Side opening saddlebags

[alan]

Has anyone replaced their stock I/S bags with side opening ones? Like maybe from a Kawi Nomad or Goldwing? Also has anyone found a use for the racks on the bag lids? Maybe I'm not creative enough being a day or weekend tripper.

[F-106]

I know the Nomad guys like them. They seam to work best with bag liners. As for the racks, the supervalk owners i have seen use them to help tiedown a long duffelbag across the back.

[R J]

Also it is used for Bling................

[fudgie]

I think the side opening bags would be a pain. Every thime you open the bag everything would fall out. At least with the oem bags you can pile alot of stuff down in it.
I like my lid racks. Use them alot. Used them yesterday to strap our 3/4 helmets to. I also use them for trips. I use a stuff bag and put a sleeping bag or our leathers in and use the web bungi and strap it to the lids. I had lid covers made so the stuff don't scratch the lids. There worth it. I have I/S hinges on my tourer bags. It makes it easy to load the lids and I can just lift the lid and lay it on my seat loaded.

[alan]

I'm getting the picture. My last few bikes have been Kawi hyper-bikes, my ZZR1200 had the Givi luggage and I liked just popping them off and carrying them away. Over the years I've bungee'ed a duffel on the tail rack. My I/S has the bag liners but they're a bit hard to shove in the bags. I think I'll take the lid "leashes" off and get a few nets. This bike has as a$$ of storage and any suggestions how to best use it are appreciated.

[fudgie]

I'm getting the picture. My last few bikes have been Kawi hyper-bikes, my ZZR1200 had the Givi luggage and I liked just popping them off and carrying them away. Over the years I've bungee'ed a duffel on the tail rack. My I/S has the bag liners but they're a bit hard to shove in the bags. I think I'll take the lid "leashes" off and get a few nets. This bike has as a$$ of storage and any suggestions how to best use it are appreciated.

Pratice. It'll get easier the more you use it. Kit does my packing. She can seem to get more stuff in a bag then I can.

[stormrider]

Rode with some kin this Saturday that has a Nomad and he hates the side opening bags. If you don't use bag liners everything falls out and even with the bags, things seem to bulge out and it is a pain closing the lid.
Just what he said.