Am I the only one that stuff like this happens to????

Let me start by saying that in the three or four years that I've used these EZ-Brackets, I have NEVER been able to remove the key unless they were securely locked into position. And I've always given them a good tug afterwards to ensure that they're locked in. These are my second set of Rakaposhi leather covered hard bags from ebay - first set and crash bar saved the whole side of the bike when I went down a few years ago. Same set of EZ-Brackets though. Tools (in an old leather waist bag) and misc. parts and rags in the left and spare helmet, gloves, goggles/sunglasses (3), bungee cord, l/s shirt and do rags in the right. Both bags are 1/2 empty and not too heavy.

Temps over 50* today, went out for a quick ride with a friend. About 2 hours out and back on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn and Queens (not known for the smoothest rides). Doing about 50-60mph in the left lane, hit yet another 'bump' in the road and I see my left saddlebag skidding away in my rear view mirror! (Bag up, EZ-Bracket down.) I immediately pull over to the shoulder and head back. (It took a good 20 minutes before I could cross 3 lanes to get to the bag on the divided medial strip because traffic was so heavy and only about 5 minutes to get back). It took a pretty good shot by somebody ... enough to crush my plastic air horn in there. I emptied everything out, pulled out the bent side rail and stuck my foot in it to try to push the bottom out. Filled'er back up, locked it back on (again tugging on it to ensure it was locked) and off I went.

I gotta admit, as upset as I am about the EZ-Bracket (and still wondering how it happened???), I am again impressed with the Rakaposhi saddlebags. It skid God knows how far, took a hit from an SUV doing at least 50mph, never popped open or lost any of the contents, lost only one half of one stud and was able to be bent somewhat back into shape and reinstalled on my bike! Even though I'll end up getting another (3rd) set from Rakaposhi, they have earned my respect for a quality product. This time I'm going for the double strap again as opposed to the single.



http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=130262657064
(Can't get the entire link to work, so you'll have to copy and paste to see the ebay ad.)

I don't think I'm gonna keep these EZ-Brackets, though. I just don't trust them. Maybe the lock is weak from my crash (actually a 15mph lay down) from a few years ago, but I have never had this problem since then. I just like the convenience of popping off the bags to clean the www's and, of course, I do like the 'cruiser' looks of my R*, too.