Saddleman sport panniers

Decided I needed some luggage. Can't afford the hard bags yet, so I found these. They are a rigid foam. Will need to make some brackets, they will bolt in at the grab rail knock outs. Got them mounted with the cheesy straps to see how they would look. I feel they look decent on the bike. They are expandable not a lot, but some.











Will post more as they are used and when I make the brackets.

 

They look alright! I have been looking at something similar myself; I need a luggage system that doesn't use the pillion peg brackets for support.

 

UPDATE!
Made some brackets today.

Made some blocks to bolt into the grab rail mount.




Decided to make the brackets from 1/2 solid aluminum. On to the bending.....


Made them fit!


Now for more bendy bits...


Now weldy melty stuff...




Mounting of the racks....





And now the bags!






Next week they go to get powder coated, not sure if I will do them white or black.

They are very stable, will run them for a while to see if I need to add a support between them somewhere.

 

Very Nice! Are you a welder by trade or by hobby?

 

Very Nice Work! :thumbsup:
Have been planning to do somrthing simular for my Girl.

 

I used to be a toolmaker. You have some talent! You have inspired me to learn to weld aluminum and make some too. Great job.

 

A little bit of both. Used to work for a construction company, something broke and they asked me if I could weld, I said yes. Never been certified, but self taught. Same with fabrication, self taught through A LOT of trial and error.

 

Excellent work!:rockon:

 

Wow, that is one nice job! Did you bend those pieces by "eye" or did you make a jig of some sort? The symmetry of all the shapes and bends looks spot on.

 

Used the eyeball method. Bent them using a 2 inch pipe with a holder. You can see it in the third picture, in the vise. Made the first bend, measured it, so on and so forth. Then used the same measurements to make the other one. Came really really close to exactly the same with both. Had them powder coated a few days after. They look good and work great. Trying to come up with a cover to cover the gaps in the block off area where they mount.

 

Pretty trick! Nice job...

 

Any chance you'd have a plan or anything for those brackets? I just got a job as a courier and want to get a set of the Saddlemen bags for my 5th-gen, but I know nothing about welding/bending metal. They look nice!