Jess;
Here is the why and how the Bungies got there....Background:I like the looks of my hardbags, but but their max-carrying capacity is 10 pounds each. They are primarily for show and for basic lightweight items.
Last month, I packed some stuff (slightly over 10 pounds) and went on a ride w/-the So.Cal VRCC folks.
During the ride, I hit a pot hole at slow speed, causing the bags to bounce... and one attachment bolt snapped off the bag.
So, I got this long bungie-cord and wrapped / tied it around both hard bags to minimize their bouncing and to hold them up in place.
The plan is ... err... was, to "soon" retrofit sheet-metal reinforcements inside the bags and do away with the bungies.
Thank you for your observations.
The following puts the "broader-picture" of my original post in context. Note their reverse chronology. The last photo was the first one taken . ??? The first few show that, AFTER the "Vanity-Photo-Session,"
the right saddlebag is damaged beyond repair.
IMHO, sheet metal under this-specific circumstance would
not have prevented the hardbag's demise. A rear motorcycle tire would have!
THE STORY: in context...
As it happens in the Darkside, she tends to "stand up" on her volition and then ever so slowly... she lays down on her right side.
If there are no obstructions, she'll lay on her side with no harm...
(Ask me how I know this). ???
Well, yesterday I stopped on my way home and got an ice cream. As I walked back towards her, a large box-truck blew-by
and to the amusement of by-standers, freakin' oops... she "stood up" for cryin' out frikin' loud..WTF!!!:o
I knew she was about to lay down.
NOTE: She never "falls." Generally she lays down gently, like a respectable lady...
She naps like my Black fat-cat, 'til I git 'round to waik 'er up.
... That's another fantasy...
But yesterday, she began leaning and just as I rushed to her, the right-side-bag "rested" on top of a brick planter... briefly "slowing" her motion...
Half-second later the hard bag snapped off under her weight, ripping itself apart ever so slowly and leaving a nice scrape on my leg...
followed by a matchin' pipe-burn. In the order of things, I now write with a badly stretched nerve in my right thigh.
Her recovery...Never mind my injuries... it's all about
she-dragon. ???
As always, there is absolutely NO sign of damage, other than the big-hard-bag was ripped into pieces by a tiny little brick.
The hard bags are coming off and I will immediately install Custom Bullet Lights. They'll take-over the function of the now-gone
hard-bag-lights. She'll be naked for a period.
Meanwhile, if I saw a set of Black-Tourer Originals, I might be interested for a low-low-low price.
I might also go for some beautiful
"tear-drop-style" leather bags that would follow the fender's contour from the front to the rear.
I'd welcome pictures of your saddlebag set up. I could then visualize how they might look on my Lady.
As Peter Lamborn Wilson once said,
"Those who understand history are condemned to watch other idiots repeat it." I think he was jabbin' me!
"If you have no intention of loving or being loved by your Fat Lady
then the whole journey is pointless."
