MY HARLEY SADDLEBAG FIX 11-18-09

All summer long I had been listening to this Harley fire up, leave & return on the street behind us. The bike sounded great. A few weeks ago, I talked to my good friend Joe, a former co-worker & fellow PGR member, about repairing my vest. He said no problem, and to come over to his house. He then gave me directions and, lo & behold, he lives behind me and that was his bike I had been listening to. So I went over to see Joe & Sherri (his wife). After repairing the vest, we were looking at the bikes and we got to talking about my collapsed saddlebags. Joe showed me some inserts that he had put in his bags and they reshaped the bag.. So, I went home & dwelled on it and did some research in different catalogs looking for these inserts. Scroll down for this brief post and REMEMBER: IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE PICTURE BIGGER, JUST CLICK ON THE PICTURE.




Here is Joe & his Harley on one of our rides last month

Joe & Sherri at Red River Harley Davidson in Wichita Falls Texas

Joe's saddlebag's had collapsed also and this is how they looked after he put the saddlebag shapers in them. Restored them to their original shape.

So, after searching and talking to others that have had the collapsed bag problems on their Harley's, I was down to two solutions. Solution 1: I could take the saddlebags off the bike and ship them off & for $300, they would get fixed & get longer straps added, or, Solution 2: I could order the Saddlebag Shapers & do it myself. After finding them in various catalogs for $60-$82, I went on Ebay and found them, new for $42. They are the same ones as in the catalogs. So, I ordered them from Saddlebag Shapers out of Cypress Texas, and they arrived today, Wednesday 11-18-09. Here they are, spread out on the floor, while my curious cat sniffs around on them.. Here is the ebay site for the Saddlebag Shapers: http://stores.ebay.com/saddleBag-Shapers

The glue & directions.. Since I am off the bike for a few more days, I will start this project tomorrow, Thursday 11-19-09, and hopefully they will be back in shape for the next ride..

Apparently, this is a problem that is fairly common. I know that when I was deciding on whether or not to get the Harley, the folks at the Yamaha/Honda/Kawasaki dealerships all mentioned how the Harley Saddlebags were. To be absolutely fair about it, I have to say that I have had zero problems with the Vulcan's (Ms. Clone) saddlebags & I have put 33,500 miles on her since Jan. 08. But that didn't stop me from buying the Heritage Classic. Here is the mis-shaped & collapsed right saddlebag on my bike as it is now

This is the left saddlebag...

Another view of the right saddlebag

A different view of the right bag

And last but not least, and it has nothing to do with the saddlebags, is a picture of the Vance & Hines logo on my Short pipes. Thought I would throw it in for grins... This will conclude this brief post. Many thanks to Joe for the info on the saddlebags and, hopefully, it will be an easy fix.

Scroll down for more rides, events & posts and don't forget to click on the "older posts" link at the bottom of EACH page for more rides and posts. Check out North Texas Bikers (1) at http://www.jjskewlstuff.blogspot.com/ for rides, events & posts from January 08-November 08. and North Texas Bikers II at: http://www.jjskewlstuffii.blogspot.com/ for rides, events & posts from Nov. 08-July 09. Until next post, ya'll be careful out there, ride safe, keep the rubber on the road & pray for our Troops & Pattie & Manuel................JOHN