feelinjunky wrote on 01/12/08 at 09:43:14:


I looked at the JC Whitney option.  I decided against it for a number of reasons.

First, look at the mounting position.  With the sissybar in place, the trunk itself (as well as its mounting plate) is pushed almost to the end of the luggage rack.  In fact, the mounting plate extends almost 8" beyond the end of the luggage rack.  That extension increases the torque stress on the rack mount.  In otherwords, the farther back you mount the trunk, the more stress you are putting on the luggage rack. (think the principle of leverage)

Now by adding 50-60lbs into the trunk, you are stressing the luggage rack even more severely.  Believe it or not, but every bump you hit in the road causes your entire luggage rack (and all of its contents) to bounce and deflect.  (I noticed this while following a buddy who did the same thing with his Honda.  With every jolt , his trunk would deflect a good 2 or 3 inches.)  Every time you stress the metal it begins to fatigue and will eventually snap at that fatigue point... Taking the trunk and its contents along for the bouncy ride....

The only way to prevent the flexing is to add additional rigid bracing from the center-of-mass (the exact center of the trunk and its mounting plate) to the fender.  It turned out to be more fabrication work than I wanted to get involved with..  That's why I ended up with the soft-side trunk.

What is your problem geo? First you slam people for wanting high rise handle bars, now your slamming people for wanting to add other things.

And if I remember correctly, Dr. Jim had a canoe carrying sidecar.

If we want to go fast economically, we'll strip it down.

If we want to camping, we will go in style.

I'm sure Phelonius will correct us, but I remember him as building the kayak carrying sidecar. And I happen to like my bagger for its utility in being able to runs errands and bring home the goods. To each his own I say. Max

geo wrote on 01/15/08 at 18:48:45:


Why would I want an 800lb bike that wouldn't fit in my garage?  Why would I want a bike that gets worse gas mileage than my wife's Honda Pilot?

Why am I adding luggage (and weight) to my Savage? Because its mine.  I'm not interested in racing it.  I'm not interested in going fast.  I want to ride. The Savage is the perfect commuter.  I use it in lieu of operating a car (because I live getting 55mpg in the city!).  With the luggage, I can carry a weeks worth of groceries.  I can run all of my errands AND still have room for impulse purchases.  I can carry all of my tools and parts to run local service calls at customer sites.  I can carry my kids sports equipment and ride to evrey practice or game.

Try doing that on a Goldwing. You'd go broke filling the tank and you'd be dog tired trying to ride it through traffic.  If I want to tour cross country on a barca-lounger, I'll look at a Goldwing.  For everything else, I'm going to ride my Savage.

Don't they make milk crates anymore.  Used to get them for free (sort of)

i have in the past used a milk crate but this bike i got has nice bags on already,with e-z on off zippers

Here's the bottom view of how i mounted it. By the way, how can you put multiple pictures in 1 post?