Today I was looking around several bike shops. I looked at lots of fork bags, saddle bags and the like. I found it hard to find a single item made of real leather. Even at the Harley dealer, they have synthetic leather fork bags. What gives? I would pay more for real leather. Do I have to go to a custom leathersmith for real leather stuff? I'm confused.

 

I guess you found out that real leather saddle bags cost big bucks. They also require more work to keep them looking good. I'd still go for the leather though, expensive but the real thing.

 

It sure did surprise me. I thought they were all leather until I got a close look. I was really bummed!

Do I need to go with a leathersmith?

 

I used to work leather and love it. However, I found it to be a poor choice for bike accessories unless you are a fair weather biker, or consider leather to be the only cool, traditional thing to do. In a good rain it will soak up a lot of water and is very slow to dry. I spent a lot of time drying it out and killing mold.

To each his own.

 

Leather saddle bags require constant conditioning.

I used Willie's & Max bags for a while after rotting out leather bagsand they where low maintenance but the look was cheap.

I'm back on leather and keep conditioning them regurlarly and IMO are worth the cost.

No more fake leather bags.

 

I don't like fake things.

 

If it's good synthetic leather, it's real hard to tell. For example, Corbin only uses leather on the seating panel of their seats, unless special ordered otherwise. The side panels are synthetic. I have a Corbin solo seat, and I can't see the difference. Mustang seats are all synthetic. I have one of those too, and it looks good.

 

So does fake leather come from fake cows .................hey somebody was going to ask sooner or later ![8D] Slap whatever you like its all good !

 

I've seen some women with fake things that looked pretty good.

 

as long as it works and looks good . that is what counts.just my two cents.