I wanted a fork bag, but really wasn't crazy about using straps to hold it on. I didn't want the bag moving around and rubbing against my forks.

I made a solid mount that bolts onto the bottom triple tree using the headlight mounting bolt and the brakeline clamp bolt. I used a couple washers (on the headlight mounting bolt) to level the bag mount...you'll see why if you look at the bottom of the tree.

I was going to fab up the entire mount from scratch, but while picking up some nuts and bolts I decided to use a shed hinge instead. I thought it would save me some time and it was only $5.

First thing to do is determine how far out you want the bag to be. Then you'll have to drill holes for the mounting bolts. A quick way to make a template for yourself is to take a piece of masking tape and tape it to the tree. Mark the holes and then peel the tape up and line it up on your hinge.

I didn't want the hinge exposed, so I cut a slit through the bag so the bulk of it is inside and hidden. After the project is done, you'll want to glue some fabric or something in there to keep it from scratching cell phones, etc. Right now, I keep a bandanna in there and just wrap everything with it.

After drilling the holes, mount the hinge and see what angle you want your bag to be at. Mark a line across the hinge so you can line up the points for welding and keep the angle you wanted. At this time, mark where you want to cut off the excess hinge that is sticking past the rear of the triple tree.

Here is the welded mount:


After cleaning up the welds, I slid the bag on and used 1/4-20SAE bolts with fender washers and locknuts. I had to grind one side of the washer straight to make it fit on the inside.

I also trimmed the excess off the back. The two holes I drilled are the ones NOT countersunk:


You can paint the hinge, but I didn't bother...not at this time anyways.

You should now have a nice mount that doesn't move and doesn't rub your forks. Mine is a little snug against the triple tree, but I can live with it.

Finished mount...see the clearance at the fork tubes:


Hope someone can benefit from my little project!

See my other post on the Pot lid Air cleaner!

 

kinda a cool idea, too bad I don't know how to weld or have a welder

 

I'll bet a local muffler shop would do it for $5.00. Just mark it before you take it.

You could also make your own out od flat stock and bend it, but that seemed like more work for me than this!

 

Mascman...that's very creative and I've been wanting a fork bag, but didn't like the idea of it being held on by straps that would rub either. Do you have some shots from a little further back so I can get a better idea of how it looks? Nice job.

 

Looks good.

Bags kinda close to that fender though. Forks should compress @ 4 inches if you hit something rough. Hard to tell if you have that much space there and no one needs a dented fender

 

American ingeneuity: gotta love it! Great job, Mascman. I second the concern about clearance between the bottom of your bag and top of your fender, though.

 

Just use JB Weld. Perfect stuff for non-essential bonds like this.

 

cool.

 

Must just be the angle of the pic...bike leaning towards the camera.

Basically the clearance looks lik in imboden's pic.

The bag itself is still soft and would compress. Basically, if you hit hard enough to dent the fender...it will be the least of your worries!!

I wanted to hold off on posting an overall pic untill i finish with my new bars.

Like I said before...check out the pics in imboden's signature. They look the same.

 

I mounted mine using a very large, heave duty version os zip ties. The ties are about 3/4 inch wide and 1/8 inch thick. They hold the bag very secure and I was able to use the existing cuts in the bag that were for the leather straps that came with the bag.