Thank you guys so much! Afraid I was going to have to buy new bags!
I had to replace my bags after an accident a couple of years ago and put Tourer bags on my IS. I took the IS hinges off my old bags and left the cables off when I re-installed. Now to get in my bags, I simply remove the lid, set it on my seat, and get what I need out of the bags. So far (knocking VERY loudly on every bit of wood in the tri-county area)...I haven't knocked my lid off the seat. That is the only drawback to the way I am doing it. But, if you are careful, it won't be a problem. Also, you have access to the whole bag opening to put stuff in. With the cabled IS lids, you lost a little of the opening because the lid covered part of it. Joe
Joe, my first IS had the cables unhooked (dangling), and I just left them that way, setting the lid somewhere safe, and trying not to step on it. This worked fine for years and years. But what happened very slowly over the years, was the front hook-clasp on the bottom bag got just a bit lose, and then just a bit crooked (which I never noticed).
So one day I hit a really big bump, the crooked clasp let go, the wind got under it (at speed), and off she blew (I clearly heard the lid whack the trunk). I could never understand how the rear latch let go. So the moral of the story is keep an eye on the front hook-clasp to ensure it is fully engaged. It was only after I lost my lid that I looked closely and discovered the hook hardware on the lower bag was crooked.
Having to get a new (used) lid, and body and paint work, and all the hardware, and one OE Honda lid rack (and I was lucky to find just one), was about a $650-700 lesson. Just sayin....

I did an emergency stop on the freeway, still about a quarter mile past the lid sitting right on the outside white line on three lanes of busy, fast moving traffic, took no gear off and sprinted back down the outside of the road against traffic, multiple cars now weaving away from/around the lid, and almost got there when a soccer mom in her Caravan runs over it square and explodes it into flying pieces. I still ran across the three lanes of freeway thinking I might find something salvageable (like the lid rack), but the grass was 4 feet high, and all i found was plastic pieces with no hardware on them. Realizing my VA Troopers would not see this as an emergency stop and give me a ticket for playing in traffic, I ran across the road again and finished the day with no lid. So it goes.