so i made some bag brackets

since im holding off till winter to buy my honda hard bags, i went ahead and got some firstgear soft bags for now, since im going on a week trip in july.

i hate the way soft bags mount. the flap, never stay where you need them, and sometimes cant get the straps under the seat.

well i decided to go get some 3/8" round stock, and some 1/4" plate stock and see what i could come up with. and here are the results.. a nice soft saddle bag solution.

the brackets stay in place, and the bags can come off by 3 wing nuts.

im no welder by any means, but all in all the brackets came out pretty good.. i got one side completely finished, the other side is about 80% there.

i modified the bags, with some aluminum structure on the inside, ran a bolt through them, silicon for water tight, put a piece of sheet metal on the outside, and put a nut on it.. so now you just have a threaded portion showing.. stick threaded portion through mounting tabs on the bracket, put wing nuts on and your off.

i still have to edge the sheet metal on the back of the bag with something to keep the sharp edges from cutting something, or me, but its coming along well.
what do you all think?

 

Great!

Who needs Hondaline hard bags? You've solved your needs
very neatly and cheaply. Pops on and off just as well as the store bought.
With the topcase, I don't know why you need hardbags. The only limitation on your sides is weight. Put heavy items in topcase, clothes in sides, you're off.
Unless you are one of those guys (girls) who packs a ton of crapola???!
Nice work:thumbsup:

 

Nice work. I got soft bags with my bike when I bought it and am/was concerned with them flopping around. Three wing-nuts to remove the bag. How about the mount? I couldn't zoom the pics but it looks like you just used the grab bar mounting location, is that correct? Unless you are spending most of your time traveling with full bags I would think this is a great solution and a lot less money than hard bags.

Thanks for sharing.

 

I LIKE IT. Makes me want to do something simular to my Saddleman soft bags on my FZ1.

 

Nice job! You just saved yourself about $1000.

Cheers!
Craig :smile:

 

thanks guys..
yes it mounts on the grab rail area, and also on the spot on the rear foot peg


why do i want honda bags? i love the way they look on the bike. they hold more storage, they are lockable as well.

these will do there job for the time being though.

like i said they came out alot better than i thought.

i took a few days drawing up some ideas, and im surprised it cam eout exactly like the drawing i had made up.

 

these are biggest bags i could find locally.. first gear onxy
18"x12" and 9" wide, they expand to 12" wide
they should do fine for packing alot of stuff in them

ill post some more pics once i get the other bracket finished, painted and mounted