cupcake_mike
Active member
I had a few days to myself and decided to have a go at building in some storage and extra fuel capacity into my FTR. These mods were done with a bolt-on mentality so u can easily switch back to stock in about 10 min.
I bought 2 pairs of pelican knockoff bags from Harbor Freight (large and extra large), then went digging through the scrap bin in my shop. Ended up using (4) 8" pieces of low profile unistrut, about 4ft of 3/16x1" flat bar, 4ft of 1.25x1/8" angle, a foot of 3/4×1/8 and 1x1/8 DOM, a couple feet of 14 guage steel 6 inches wide for the fuel tank mount and some random chunks of aluminum i chucked up in the lathe for spacers and other bits. Also picked up a $3 nylon cutting board at ikea to make channel liners and spent $20 on Amazon on some cargo net pockets and elastic straps to hold stuff inside the boxes and a couple hitch pin locks. Have about $130 tied up into the saddle bag part of the project (including both pairs of bags) and another $30 for the rotopax mount (already had the 1 gal can).
I cut and drilled some plates out of 1/4" steel to bolt underneath the grab handles. These plates were welded to the 14 gauge steel after i welded and reinforced the rotopax mount to it and bent it over my knee to match the shape of my saddleman seat's passenger section. I then removed the passenger pegs and made some bungs in the lathe to replace them. I welded an angled bracket made out of 3/4 DOM to match the lines of the subframe and topped it off with a 1" bung I threaded 3/8-16 internally. I then measured between the mounting points on the bags and built a frame for each one out of the angle and flat bar (6"x12" for the small bags, 8"x12" for the large bags) and welded some 5/16-18 bolts to the frames to allow bolting through the the cases. After this i built the receiver frames that bolt to the subframe out of the unistrut and flat bar then lined them with the strips cut from the nylon cutting board. Each frame has 3 mounts, the vertical one coming from the passenger peg, a horizontal bung (internally threaded 5/16-18) that bolts to the plate mounted under the grab handles and a rear horizontal/vertical spreader mount (made out of 3/4 and 1" DOM sleeved with each end threaded internally 5/16-18) that bolts to the back section of each frame and has a hidden bracket in the middle that attaches it to the license plate relocating bracket i built a few months ago. After that i built the arms at the front of the receivers that allow locking the bags in place using (2) 5/8" hitch pin locks that i machined down to 5/16" and bent on one end to mate them to the bags. I then attached the netting to the inside of the lids with some industrial strength velcro and attached the elastic straps with some 1/2" self tapping screws. I also attached a aluminum plate i spaced off the bottom of the bag that sits above the muffler to help with heat control. The bottom of the plate is about 3" from the muffler and spaced off the bag another 3/4", so it should be ok, i think.
I adapted some tiny rectangular shaped LED indicators with 20ohm resisters and factory ends to tuck the bags in tighter and leave the factory wiring harness stock.
To finish up the project i took everything apart and went to town drilling "speed" holes to lower the weight and sprayed everything in 4 coats of gloss black.
Ended up being about 7 lbs for the brackets/frames and another 8 lbs for the small bags. I have dropped nearly 16 lbs from the stock bike with the removal of the indicators, license plate bracket, mirrors, and swapping seats so the weight difference from stock is negligible. The bags are the exact same width as the bars (33") so maneuverability is unaffected, additionally I'm 6' 270lbs with very broad shoulders, so they aren't really wider than me
I've ridden about 300 miles with them on, due to the unusually warm couple days we had last week and i notice no riding issues and no welds have cracked, so that's nice.
Sticker bombing came from the input of my very cool 14yr old son.
The larger bags are about 30% larger (30L vs 23L) than these and i built the receivers to accommodate them, but the exhaust side one won't fit until i install the racefit, which probably won't happen until the warranty is up. These smaller bags allow me to take at least a weeks worth of clothing and gear with me, my sleeping bag and pad and my tent strap to designated areas that designed into the brackets. The larger bags will push my capacity to about 2 weeks.
