Saddlebag Top Rails

[Top Cat]

My 4 bar top rails do NOT protect the bags from being kicked. I still hit it with my heel when not paying attention while dismounting and sometimes mounting the bike.

[samkjr]

Prairie, I got mine from exile cyles. Just under 200 w. shipping. very nice and they gave me a free small bottle of chrome polish with purchase

[macmac]

2 tips on installing..

1. Throw away the rubber seals, and get roofing screws with seals and use these seals, made to be in weather. The seals that come with these are semi custom I guess and I can't find them elsewhere. They last a few years, then they dry up and blow away.

You can always get the seals for roofing screws.

The catch is there is a meaning full difference in the thickness.

2 tape over the area on the bag to mark it out, WITH which ever seals you choose to use.

The masking tape prevents scratching the paint. be sure to keep which ever rack on a side forever since no 2 racks are the exact same and the 4 rails I have are quite different from one another where the mounts are welded. If the welding is done with any jig I sure wouldn't know it.

If you don't lay out with seals in place, the holes will be inside the welded mounts and you will have no choice but to open the holes more than you wanted to..

If you don't use roofing washers, and if you still own the bike when the OEM seals die, and then use roofing washers you will have no choice but to enlarge the holes in the bags again.

How I know is I had a 01, and it had rails when I bought it. The seals were dead in 05 when I bought it and I had no choice but to get new seals, and all I could get was roofing seals.

When I bought the 06, I threw out the OEM seals at the first get go and used roofing screw seals which should last in weather 25 years..

On edit:

It just occured to me that if there is a screw up, enlarge the single hole end rather than all the holes..

[pirate]

Mac, that's great advice about the seals. I put the ones on that came with the rails in May, and I can notice already that it's not going to be long before they fall off because they're already getting dried out and cracked.

[macmac]

prairie cruiser. Probably location means alot.. I live in NH, that 01 came from Mass, more humid than not. A dryer place maybe harsher. Unfortunatly you seals will be toast sooner than later.

There is very little you can do to stop it. In your case i would get the roofing screws, and if your rack is the 4 bars rack install the pair side by side very loosely, and then work as you must the odd single out with a great deal of care, since these bags from the factory cost a grand.. A difference of 1/8" here is drastic.

It may be you should not take all the enlargement from the one hole alone.. Each rack is different from the next where the mounts are welded.

[oldbikers]

I have the 3 rails on mine because they were on it when I bought the bike

[Netnorske]

Mac,
Thx for the wisdom. Only thing is....now I'm a scared puppy to drill.... ...!!!! I have until the 29th to think about it as that is the expected delivery date of my rails.

I will actually be out of town for the next 5-6 weekends (fishing, not riding)...so it might end up being a winter project after all...

Kris

[chainsaw]

Kris, no guts no glory. Measure two, three,four times and drill once.

[pirate]

+1 on measuring several times before drilling. It's actually more eyeballing than measuring. Just make sure you put tape on the bags in the spots you're going to drill. Once you get the first rail put on, the second one is much easier (at least in my case!)

[Top Cat]

mac, where were you when I put my rails on ???
I didn't measure with the seals in place :-/ I had to enlarge the front hole to make things fit.
Don't be afraid to drill your bags guys. If you screw it up bad they can be repaired by a body shop guy. It will be a lot cheaper than buying new bags.
The guy who is painting my bike this winter says no problem to fixing the holes I have for my bag lites. My new bag lights are smaller and won't cover the original two holes I drilled to install the lights I have now.

[macmac]

Since my 01 had the rails and the rubbers were dead, I was surprized at the difference roofing washers made. I work in sterling silver amoung many other things, and so have jewelers files on hand.

I saw 'right off plain' that 2 holes still lined up, but the last was way off. i could have just enlarged the one, but being me, and not living in the fast lane, I chose to hand file each hole a slight bit instead, because I felt it was for a better over all quaility.

I am accustomed to some rather fine detail working in silver, knives, and flintlocks. So this was for me a no brainer.

The main part is getting it all set up with out scratching the paint. That and not snagging a drill bit. For that I either tape the bit, or slip in tight tubing. I prick a start dimple as well, so the bit can't drift.

After 40 years of pulling rusty broken studs out of things, usually broken off by someone else who gave up, I am pretty good at drilling a hole in almost anything.

[Netnorske]

I received the rails from Metric Thunder on Monday. After trying them on for "fit"...they didn't... :(.

They were advertised as for a 1500/1600....but the box said they were for a 1500. If the bags are different on the two, I can see why they didn't fit. If the bags are the same...then the weld jobs were not good because these things didn't fit at all.

Admittedly disappointed, I ended up returning them yesterday and will reconsider my options. Looking more and more like the four rail racks will be in my future...just wish they weren't so damn spendy... :-[...!!

Kris

[mncruiser]

Originally Posted by Netnorske

I received the rails from Metric Thunder on Monday. After trying them on for "fit"...they didn't... :(.

They were advertised as for a 1500/1600....but the box said they were for a 1500. If the bags are different on the two, I can see why they didn't fit. If the bags are the same...then the weld jobs were not good because these things didn't fit at all.

Admittedly disappointed, I ended up returning them yesterday and will reconsider my options. Looking more and more like the four rail racks will be in my future...just wish they weren't so damn spendy... :-[...!!

Kris

I hear ya on the cost but they sure dress up the rear of the Nad.

[brendan]

On the bag rails,I ordered a stock {Kawa Dealer} set when I ordered bike in fall 07. Took dealer about a month to get in from,postmark California, Was very nervous lining up as the enclosed "direction" were vague and obviusly written by a asian engineer that did no have a good grip on English {Engreesh,ah so!] It took my son and I about 4 hours for the set to get set in and I nervously drilled holes. Note to anyone mounting we used blue masking tape,3m, to cover drill hole areas,as the mounts were a little sharp and I did not want a gouge across the bag top. Learn to drill holes at the same angle as the bolts will go ,I had first holes at right angles to top of bag and had to file out to make rail set and bolt right,also take a tap and clean threads as we had a time getting the threads to take and finally took rail back off and looked in thread holes and they were Rusty from the factory! Evidently no oil used when threaded at assembly. also stock washers were crap all 8 cracked like they were 2 years in the sun,I told parts dept. and they shrugged it off{Typical!} I went to Ace hardware and bought 16 of the little devils, one inside and one outside,bolt is long enough. now a year later still look like new! Price was around $220 ,I believe and have saved a lot of scratches from me mainly and grand kids riding with me, too. Good Luck.

[macmac]

netnorske, 1500 and 1600 bags are indentical other than paint. The welds can be screwy, but i never saw any 4 bar rails that couldn't fit before.

brendan, there should be 6 rubbers, not 8, but i agree they are piss poor quaility, and You could use roofing screw rubbers, which will last under the weather 25 years. This should be a 3 point mount if you have 4 bar rails.