Kawasaki VN750 Forum banner

saddle bags

2K views 8 replies 3 participants last post by  OleDirtyDoc 
#1 ·
Hey everyone,

i bought a Mustang seat and saddle bags a while back. i have boon doing a lot of work on the bike trying to get it in a good shape so that 1) it will last a while longer and 2) we are capable of going on some trips this summer.

the saddle bags i bought are throw over and the seat doesnt sit well because the saddle bag straps are in the way. i think i have an idea on how to make them work but i wanted to get input since i have never put saddle bags on anything. the picture shows the bag straps with a pencil mark of were i would cut them off 1) so they were higher and not resting on the muffler pipes and 2) so that the area where the luggage rack bolts are dont have an extra layer of leather over it, which will allow the seat to be in its proper location.

is this a bad idea? if i cut these straps are the whole damn things going to fall apart? is there some kind of glue or stitching that i should do after i cut it?

thanks for the Help!
 

Attachments

See less See more
1
#2 ·
The strap on my bags goes back against the corner of the backrest bar/grab bar, so I had to cut a square out of the seat pan, others here have done the same. Still took two people to line the bolts up, with a double layer of strap and luggage rack bolts.

Then I figured out the seat ain't for me, the pass. seat causes me a lot of pain in about 20 miles.

You can probably cut the strap ok, but would be a good idea to stitch up the edge to keep it together.

Looked up some old posts when I did mine, I think some people had to cut the seat pan just for the luggage rack and bolts. The holes already in the seat pan weren't enough.
 
#3 ·
The holes in the seat pan actually line up really well with the luggage rack bolts. I was kind of surprised.

I guess i could cut out the bottom of the passanger seat pan, but that seems harder and more destructive. I also have an industrial sewing machine at work. Not sure if the costume supervisor would be willing to help me out, though. Maybe the seat pan is the better bet?
 
#4 ·
Have you tried the seat without the bags to see if the bolt holes (seat bolts) will line up?

The cut wasn't too bad with a cutting disc and die grinder, except for the fiberglas dust flying all over, had to finish the corner cuts with a reciprocating saw blade and a utility knife.

After the cut, the seat was hitting the bags (strap actually) hard on lower edge of the seat, next to the grab bar. Took 200lbs of my friend pushing down on the back of the seat to get the bolts in, and needed longer bolts.
 
#7 ·
Have you tried the seat without the bags to see if the bolt holes (seat bolts) will line up?
Yes i have. the seat fits really nicely when the bags arent there. everything lines up perfect.

After the cut, the seat was hitting the bags (strap actually) hard on lower edge of the seat, next to the grab bar. Took 200lbs of my friend pushing down on the back of the seat to get the bolts in, and needed longer bolts.
i understand what your saying. i actually took the tool box off so i could see underneath the seat. with out the saddle bags the seat fits very nicely and there seems to be enough room around the grab bars for the saddle bags to just fit nice and snug. the bottom of the seat pad does rest on the frame cross bar were the luggage rack bolts in. so with the saddle bags there is no way. the extra layer of leather doesnt allow the seat pan to fit down over the luggage bolt heads or the pan to rest on the cross bar. so either the pan or the leather has to go! :grin2:

No need to cut them .just overlap the two, line up the holes and put the string through both layers, if ya get what I mean.
yea i tried that to begin with. the one layer of leather is stoping the seat from fitting correctly. there was absolutely no way two layers of leather were ever going to work. although, if i cut the seat pan out, i could probably just over lap the flaps.
 
#5 ·
No need to cut them .just overlap the two, line up the holes and put the string through both layers, if ya get what I mean.
 
#8 ·
Great thanks, now I know, it's the bags.

You may find that even with the strap cut to single layer, the seat hits farther down like mine did. Looks like you have real leather, verses fake on mine. My strap is still double thickness, to get the bags off the mufflers, but it's single layer down on the sides where the seat is hitting now.

Can't believe how bad this seat is for me.
 
#9 ·
Do you have access to a sewing machine?you could sew across the area before you cut it.just an idea
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top