After having my Jafrum sissy bar bags completely fall to pieces in less than a year, I need to get another something for extra luggage on the long trips. The wife and I are heading south next month and we need some serious space, and since Dyna's don't come already piled full of luggage, I need to make a purchase. My first thought is one of those Harley style tour packs you see all over ebay for 100 bucks. In a past post, a few people posted up some pics of them and they seem to be a great option, but since its actually time to make the purchase I need to actually make a decision.

Heres a couple things I'm looking at. Heres the basic aftermarket Tour Pack. Cheap, large and they come in gloss black:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tab%3DWatching

And the Kuryakyn trunk:
http://www.kuryakyn.com/index.cfm/go...ID/27/IMID/682

My other options are the roll style trunk bags. They are pretty spacious:
http://www.vikingbags.com/Motorcycle...-1287-prd1.htm

And lastly, Leatherneck Jim's. I don't see many people who run his stuff, but the one time I did actually touch his products, the quality was nothing less than amazing. And of course, its not cheap.
http://leatherneckjims.com/shop/inde...products_id=72

Who has run this stuff and what are your thoughts? I'm not convinced any of these are what I am buying, but I want to at least narrow it down a tad. Opinions needed.

 

Neil,

I have the chopped version of the gloss black tour trunk from the first Ebay link. I know some more members do have one (JaronB, 8541hog)

Here's some more info from one of my threads on this tour trunk: Chopped tour trunk arrived today

I used it on my recent trip over the French Alps (***The HDForums Mascot's European Tour***) in combination with some FXDP hardbags that I found two years ago at Ebay: Hardbags finaly mounted....

As I ride solo, I do not regret I bought this chopped version of the gloss black tour trunk. If you ride up two I would suggest to buy the full scale version though!

 

I have the aftermarket tour pack mounted on detachable hardware. It serves its purpose I suppose as I really only use it two or three times a year. IMO it is a little flimsy so I added a piece of sheet metal to the bottom on the inside. I ran the mounting bolts through the sheet metal and then through the fiberglass on the tour pack. It held up for a 5000 mile trip with a pretty good amount of weight in it. If I were going to leave it mounted on my bike all the time I would go with something else, like a tour pack from a wrecked bike. But, for something that is just going to be used for a trip or two a year I think it is fine.

 

Good info guys. Nothing I put on the rack will be a permanent addition. Just something for the long hauls. My saddlebags and my small sissy bar bag really work for day trips. But for those long hauls, I don't mind bolting something large on the back. I'm just worried about the wife leaning up against it and it cracking. The sissy bars rock solid and I have a very nice pad that keeps her happy.

 

I used a bikers friend roll bag from vancouver to sturgis....it was great!

 

I had the same concern about it cracking, but with a piece of sheet metal bolted into the bottom of the pack it is pretty solid. I did not trust it without the extra support of the layer of sheet metal. It is nice to have it on detachable hardware, easy on, easy off.

 

I have an '08 fatbob that I mounted an ebay tour pak coupled with Jackyls mount on a road trip this year (4500 miles, eight days) it held up fine and was very useful. I did that trip mostly solo. I very seldom have the tour pak on but I have ridden two up with it and the passenger says it is as stable as the regular sissy bar. She says it was more comfortable because the pad was higher but it does take up just a little more room on the seating area but not enough to be an issue. (theres not as much room for me and the wife on the dyna's now as there was 25 years ago.They must have shrunk the frame) The modification I am going to make to the mounting is to have two little bars made the same size as the sissy bar I normally run so I can easier mount the tour pack when it is already full (I'll take off the tourpak and put the bar I like back on if I'm staying a day or two) I hope this makes sense

 

Yes, those are the answers I needed. I'm still not 100% sold on the idea of the tour pack vs the sissy bar bags. Some of the sissy bar bags (like mixter mentioned), are pretty nice. Its just nice to hear people aren't loosing wives due to failures of cheapo ebay tour packs.

 

I lose women for lots of reasons, but a hardware failure on the bike is not one of them

I have a big sissy bar bag as well. If I am taking a day trip I will use it. I preferred the tour pack for longer trips because I do not have to worry about covering it if it rains and I could lock it. The lock is very flimsy, but better than nothing. I leaned up against it while it was loaded and did not have a problem (and thankfully I am much heavier than the women that might ride on the bike with me )

This is a bad picture, but I had it pretty loaded down. Also had large waterproof bags strapped to it and I leaned on them. Held up pretty good.

 

I have a tour pak like the one in the link you posted, I also have Leatherneck Jims Denver bags and could be happier with the set up.
I also added the rack on top for lashing down the tent and such.
I did find that position is critical for front end control when riding loaded 2up. A 1 inch shift made a huge difference. If you mount too far back it will make the front end unstable. So before you finalize and hit the road make sure you do some loaded test rides.
You can see my setup in my sig pic and on my web site.
I made my own mount because I just did not like the way the ones I was seeing looked or mounted. I actually made 2 mounts, 1 for 2up and 1 for solo.