UTMC

So I picked up a set of Shoei's, circa late 70's for the Triumph. I don't really like the way they're going to look w/ the brackets.
I spent about an hour and a half on teh PrOn thread looking for ideas, alas no cool bike ever had saddlebags/hard cases.
Looking for ideas to make them look like something other than Tourister luggage. All I've come up with so far is flat black.

Can we have a picture of these cases? And of the brackets and of the bike?

Eventually. I just finished shooting primer on them today, the brackets are off them.

The best they'll ever look is when you add UTMC stickers; or shellack in some patches. Probably still ugly though, its why mine are never on.

I think the only way to win with bike luggage is deliberate ugliness. For instance Rench's Uly, or any BMW. Anything else just looks like compared to the same bike w/o your carry-on.

A lot of things can be done with all over printed vinyl. They even have vinyls that mimic to perfection the texture of wood or aluminium, but it will probably be worth more than the cases themselves.

I think Mk3 is right.

I think my 1125r looks pretty good with the givis on, but then again its just shiny black plastic added to more shiny black plastic, not the same as going against the lines of a classic naked machine.

What's _really_ ugly is any hard-bag-equipped bike with its hard bags off, all dangly brackets, yech.

True. I AM dealing with a complete 1970's package here, so I shouldn't hope for too much.
I keep the bike inside the shop for the winter and I can see it when I sit at my desk in the office area. I like the lines, the way the shocks look, the pipes, everything flows. Now I imagine parallelogram-shaped boxes and their hideous bracketology covering most of what I see on the back end. It's bothersome, mostly because all I think of is my dad's CB450 with the gigantic windjammer fairing and the same exact bags (I think), all shit-sparkle brown with gold pinstripes.
Aaahhh, the 70's.

I've always admired the sort of apocalyptic aesthetic idea of non adventure bikes with those chunky aluminum cases strapped on, but pretty? Nope.

/RM

There is that one beemer in pr0n with the hard bags and dustbin fairing. I think that's a pretty cool look.

Tonight, while reading to Nicholas at bedtime, my eye settled on a toy Harley that his grandmother bought for him. It's pretty accurately made, and I noticed that it has bags on it that look exactly like yours, brackets and all. Gave me a chuckle.

Yeah, I'm sure. I might sell these and get something uglier. Just go full-on ugly. I might call up Pat Dole and see if his home-made bags he did his cross-country trip are still around. He made the frames out of copper tubing, soldered them together, and sewed some old Army backpacks onto them. They look kind of cool, actually. They were fucking HUGE, though.

I have something that sounds similar... two ALICE packs lashed to PVC pipe frames. I can basically throw them over the seat and go, although I did mount some spacers to the bike to keep the bags from touching anything hot or spinny.

They were on the GS when I rode to Owl's Head a few years ago, DOOM, Hillbilly Hooligan Weekend and VT Dirty Weekend.


(The psychedelic sleeping pad didn't stay there. Bad place to mount it)

Last year I gave them a go on the Super Sherpa:



They're a bit much for a 250, but spacious. Easily waterproofed by lining the bags with trash bags.

I had good luck with French Musette Bags (which were also picked up at a Army surplus store). Used them on the Buell before I hacked the back seat off:

Wher're you at with the Buell, anyway?

Found pics of my buddy's '79 Bonnie he rode from Maine to BC and back in one season. W/ home-made bags, lol...

Those are great pics. The bike is definitely loaded. I'd love to make a trip like that.

The Buell... um, yeah. I took it apart. That's about it.