Freedom bags fit all Softails (including the Deuce).
... Max will assess your bike specifically and setup the bag mounts accordingly for best fit.

Yeah if anything it proves if you have a fatboy (or other non-heritage/deluxe style softail) you can still super-size the bags if you want to.. You just have to have a low-slung exhaust and the turn signals have to leave the struts. If you don't want to move the signals, you can go Iron Thunder bags like Chris did without moving the signals and have an EXCELLENT setup. As Tom and I found out, moving the signals isn't too bad though. More to come on that when I get the plate mount from Bubba's Brakes.

Scott