Two comments after reading all the replies.

The Harley bag I used on the top of my forks was empty at the time the pic
was taken so it looks much flimsier than it really is. An advantage of a soft
sided bag is that you can more easily cram something in there.

Yes, a zipper would be one hell of a lot better, no question about it.

 

I bought a Harley one that is very thick stiff leather and keeps it's shape, I thought about putting it on the front in the usual location but decided to put it on the back between the seat and licence plate.
It had a metal strip inside with a hole in the middle and all I did was remove the screw for the seat and reinstall it thru the hole in the matal plate.
It works great there and even stays clean and dry.
The attached pic shows it pretty well.
edit: another advantage is you can get things in & out of it while riding.

 

I got an 11 inch Iron Horse studded leather fork bag at motorcycle super store. It came with some cheesy zip ties to mount it. Otherwise it is a very sturdy bag, thick leather, fairly water tight (still keep the tools in a zip lock). I went to Wal Mart and got two leather dog collars to mount it. Yes it does rub the front fender on my 08 883C.

 

Here's a pic of mine. Soft leather/pleather with padding inside so I can cram things in it, as suggested earlier, with a zipper & velcro on the flap to hold the flap over the zipper. Don't mine the turn signals though, as those have been swapped out with the mini-bullets & the fork sliders have been polished. Oh, and I just noticed that the picture was taken when I had a leaking head gasket, like two years ago.

 

www.roadreadybags.com

 

I found a pretty nice bag at K Mart a couple days ago. It was a bicycle bag but heavy leather (Maybe fake or some type plastic but seemed like good material) Good size round bag. Would have bought it but it was Brown if anybody wants a Brown bag worth looking into. Only 20 bucks.

 

After reading all these comments I ended up going with the one I originally found on eBay. I got it yesterday and put it on today. I was surprised at how big it was at first. Thick leather and very sturdy. Straps on with nylon (I think thats what it is) straps with 2 D rings. I put it around my forks above the blinker bar and theres about 5 inches of space between the bottom of the bag and the fender and I after coming home from work today I don't think it touched the fender at all.

It has 2 straps that cover 2 buckles to make it easier to get into. I can fit a few things in there, but today I put a poland spring water bottle in it and it fit completely in it leaving no room for anything big. I was still able to keep a padlock and a mini flashlight in it.

I just got done throwing some zip ties on it to keep it more secure. I like it.

BUT. I can't use my windshield with it. I guess thats the only downside but I don't think I'll be using the windshield in the summertime anyway.

Final cost was $32.90 (~25 for the bag and ~7-8 for shipping).

 

Judging from the pics, you should have no problem with the bag hitting the fender. You have plenty of fork travel below the bag.

 

I got a Harley one and it was only $30.00 at the dealer. It's 11" wide and look great on the Sporty.