I have had my new '06 vfr for a few days now and was only given two days to ride it before the weather turned bad, so now I only get to look at it in the garage. I picked up my factory hard bags on monday so I figured I would give it a go. It was one of those things where once it's done it all seems so clear, of course during the process I said a few not so nice words. What bothers me about the bracket instalation is that these are "factory bags" one would think they would be made to fit on the bike just the way it is, instead I spent an hour taking the rear fender apart and replacing pieces and figuring out which spacers go where and putting it all back together again, all of this it seems to position bold holes 1/5" from original placement. Once the mods had been made the main support bracket still required some muscle to flex it to lign up with the bolt holes. Once it was done however it does appear to be a good system and the bags simply pop right off when they are not needed or to bring them into the hotel etc... When the bags are removed you will still have the large black supports on the bike, but no way am I taking those on and off. The bike does look good with the bags on which is most likely where they will remain.
Yeah, I bought my '04 used, with the bags installed. Took off the mounts the other day for the cleaner look. Very dissapointed in Honda that the mounts aren't much better integrated, ala BMW or my '04 FJR -- where you can't see any sort of mount, when the bags are off. Much better. And for a bike that sells in the VFR's numbers, it should have been worth Honda's effort to look into. By any chance to you have the mounting instructions for the mounts? I did not get the instructions with mine. Would love if you can scan and email or fax them to me. Spike
I agree with your thoughts regarding the hard bag bracket system, and yes I do have the instructions, just let me know where to e-mail them.
