I guess it gets' damn hot inside the bags (especially at the bottom rear). I had one of those waterproof fold-over+velcro bags holding some crap (industrial strength 3M repellent, backup Swiss Army Knife, Leatherman tool, and a fold-up hex tool bundle).

I am packing for a 6-day trip to head over to Durango, CO (Four Corners Biker Rally) so I was emptying misc stuff to re-pack...and there it was. The bag had melted, the cap on the 3M repellent gel had melted, and the plastic outer on one end of the Swiss Army Knife had melted). Insect repellent gel was everywhere...sticky...melted thin plastic mixed-in...PITA.

However...I am not 100% convinced it was temperature...almost wondering if the 3M insect repellent gel is nasty enough to react and melt the plastics like that...wait...NO (duh)...the bottle it COMES in is plastic. Aaaanyway...

Have any of you had this kind of melting issue? I never had the issue with my SG...

 

The only problem I had was on my 04 Ultra. I had a bottle of the turtle wax bug/road tar cleaner/wax spray. It got so hot it sort of exploded in the saddlebag. Made a mess. The insect repellent stuff is probably pretty nasty stuff.

 

I am betting it was the repellant. It could be reacting/melting the other types of plastic.

 

+1

Insect repellent - Especially if it had DEET in it.

Nasty stuff. 'Interacts' with some plastics, not with others...

 

Wow...I wondered about that first...but man, it "melted" even the hard plastic cover to the Swiss Army Knife...crazy.

It is very strong 3M repellent loaded with DEET (I use it in Brazil to avoid being carried away by the giant flying creature/insects down there in the Jungle).

Thanks!!

 

It's not getting hot enough (temp wise) to melt plastic inside your saddlebag. You've got some chemical reaction going on, and that's the cause to your problem. It does get awful warm in there, but I've never had any plastic melt, and I've put on tons of miles in very hot weather.

 

Nope, I keep stuff in many different plastic bags in my saddlebags and they never melted.

 

No problems with things melting, but I sure have had enough items to leak and ruin things that I've learned to keep them better organized and separated. Had to learn this one the hard way.

 

well one nice thing about your experience, you won't have mosquitoes hanging around your bike. i put stuff that i want to keep cooler, like my saddlebag cooler in the left bag, because it gets much less heat than the right one.

 

I learned this back in the '70s while hunting in Canada; insect repellent with DEET removes rifle stock finishes as effectively as paint stripper.