Problems with Honda Valk's Touring Bag???

[BlueElf]

I mentioned this in an earlier post but no one seemed to respond.   I purchased the matching Honda Valk Touring Bag (plain) to match my plain Honda Saddlebags.  They seem to be good quality like the Honda saddlebags but the mounting design and straps that come on my bag are pure "crap".  They are not designed to mount to the Honda luggage rack or Sissy Bar Pad in any correct manner, the straps are way to short and to high for the sissy bar pad mount and the straps for the luggage rack mount are again to short and way to wide for the Valk luggage rack!!!     It took 3 tries by the dealership to get the right touring bag, first 2 came with studs and Honda had made some kind of part number change on the plain bag, leading me to think they may have come out with another improved/correct touring bag design.  Has anyone else purchased this bag and had the same BS crap strap design and mounting problems???  They would not even mount the way their instructions said they should ... and I had to get the dealer to download the actual instructions on this touring bag.   I have jury-rigged the bag and finally got it mounted to my luggage rack and sissy bar pad but now the upper strap buckle is right in the center front side of the sissy bar pad making any passenger miserable when riding 2up and having that buckle right in the middle of their back!!! 

[rogueleader_92]

have you tried removing the pad tighting the strap around the bar then reinstalling the pad on top of said strap?

[BlueElf]

have you tried removing the pad tighting the strap around the bar then reinstalling the pad on top of said strap?

Yeah that was the first thing I thought about doing but I have less that half inch of strap to play with and if I tried putting the strap around just the bar, the bag and luggage rack are in the way of trying to put the pad back on since the pad mounting screws go into the back of the sissy bar.  Plus the sissy bar strap in hard sewn right onto the front side of the bag.  According to the install instructions the sewn in bar strap is supposed to be in the front lower part of the bag and its supposed go around the bar 'under' the mounted pad.  The strap is several inches to short to do that and is sewn in to the bag 3 or 4 inches to high and must go around the top third of the back pad.  Likewise the 2 straps that are supposed go around the luggage rack from front to back are very short and  sewn into the bottom of the bag but are several inches too wide apart as compared to the width of the actual luggage rack!!  An idiot could have done a better job at designing the bags mounting straps.   

[hungryeye]

Loose that little bag and the sissy bar and get yourself a 55 Litre Hepco Becker top box, or Givi, or Shad. I use a 55 litre H&B, haven't even opened the saddle bags yet on daily errands, I get a case of beer in there or any size helmet.

[rogueleader_92]

I guess you could find a small mom and pops leather shop and see if they can cut the straps off and install longer ones in better places.

I have a great place in SLC ,UT called midvalley leather.

Course that assumes you want to keep it, personally I'd take the bike in and show them the instructions and make them either show you what your doing wrong, replace them if they can't  or give you your money back due to the product not being what was advertised.

[BlueElf]

I guess you could find a small mom and pops leather shop and see if they can cut the straps off and install longer ones in better places.

I have a great place in SLC ,UT called midvalley leather.

That's a good idea, we do have great leather shop where I get patches sewn on my vest, boots re-soled.   I was just so ticked off about Honda workmanship that I didn't really think how easy it would be to fix the problem through leather craftsman.  Thanks      Anyone else ordering this Honda Touring bag should check theirs out before accepting it from your dealership.