Probably not everybody's cup of tea, but I'm happy that i accomplished what i set out to do without compromising rideability, while at the same time, remarkably, ended up matching the picture i had in mind before i started the project.
I bought 2 pairs of pelican knockoff bags from Harbor Freight (large and extra large), then went digging through the scrap bin in my shop. Ended up using (4) 8" pieces of low profile unistrut, about 4ft of 3/16x1" flat bar, 4ft of 1.25x1/8" angle, a foot of 3/4×1/8 and 1x1/8 DOM, a couple feet of 14 guage steel 6 inches wide for the fuel tank mount and some random chunks of aluminum i chucked up in the lathe for spacers and other bits. Also picked up a $3 nylon cutting board at ikea to make channel liners and spent $20 on Amazon on some cargo net pockets and elastic straps to hold stuff inside the boxes and a couple hitch pin locks. Have about $130 tied up into the saddle bag part of the project (including both pairs of bags) and another $30 for the rotopax mount (already had the 1 gal can).
I cut and drilled some plates out of 1/4" steel to bolt underneath the grab handles. These plates were welded to the 14 gauge steel after i welded and reinforced the rotopax mount to it and bent it over my knee to match the shape of my saddleman seat's passenger section. I then removed the passenger pegs and made some bungs in the lathe to replace them. I welded an angled bracket made out of 3/4 DOM to match the lines of the subframe and topped it off with a 1" bung I threaded 3/8-16 internally. I then measured between the mounting points on the bags and built a frame for each one out of the angle and flat bar (6"x12" for the small bags, 8"x12" for the large bags) and welded some 5/16-18 bolts to the frames to allow bolting through the the cases. After this i built the receiver frames that bolt to the subframe out of the unistrut and flat bar then lined them with the strips cut from the nylon cutting board. Each frame has 3 mounts, the vertical one coming from the passenger peg, a horizontal bung (internally threaded 5/16-18) that bolts to the plate mounted under the grab handles and a rear horizontal/vertical spreader mount (made out of 3/4 and 1" DOM sleeved with each end threaded internally 5/16-18) that bolts to the back section of each frame and has a hidden bracket in the middle that attaches it to the license plate relocating bracket i built a few months ago. After that i built the arms at the front of the receivers that allow locking the bags in place using (2) 5/8" hitch pin locks that i machined down to 5/16" and bent on one end to mate them to the bags. I then attached the netting to the inside of the lids with some industrial strength velcro and attached the elastic straps with some 1/2" self tapping screws. I also attached a aluminum plate i spaced off the bottom of the bag that sits above the muffler to help with heat control. The bottom of the plate is about 3" from the muffler and spaced off the bag another 3/4", so it should be ok, i think.
I adapted some tiny rectangular shaped LED indicators with 20ohm resisters and factory ends to tuck the bags in tighter and leave the factory wiring harness stock.
To finish up the project i took everything apart and went to town drilling "speed" holes to lower the weight and sprayed everything in 4 coats of gloss black.
Ended up being about 7 lbs for the brackets/frames and another 8 lbs for the small bags. I have dropped nearly 16 lbs from the stock bike with the removal of the indicators, license plate bracket, mirrors, and swapping seats so the weight difference from stock is negligible. The bags are the exact same width as the bars (33") so maneuverability is unaffected, additionally I'm 6' 270lbs with very broad shoulders, so they aren't really wider than me
I've ridden about 300 miles with them on, due to the unusually warm couple days we had last week and i notice no riding issues and no welds have cracked, so that's nice.
Sticker bombing came from the input of my very cool 14yr old son.
The larger bags are about 30% larger (30L vs 23L) than these and i built the receivers to accommodate them, but the exhaust side one won't fit until i install the racefit, which probably won't happen until the warranty is up. These smaller bags allow me to take at least a weeks worth of clothing and gear with me, my sleeping bag and pad and my tent strap to designated areas that designed into the brackets. The larger bags will push my capacity to about 2 weeks.
Probably not everybody's cup of tea, but I'm happy that i accomplished what i set out to do without compromising rideability, while at the same time, remarkably, ended up matching the picture i had in mind before i started the project.
