Best tank bag for Heritage?
Best tank bag for Heritage?
After trying to cram 2 days worth of business clothes and my laptop backpack into my stock 2012 Heritage saddlebags for a trip this week, I decided to buy the
, which I'm expecting to be delivered Monday.
I also want to buy a tank bag with waterproof plastic window so I can see GPS maps and caller ID on my iPhone, as I recently put this in my modular helmet and it auto-answers calls after 3-5 seconds of ringing.
Surprisingly, I couldn't find any discussions in the Softail forum about the best tank bag relative to fitment, size, and durability, specific to the Heritage Classic's gauge and gas cap locations.
I've considered everything from the small Harley cell phone case to larger, expandable bags, and just wanted to see what all you Heritage owners out there like. If I go with the cell phone case, it has to be large enough to hold the iPhone 5, and I'd probably use it all the time. A larger bag would be reserved for road trips.
I've compared lots of options, and found this site, which has lots of choices on a single page, using google http://www.eglidegoodies.com/id191.html but can't decide.
What do you guys like or not like about your bags?
I also want to buy a tank bag with waterproof plastic window so I can see GPS maps and caller ID on my iPhone, as I recently put this in my modular helmet and it auto-answers calls after 3-5 seconds of ringing.
Surprisingly, I couldn't find any discussions in the Softail forum about the best tank bag relative to fitment, size, and durability, specific to the Heritage Classic's gauge and gas cap locations.
I've considered everything from the small Harley cell phone case to larger, expandable bags, and just wanted to see what all you Heritage owners out there like. If I go with the cell phone case, it has to be large enough to hold the iPhone 5, and I'd probably use it all the time. A larger bag would be reserved for road trips.
I've compared lots of options, and found this site, which has lots of choices on a single page, using google http://www.eglidegoodies.com/id191.html but can't decide.
What do you guys like or not like about your bags?
Club Member
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 145,895
Likes: 821
From: 40 miles Northeast of Indy..
First remember most anything U put on Ur tank will most likely put scratches on it..
So if U can live with that, then go for a tank bag.
for trips I just bought the Over-nighter,, 1900 CIs of room. which works me on those 5-7 day trips. it goes on the back of Ur sissy bar.
I did add the luggage rack to load more in it.
http://www.thehouseofharley.com/product-p/94787-09.htm
.
So if U can live with that, then go for a tank bag.
for trips I just bought the Over-nighter,, 1900 CIs of room. which works me on those 5-7 day trips. it goes on the back of Ur sissy bar.
I did add the luggage rack to load more in it.
http://www.thehouseofharley.com/product-p/94787-09.htm
.
I have this one for my 08 Heritage, use it every year on our annual trip & it has never left a scratch on the tank..
http://www.leatherup.com/p/Tank-Bags...unt/97273.html
http://www.leatherup.com/p/Tank-Bags...unt/97273.html
Thanks guys. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of tank bags either - they seem too bulky. I like the T bags but I rarely use the windshield, and I'm really looking more for a way to see my iphone screen than to have additional storage. With the two stock saddlebags and the saddlemen touring bag I should have plenty of storage in the back. Actually, I'm talking myself out of the tank bag altogether as I type this. I think I'm just going to pick up the Harley cell phone tank case, which has a protective back side between the magnets and the tank to prevent scratching - then I can just stick my phone right there where I can see TomTom and incoming caller ID without piling stuff up on my tank...
Club Member
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 2,697
Likes: 10
From: San Angelo, Texas
Thanks guys. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of tank bags either - they seem too bulky. I like the T bags but I rarely use the windshield, and I'm really looking more for a way to see my iphone screen than to have additional storage. With the two stock saddlebags and the saddlemen touring bag I should have plenty of storage in the back. Actually, I'm talking myself out of the tank bag altogether as I type this. I think I'm just going to pick up the Harley cell phone tank case, which has a protective back side between the magnets and the tank to prevent scratching - then I can just stick my phone right there where I can see TomTom and incoming caller ID without piling stuff up on my tank...
OK, MY RANT.
WTH?
I read the part about the blue tooth in your helmet, and I'm glad to hear that you wear one because chances are if you are talking on the phone, or trying to mess with it, while riding, you're going to NEED it sooner rather than later! And, by the way, if you're not using the windshield all the person on the other end of the call will hear is wind noise, making you pay even LESS attention to what is going on.
A motorcycle is a LOT less forgiving than a car, and taking your attention off of what you should be doing for even a second can cost you your life. You take a call in the car, you kinda infringe on the next lane, or even the edge of the one you are in, other people SEE you and they give you room. People don't SEE a motorcycle like they do another automobile, so you get to close to the edge of YOUR lane, that guy in the pickup gets to close to the edge of HIS lane, you take a mirror to the head, you go down and you are DEAD or at least in bad shape.
OVER A PHONE CALL!
Do yourself and your family a BIG favor. Leave the phone on your belt, turn off the blue tooth and wait until you STOP before you worry about the phone. I lost a dear friend last year not because HE was on the phone, but because the yahoo riding with him looked down at an iphone mounted on his bars and hit the brakes and moved in front of him as they went in to a corner and ran him off the road. The yahoo lived. The really bad part is I told the yahoo the same thing as I'm telling you a week before this happened.
END OF RANT.
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I'm with you on all accounts Guitardude! I bought the bluetooth speakers for my helmet not to talk on the phone, but to listen to music and have intercom capabilities with a buddy that split the two pack with me. I wear my $600 Shoei Neotec full helmet every single time I ride, although I'm the only one in the group of long time Harley owners I ride with that wears a helmet at all - there's no helmet law in SC.
I don't even like talking on the phone in the car because it's distracting, let alone on the bike! I've become a much more conservative, observant driver since I started riding - and I travel the entire US for a living as a technical sales rep for work. I can get turn by turn voice directions from my headset via bluetooth with the phone in my pocket without needing to look at the map, but need to figure out a way to keep the headset from auto-answering calls, which it is programmed to do (and the reason for originally wanting to see caller ID, but I can press a button on the side of my helmet to ignore calls without looking away from the road).
I'm sorry about your friend and definitely don't want to be the yahoo in your warning! I have two young daughters and have been married to my high school sweetheart for 21 years. I think about them and being extra careful and observant every time I suit up and head out...
I don't even like talking on the phone in the car because it's distracting, let alone on the bike! I've become a much more conservative, observant driver since I started riding - and I travel the entire US for a living as a technical sales rep for work. I can get turn by turn voice directions from my headset via bluetooth with the phone in my pocket without needing to look at the map, but need to figure out a way to keep the headset from auto-answering calls, which it is programmed to do (and the reason for originally wanting to see caller ID, but I can press a button on the side of my helmet to ignore calls without looking away from the road).
I'm sorry about your friend and definitely don't want to be the yahoo in your warning! I have two young daughters and have been married to my high school sweetheart for 21 years. I think about them and being extra careful and observant every time I suit up and head out...
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Cruiser
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 145
Likes: 0
From: SC
I have the Harley tank iphone bag, but don't use it anymore. It's hard to see through the window and the phone overheats easily in the summer, even when left partially unzipped. Now I just leave the phone clipped on my belt. I have a bluetooth headset as well that I use, but the only people that call me on personal phone is my wife and daughter anyway. My GPS app talks to me over the headset. If I feel a need to look at the phone screen I just pull over....