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Message started by old_rider on 01/18/14 at 15:48:24

Title: Suzuki Hard Bags (from China)
Post by old_rider on 01/18/14 at 15:48:24

Ok, got the Hard bags off of ebay in today, my overall assessment is;

You get what you pay for, BUT, they are a GOOD deal I think.

1. I will have to move my rear turn signals to the back by the license plate.

2. I will have to slide the Large hard case on the tail back about an inch and a half.

3. I will have to make brackets to attach these to the chrome rail, or, remove the rails and attach some bolts from the other direction and put the nut on the bag side.

4. Wire up the bag lights into the park or brake light (not both), I will remove the plastic bulb protector and see if I can install a double filament bulb later. OR I could wire the bags to be the blinkers.

5. When the hinge breaks (in the future), will have to install a better hinge.

6. Add some kind of support for the mount holes on the abs itself. The lip is 1/8" thick at the top, but only seems thinner overall ( I don't have a mic so I cannot measure thickness), so I will probably add some washers glued to the abs to make the bolt hole areas a little stronger so it will not crack due to vibrations.

7. A thicker coat of clear would probably benefit the paint, I already scratched it a little on the top.

Here is a slide show link to my photobucket;

http://s1047.photobucket.com/user/Orphistle/slideshow/Suzuki%20Savage/Suzuki%20bags

Title: Re: Suzuki Hard Bags (from China)
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 01/18/14 at 16:39:33

If the hinge itself breaks, okay, but if the hinge is mounted toa bag thats weak at the mount & it breaks the mount, then you shoulda added reinforcement ahead. If the lid opens & loads the hinge up & eventually breaks it, maybe you could put a cord in to keep it from laying out that far?

Title: Re: Suzuki Hard Bags (from China)
Post by old_rider on 01/18/14 at 16:45:32

I am actually thinking of making it like my Harley bags and use a hinge along the outside edge and make it open on the outside long edge.
An yup, if I do put a hinge on it, I will reinforce it, I have some thin aluminum and some thin tin that I plan on using when beefing the bags up.
The external tube rails are magnetic, so they will work well to keep stuff from bumping the bags and might even keep the bike from hitting the ground if it falls over.

Title: Re: Suzuki Hard Bags (from China)
Post by old_rider on 01/18/14 at 18:36:26

Was moving the bags and heard a scraping in the one I had not opened and found some generic brackets.... not sure they will do what I want, but we will see. I added the photo to the picture folder.

Title: Re: Suzuki Hard Bags (from China)
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 01/19/14 at 07:29:54

Uhh, yea, those brackets arent real exciting to look at..

Title: Re: Suzuki Hard Bags (from China)
Post by Serowbot on 01/19/14 at 08:47:47

Even Leatherlyke had problems with cracking at the mounting holes... They had to reenforce at the weak areas...

When I wanted to hard mount my vinyl side bag, I bought a thick aluminum serving tray at a yard sale, and shaped it to the inside of the bag... then added large flat steel washers to the inside at the bolt holes...
Total cost... $1.60... $1 tray and .30 washers... ;D...

I'd recommend beefing up the inside with metal...
At the price you got them for,.. it's well worth a little effort to strengthen them a bit...

Title: Re: Suzuki Hard Bags (from China)
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 01/19/14 at 09:21:34

Man, no kiddin,, the pic of the hinge left me thinkin I was almost seeing thru the bag below that hinge,Looks as close to eggshell as could be successfully pulled from the mold w/o breaking. I dont see the hings as the weak spot. Im seein the hinge break away from the main body or the lid.

Okay, I went back & looked again, Sure 'nuff, where the hings mounts to the lower part looks really spooky. I think Id look at a plate on the outside that touches the lower part of the hinge, so when the lid is up, pressure to open it further would be held up, against it, riveted thru to another plate inside. Id radius the lower corners of the outside plate a little to keep any pressure transferred when the lid is up from attacking a single point. The lid part doesnt look all that weak, but I cant really see it. If you can stop the lids weight from flexing the main body when its open by limiting how far it opens, youll be ahead,
In the rivet section youll find washers that fit on rivets. A wide head on a rivet & a washer on the inside can be helpful when working on flimsy stuff.

Title: Re: Suzuki Hard Bags (from China)
Post by Dave on 01/20/14 at 06:34:17

old_rider:

If the light bulbs are 1157 bulbs that are 21 watt....then they can be used as turn signals or brake lights. If the bulbs are just 4 watt running lights......then they won't be visible in the sunlight, so you might as well wire them up as running lights that will be visible at night.

Title: Re: Suzuki Hard Bags (from China)
Post by ALfromN.H. FSO on 01/20/14 at 17:52:09

7F44495E4F43585E454D405F2C0 wrote:

True. The ones that I had were invisible during the day. so I added some flush mount turn signals and wired the other ones as brake lights.

http://p1.bikepics.com/2008/07/15/bikepics-1354014-800.jpg

Title: Re: Suzuki Hard Bags (from China)
Post by 12Bravo on 01/21/14 at 06:16:01

I put a set of Chinese hard bags and trunk on my S40. The bags are like what Al has and they are holding up just fine. The trunk fell a part from all the vibration. I had made a mount that went into the stock sissy bar mount. No matter how stiff the mount is, the trunk will rattle/vibrate like crazy.

Title: Re: Suzuki Hard Bags (from China)
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 01/21/14 at 07:08:35

These things break license plates. Ive seen the rear fender flop back & forth so hard I couldnt believe my eyes. Under hard acceleration,somewhere around the top of first or bottom of second, IDK, my girl was riding away from me & I couldnt hear it & she didnt know it was happening,, but I saw it whip back & forth hard enough theres no way I could read the tag,

Title: Re: Suzuki Hard Bags (from China)
Post by Art Webb on 01/24/14 at 00:35:35

so how bright are the supplied lights, would they actually work as blinkers?

Title: Re: Suzuki Hard Bags (from China)
Post by 12Bravo on 01/24/14 at 06:57:16

Mine are hooked up as brake lights and they are bright, don't see why they won't work for turn signals. They use a short 1156 bulb.

Title: Re: Suzuki Hard Bags (from China)
Post by danjray on 01/24/14 at 07:39:16

Once my leather ones sell in the marketplace (go check them out! ;D) I'm hoping to get a set of these. I use my bike mainly as a commuter so the added "security" of the hard bag will give me a slight bit of peace of mind over the buckle on my leather. It's good to hear they are bright enough to work as turn signals, I was hoping to just remove the turn signals and use these instead of having to move the current turn signals. Thanks Oldrider for the right up!

Title: Re: Suzuki Hard Bags (from China)
Post by Art Webb on 02/11/14 at 23:54:17

that's my idea too, get the bags and ditch the factory signals