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Answers to the most common saddlebag related questions.
Welcome to this week’s Cruiser Customizing Saddlebag Tip of the Week.
Now, over the last several weeks, since the riding weather finally hit, we’re getting
tons of questions about saddlebags--how do I fit them, how do I mount them?
My question for you: what style saddlebag is best for you?
Are you looking for the old-school vintage look?
How about the bagger look?
Are you looking for economy, vinyl, leather, hard bags--there’s a bazillion options out
there so today we’re going to cover a little bit about the key elements you need to think
about before choosing which bag is best for your ride.
Now the number one thing you’ve got to take a look at when choosing a saddlebag is will
it fit?
Now, how do you measure your motorcycle to find out what saddlebag fits your bike?
Every saddle bag on the website says it fits all motorcycles. It’s really simple. Take
a look.
So here we’ve got this VTX with the shock. Now the shock is going to cause us just a
little bit of a problem when we’re looking at bags and that’s going to determine whether
we need a standard bag or a slant bag.
So, for measurement here on the VTX we’re going to go from the shock to the back. Now,
originally there was a set of turn-signal about here, so I’d measure back, and I’d
be like, alright, I’ve got somewhere between 14 and 16 inches that I can work with.
Now, how tall can the bag be?
On this particular side of the motorcycle we don’t have a whole lot hindering us,
so we can twelve, thirteen, fourteen inches. On the pipe side, we have quite a different
dilemma. So you measure from the top of the exhaust pipe up to as high as you want the
bag and that’s going to be the height of the bag that you’re going to be able to
put on your motorcycle.
Here on this V-Star 1300 we have the monoshock. There’s nothing to really get in the way,
other than the seat, so on this bike we’re going to measure from the seat to the turn-signal.
Now on this particular bike our max length of saddlebag is going to be twenty inches.
So that covers your length and height.
The other dimension on just about every saddlebag is going to be the width. How wide do you
want that saddlebag and how wide do you want the rear-end of your motorcycle?
Here we’ve got a standard saddlebag and a slant saddle-bag. Now the standard bag can
mount on that V-Star just fine because there’s no shock. But here on this VTX, we’re going
to run into an issue. Because of the shock, we have to mount this bag clear back here
and there will be no good way to support this bag. So as you can see, on any bike that has
external shocks, such as this VTX, you’ve got to go with the slant bag.
Now, when you go with the slant bag, you’re going to find that you can with a much larger
bag because the bag sits just behind the shock, accommodates it, and then you can come farther
back while still providing ample support for all of your necessities. Another thing to
take a look at is ease of removal. How easily and how often are you going to want to remove
your saddle-bags?
This bag here, for example, is a throw-over option. This is going to go underneath the
seat and the bag here is going to hang here off the motorcycle. This bag is not removable,
well, unless you want to remove the seat every time you want to remove the saddlebags from
the motorcycle.
Now if you want to go the throw-over route, you’re going to have to install some sort
of saddlebag bracket. We’ve got it from Cobra, National Cycle, MC Enterprise-- you’ve
got to have a saddlebag bracket to keep your saddlebags from interfering with your pulley,
your wheel, or any other component.
Looking for quick release, either the easy bracket or the Saddleman Quick Detach option
are great ways to go. If you’re going the easy bracket route, you’re going to have
to make sure you choose a saddlebag that has a hard enough backing plate to be able to
support the weight of the easy bracket and your luggage on the inside.
Now, how about materials and style?
Here we’ve got a synthetic saddle bag from Willie and Max. This bag retails for right
around the $130 to $150 range. Right next to it is leather. These are both throw-over
bags but this bag here is going to retail for the mid-$400s.
What would be the features and benefits of going leather versus synthetic?
Number one, wear. The leather bag will last roughly the lifetime of your motorcycle, while
the synthetic bag may tend to fade and crack over a period of time. The leather you can
condition with any normal leather cream and leather polish. The downside to the leather
bag is the fact that it’s going to be water-resistant and not necessarily water-proof where most
synthetic bags are going to be able to shed way more water than the leather bag.
So there you’ve got it.
The key to any saddlebag installation is first, measurement and second, style. Throw-over
versus bolt-on, leather versus synthetic, the choices are yours and the options are
limitless.
Thank you for watching this Cruiser Customizing Saddlebag Tip of the Week.
Until next week, take care and ride safe.