[dhoenisch]

Hey guys, I used to be the owner of a 1982 Honda GL500 Silverwing, and joined up on Chopper Charles' site well before I joined up on this one. Anyhow, there was a fella there who made a set of saddle bags out of butt packs that can be purchased at Army/Navy Surplus stores.



Here's a link to his post and how he stiffened the bags. If you scroll down in this link some, you can see a link I added to purchase the bags (my screen name is the same as it is on this forum).



Anyhow, I made a set of those bags last year, but never mounted them to my GL500, but I saved them for the TW. Over the winter, I purchased the Cycleracks rack and pannier holders. A couple of weeks ago, while I was still waiting for some decent weather, I waterproofed them and mounted them to the pannier holders. Today, I mounted them, and gave them a test ride. They held on great at 55mph and though small, they are quite handy. I had to run some small errands, and one of them involved grabbing tools from the garage at my mom's house and bringing them back home so I could do my sprocket and chain change. It held the tools and other stuff just fine.

As for where I mounted the pannier holders, know they are kind of awkward looking sitting there, but in the rear position, they don't leave room for my turn signals, so I mounted them on that angle. I personally don't mind the look of it, so it can stay there unless I can find some way to push the turn signals back behind the rack. I won't kill myself finding a way though. They are just fine how they are.



Well, in case anyone is looking for a cheap alternative to actual motorcycle saddle bags, here you have it.



Dan

 

[Rainman]

I think they look very nice. Good job.

 

[Gorilla]

What happened to your TW? It looks like it hit the showroom and wasn't picked up. LOL! Looks great! Love the idea of the buttpacks and panier racks. I just rolled over 18,200 miles on my 2004 TW200. People used to make fun of me until the price of gas went up. Now I have to lock it at work. Good luck with all the stuff. I was thinking of a 25MM Ammo can on each side of the back Cycle Rack. Will have to try to figure out how to mount them though without drilling more holes in them.

 

[qwerty]

The corrugated plastic pictured in the link thread is called "Coroplast". That's actually a brand name, there are other brands, but most everyone will know what you want if you ask for coroplast. The size you'll want for this purpose is 4mm. you can find coroplast at any sign shop--it's pretty common used for temporary and indoor signage. Many in-store advertising dislays are made of coroplast, usually free for the asking when displays are changed.



The problem with using Coroplast for reinforcing soft bags is the cut edges can be quite sharp. Instead of cutting each side and taping them together the entire box and a lid can be cut from one piece of Coroplast, the material is then scored at the corners, and the Corpolast folded to form a box. Scoring makes a dandy hinge. To score Coroplast, I C-clamp a piece of angle as a guide, with the Coroplast clamped between the table and angle, then drag a Phillips screwdriver along the angle. Leave flaps of extra material where edges meet, clean the mating surfaces with mineral spirits, glue with Gorilla Glue, and clamp or weight heavily until the glue dries. With a little thought, you can build reinforcements that are completely weatherproof, with a hinged, overlapping top, and a minimum of shatp edges that will need melting down to prevent cutting the bag material.