What kind of saddlebags or luggage do you use?

Crab_Cake

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What do you guys use for luggage? I don't want anything huge but I think a small set of simple leather saddlebags would look good.

I have been wearing a backpack on my rides which work but it sure would be nice to have at least somewhere to store a toolkit or books.

Any ideas?

These look like they would work really well. Too bad they are so ugly.

http://www.tourmaster.com/xcart/catalog/Sport-Saddlebags-p-149_31.html
 
Now something like this would look damn sexy on an XS.

Z91359_Br_saddlebag.jpg
 
Horse saddlebags +1 I had a local leather guy shorten the strap between them. total investment < $30
 
A set of those tourmaster bags came with a bike I used to own and the first thing I did was take them off. They are huge and in my opinion, even uglier in person.
 
For around town, I run a tail bag strapped to my luggage rack. The bag is actually a tank bag but fits just perfect on the rack .....

TailBag.jpg


The rack is part of my Krauser bag mounts. When I really need to carry lots of stuff, I can snap the bags on and add a tank bag as well .....

650Fall08-3.jpg
 
I had a small set of under-the-saddle leather bags for my '81 -- well they weren't all that small really. But they were slanted, which made them look cool, I suppose. Really, I found them to be not much use for carrying anything but small stuff. Couldn't fit textbooks or a binder in them. Wouldn't even hold a gallon of milk, and barely held a six-pack. It was because of the slant.

I was gonna replace them with a set of Nelson Rigg CL850s:

http://www.nelsonrigg.com/store/product.aspx?pid=457

Much more practical, reasonably priced, and I think they look decent. But then I decided to sell the bike, so there wasn't much point in buying the NRs.
 
A while back I called New Enough to order a set of Nelson-Rigg CL850's. The fella I talked with talked me out of them for use on my 650. Said they were designed to fit over a large flat seat. Unless you have a luggage rack at the same level as your seat, they won't work well. BTW, they are HUGE! I wanted the size for long road trips.
 
Now that you mention it, that reminded me. I had located a set of installation instructions for the CL850s at Nelson Rigg:

http://www.nelsonrigg.com/installation/CL-SSC-SLR sddlbags.pdf

And you're right, they're meant to fit over the seat. But I'll tell you what, by anyone's measure, I'd say the bigass seat on an '81 Special is large and flat, up at that top tier. And even the standard's seat isn't small at all. And they do not require a luggage rack to mount. So I don't know if that guy at New Enough really knew what he was talking about.

Yeah, they're definitely on the huge side, which is what attracted me to them. As big as the hard bags on my Beemers, which I find very useful.
 
HD Brown nylon saddlebags, I think they're size large with custom made liners.

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Somebody gave me these ammo boxes. I used 1" angle iron to mount them, using the shock mounting stud and the grabbar mounting hole. i have laid it down at low speed with the only damaging being a broken mounting bolt. I could have bought cheap saddle bags for what i spent to mount them, but they are solid and watertight. I am able to carry enough tools for anything that comes up, with plenty of room for for groceries.
 

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Leather is cool. But the upkeep is a pain.
The nylon/ballistic material bags seal better. And after 5-10 yrs of sun fade take on character.
I've done it like txpowdercoater, but now roll like 5twins style but with Chase and Harper soft bags. The bag on the rack will hold the rain suit, lunch bucket, a multi tool, flashlight, gloves, and the ball cap. Which gets me to work and back.

You might think about how you will hang them. imhe even throw overs work better with some thing to support them.
 
Cheapo army surplus waterproof(ish) radio bags, £8 the pair, drybag (totally waterproof) stuff sack for the tail, plenty of bungees and tank bag with map pocket.

xs 160.jpg
 
I have a set of nylon bags and matching tail bag from Wal-Mart, the bags are in stores, the tail bag on line. Classic MotoGear. $58 for the saddle bags, $27 for the tail bag. Not real big. Look kinda like the bags for a sport bike.
 
They're made by HD Brown, but I don't think they're around anymore. I got 'em from JC Whitney 12 years ago.
 
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