stewmills
Serious Thumper
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Imagination is more important than knowledge
Posts: 2626
Auburn, AL
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Thanks KennyG! I really wish I had taken the time to get good pictures and measurements along the way. It was a lot of trial and error and when I finally got them dialed in just right I realized I didn't get any pictures of the progress. And I was rushing to get the bags on the bike to leave for the Dragon that week and when I finally got them to test fit just right, I didn't take them back off.
I keep saying that the next time I need to take things apart for any reason I will take some measurements and better pictures, but so far the dang things have held up pretty well through two trips to the Dragon and my normal around town riding and I haven't needed to fool with them.
The very short explanation of what I did is use either 90 degree or 45 degree bends to minimize confusion. I know i started with 45 degrees for the back one, but after the initial trial I MAY have changed that to 30 degrees for better fitment...but I just can't remember. First I cut 1' pieces of the strap and stuck it up behind the pillion to park my holes. I drilled the holes, rounded the top just to remove any sharp corners. Then I bolted it on loosely so I could mark my line for the bends, and then bent the strapping in a vise. IIRC, my step out was about 1" and that was about right to clear the shocks and belt guard (mainly the belt guard). Now remember that on the front brace a 1" step out is 1" since it is bent at 90 degrees, but the rear one you have to do the math (I can't remember) because you are bending that one at a 45 degree angle and if you measure 1" bend to bend it'll be slightly less than 1" total step out.
After I got the two vertical braces bent at the correct angles, I then blocked up the bags next to the bike exactly where I wanted them to ride, and then got the vertical supports positioned at the right spot. Now remember that my bags came with the horizontal support that you see pictured, so I had to use this piece to keep the supports at the proper spacing because this has to be attached from the insude of the bag and bolted through the vertical supports later. Once spacing was all dialed in, I marked the "extra" sticking out below the bags and I cut that off about 1" above my mark. Then I drilled holes for the horizontal brace, marked the proper spacing to drill corresponding holes in the bags, and sandwiched everything together.
Later, I realized that the "tail" of the bags were a bit more wobbly that I liked so I got some longer bolts and a piece of aluminum bar, and added an external support that reached out to the back end of the bags and that seemed to really get it secured and it's been great ever since. See picture below for underside view of finished product with additional brace.
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