Quote:
Originally Posted by slolane
Hey Brian, great job!! 
Very well thought out, your project turned out really nice. I think once the brackets are black they will appear much smaller, I'm interested to see how often you take the cases off once you start using them. Nice job on being able to keep the rear seat functional and I agree, the bike looks longer with them mounted back a little.
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Yeah, I'll see what happens. Taking them off is moreso for when I get to a destination. Call it CarryIn Luggage if you will. I imagine the scenario of me riding to a hotel or friend's place and just bring the cases in holding all my clothes and toiletries. I'm also super excited to bring home my first chinese takeout meal using these sidecases. I swear, I work a lot for food. =)
Quote:
Originally Posted by NathanF
Great work! I'm excited to see more people working on this.
Some ramblings: Before redoing entire project due to looks, get some plugs for the ends and paint it black. I bet that will make it down right disappear. Remember, because you painstakingly built it, you will focus on it and see every flaw there is. This is also why food tastes better when someone else makes it. 
Another thought - what about making the side rack brackets easily removable? I see that you have two bolts that connect a T bracket from the bike mounted bar to the bag-holding bars. Instead of two predrilled holes, you could cut a channel such that you could slide in and tighten down some captive knob nuts for easy removal, rather than having carefully thread and wrench down two separate bolts. The question of stability (especially over a long ride) would be an issue, but it's something worth considering.
Keep us posted as you tinker with this. This is quite the engieering challenge, sinces it seems Kawasaki has done everything in their power to make adding saddle bags awkard and difficult. That's the cost of pretty I suppose. 
Thanks for taking the time to take pics, it really contributes a lot! |
Thanks for the suggestions. I actually have plastic plugs already purchased ready to go in but before I put them in, I want to be able to remove the bolts and paint it nicely. Not having to remove the plugs just to do that is a lazy move on my part.
As for the removal of the side brackets, I was thinking the main cross bar running under the tail would be an easier one to take off. It's just 2-5/16in bolts straight up connecting to another bracket. I built this whole thing to be modular just in case something messes up and also so that others that might be trying to do something similar can get some ideas. The undertail mount was SUPER easy to put together, it was the cross bar and the brackets to connect to the quicklocks that took alot of precision cutting and drilling.
Btw, If anybody wants to attempt something similar, I can give measurements for every part which would get you close.