I couldnt give up 40% of my cargo room. The woman who lives in my house has her bags pre-packed in a specific way with various arcane woman tools, so any time we go any where, she loads all the other "mandatory" stuff in my bags. I wouldnt have room for a toothbrush if I lost any cargo space. Lotsa people take off the lowers in summer.

 

We travel w a roller duffle bag and her sm one. I'm not looking for a fight but we can carry more, load and unload faster (four straps) than w tour-pak IMO plus I don have 26-35 extra lbs.

 

I rarely use my saddle bags only because the trunk is so much more handy and my wife loves the full backrest. My problem is I really don't like the way the trunk looks on the bike. I don't like the lowers either. I could easily live out of the saddle bags. I really like the way the luggage rack with the sissy bar combination looks on the Ultra. Especially with the lower tour pack removed too. Looks less fat.