Hi All,
My son has a 1200 custom with a detachable backrest. He is looking to add saddlebags for trips but is concerned as to brackets that might be required and how they would mount on his bike with the detachable backrest hardware. He doesn't want to drill any holes. Can you help?

 

I have a 05 Custom and also needed saddlebags for traveling to and from work. I got a set of throw-overs off one of the leather outlets, I think it was bikerleather.com, for about $50. I then waterproffed the leather for good measure, and bought a piece of felt from the fabric store for about $.99 to cushion between the leather and my fender so there would be no scuffs in my paint. The last thing I did was to put a couple of small holes in the lower part of the bags and made small leather ties to loop through, finishing the deal up with two sided velcro strips that attach to my swingarm in the front and the bottom of my shocks in the rear. The bags stay in place and it take about 3 minutes to dismantle for weeknd rides when I don't need the bags. If you have more questions just let me know, but this works really nicley without brackets.

 

Just checked and it was at bikerleather.com, the bags are $42.99 item # BSD4008.

 

i thought if you moved the rear signals to next to the liscence plate then you could use those spots to attach a saddle bag. my buddy did it to his 04 1200c, but they are somewhat permanet. they come off but with about 10 mins of work. i dont think he drilled or mod'd anything

 

I think a lot of folks have found that brackets aren't needed nor is moving the taillights.

 

all the brakets did was hold the bags away from the bike about an inch and make it look a little wider which was the look he was going for. sorry for the bad info

 

Hi All,
Thanks for you input. I printed your responses and will give them to my son.

 

sestreet, go to Ebay and search for seller iteach. He sells saddlebag supports that are just the thing your son needs. I had bags on my XL with no supports and when riding with a passenger the bags would catch on the bottom of the shock. This tore a hole in the saddlebags. Same thing happened to my brother. To fix this I had my brother in law make us some supports. They worked so well that he now sells them on Ebay.

 

On my '03 1200c I couldn't get brakets that would work with detachable sissy bar. I bought some EZ brackets on ebay. They are bolted to the bags but detachable from bike.
The good: they are well away from shock, support the bag good, can position the bags further back, no ugly brackets on bike when removed, ez to use.
The bad: Turn signal relocation required, they stick out more than I would like, not cheap, had to buy a reloctor bar, and for my bike new turn signals.
Overall much more $ than I had originally intended but I am very pleased with the results.[8D]

 

Try www.leatherup.com Great prices, great product, fast delivery and 10% off every purchase after the first one. They send you a dicount coupon in the first order.