To start, if your a Big Dog purist(keep it stock)or a hater of all things bagger, then just stop reading now. Unless you just want to smack some sense into me, then carry on. I know most hate the idea of bags on a chopper, but it serves a purpouse without getting rid of my chopper, so hate away, i never build anything to please anyone but myself. Every morning I have to pack my big bag and strap it onto my sissy bar to go to work looking like I'm on a cross country trip, and if I had to run out to get something small and wanted to take the bike, I'd have to strap the same big bag on and have to work about if it would still be there when I got out of the store. So last year I really got tired of having no permanent, lockable storage and was really thinking about selling the chopper for something like a road king, but just could not bare to part with it. Seeing as I can't afford 2 bikes I started working on ideas to add removable bags to the chopper, knew I wouldn't love it but as long as I didn't hate it, it would tide me over till I can get another bike down the road. I wanted to build an entire new rear clip so i could swap back and forth from my stock chopper setup to the bags whenever i wanted without too much trouble. I kept it under wraps, that way if I hated it, I could toss it aside and no one's the wiser.
So I bought a couple used bags, lids, an 11" fender blank, some steel, and some Mastiff struts and have been messing with it whenever I get the time since winter. Had the flu/pneumonia in March so that set me back a little. First I cut the fender blank down and welded an extension to it. Then I made the bag brackets from scratch, they are attatched to a plate that mounts between the strut and fender. I made some filler panels to fill the gap between the bags and fender from some sheetmetal and cut out backside of the right side bag and refiberglassed to be able to fit tighter and clear the swingarm. I also molded on some saddlebag extensions, and made a new latch system for the bags using rotary latches, more like the newer harley bags.
So I'm at the point were everything is painted, cleared and wetsanded. Just waiting on time to airbrush to match, re clear, buff and assemble. In the end, I made it so the entire rear clip can be removed with 3 bolts per side and one jst connector. So in about 15-20 mins. I can swap from chopper fender, to full bag setup. How much will I actually use it, I don't know. I may find that I love having bags and keep it on most of the time, or I may find I like the stripped down chopper look too much and only use it for trips, only time will tell.
That's that, flame away. And maybe someone else out there has considered this and can get some idea what it would look like. Here's some pictures... does this make my ass look big?
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