I just stumbled upon this forum this afternoon after getting back from riding, great collection of folks here to learn from. I've been looking for saddlebags for my 2018 Fatboy since I bought it and haven't seen anything that I like.

I'm a machinist by trade and build primarily products for the Aerospace and Military, however, I've got my self caught in building stuff for my own toys more than once over the years. I have finally given up at this point finding anything that I want to mount on my bike. I want something that I can carry my basics, such as handgun, ammo and overnight gear, not a crapload of stuff, but enough to get by for 24-48 hours on the trail. Problem is, I don't want to deter from the lines of the bike with the standard bagger style saddlebags or unsecured leather bags, besides everything that I have seen is not aesthetically pleasing to the lines of the bike.

I've considered building a set of bags that would be machined from a solid billet of 6061-T6 aluminum. They would be about 7 1/2 inches in height, 12" in length and about 4" in depth. About 250 cubic inches of space each, but would have a gas piston inside that would allow the saddlebag to hinge in the middle of the 4" depth, basically like a briefcase, allowing the two halves to fold out. This way you can have easy access to a handgun holstered mounted inside as well as having a custom netting inside holding everything in, without falling out. I am looking at adding a locking system as well of course, with would be really nice to walk away from the bike without fear of someone stealing your gear.

Just curious if anyone here has considered anything like this or would be interested in such as design as well. My biggest issue is that I want a little carrying capacity but I'm not looking to have it deter from the basics of the bike. I don't' want a bagger, which is why I bought the Fatbob, to begin with, but do want a little storage room.

Anyways, just wondering if any of you folks have had the same thoughts on this as I have.

 

Sounds awesome to me.

 

Sounds bad *** to me as well. I would be interested in something like that but don't have the skills or resources to do that. I've been thinking about making some quick detach bags out of a couple of fat .50 ammo cans for my Fat Bob. They are a bit bigger than the standard .50 cal ammo boxes and I think would work decently.

Just curious. Is your bike a Fat Bob or Fat Boy? You stated it's both in your post. Either way, if you finally decide to go through with it and make them, be sure to show us your masterpiece when finished! Sounds like they would be awesome bags.

 

That was my tought to,

Ido not have the need to carry a lot of stuff with me on the Bob so I made a sidebag from a gun carry case that was following the line from the swingarm
and was just big enough for my title, insurance and sunglasses

 

I've been hammered past several days with my daytime job, and never saw everyone's replies. I have a 2018 Fat Bob 114, with Bassani pipes. With the Bassani, you have a little more room than you do with the standard factory Exhaust, but figured I would build the bags to work for everyone's configuration. I'm using the image below to build the basic layout design so it will flow with the exact lines of the bike. I'm not sure if anyone has been crazy enough to actually machine an entire saddlebag from a solid billet of aluminum before, but always happy to be the first **** to try something different.






My goal is to machine them so they literally look like they belong there from the factory, not some aftermarket slap-on bags. I think if I get the radius contour of the side profile of the bike and with large contouring radiuses, it will literally blend in with the bike, which is what I'm looking for. Depending upon the final design, either I'll run it on your 4th or 5th axis machining center, it'll be one hell of a chip maker.





If you guys have any input or thoughts, I'm happy to take your input. As I mentioned before, I'm looking to have the ability for storage that I can securely lock up, but not having it look like a bagger bike, which is why I bought the Fat Bob, to begin with. Just not being able to carry extra rounds with me makes me twitchy.

 

Not sure if your looking for something square or rounded, but this may give you an idea of what a small saddle bag might look like over the exhaust.

https://www.endscuoio.com/product/beat/