I picked up a set of hard bags the other day due to all you b@d@ss looking baggers on this site and hopefully in preparation for a meet and greet ride. I definitely like the look of the bags lowered so I wanted to get all that done before painting them. I think I have come up with a cleaner way to lower them...just my opinion. Tell me what you think.
Here is a picture of the bags as they are stock. They look good but lower is definitely better...
Here is the stock bracket with the bag removed...
Now this is the area I didn't really like with the normal lowering style. It puts an additional visible bracket below the stock pegs...
So looking at how the bracket curved down to get to the 2 mounting bolts I thought wow if it was curved up instead it would probably fit perfect. Sure enough if you flip it it will be lower by 3" (which seems to be the popular lowering amount. But how? Well with a little hesitation I got the pipe cutter out and chopped it...
Now, how to flip it and secure it back together. I toted the now split bracket to Lowes and did some brain storming. What I found was 1/2" conduit will slide inside the pipe very snugly and would probably hold on it's own. I did not measure the length of the conduit, but rather stuck it in the back section first as pictured and tapped it in there as far as it would go. I would guess it went in at least a foot. I then measured the straight section of the piece I removed and cut the conduit to that length...
I still wanted more security and happened to find a fellow biker at Lowes that showed me these little beauties. I did get a shorter carriage bolt as seen in the picture. I think it was a 2". The one that is included is way too long...
I also picked up 4 U-Bolts and used the straight piece off of them as the extensions for the upper mounts. They fit perfectly so ZERO cutting or drilling was needed. Here it is mocked up...
I had to use some 1/2" spacers at the front mounts to get the bracket away from the swingarm. I still have to take everything back off to paint them black...
Another view of the spacers. Also note how the saddlebag bracket now goes on top of the passenger peg bracket. I am going to order some chrome washers to clean it up a bit...
And the end result...
I really like the big stainless clamp that my new found buddy at Lowes recommended...
I am sure I am not the first to do this, but I haven't seen it done quite this way before. I am going to put in an order for chrome fasteners and spacer to make it look complete. Hope you like the idea!
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