'82 xs400 maxim saddlebags and such?

Hello all, I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for luggage. I would ideally like to not have to move the rear turn signals. I just got the thing and have had the carbs cleaned and new tires and don't really want to to any mods as of yet. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

It is extraordinarily handy to have the ability to load something on the back - especially if it is a treasure you find while out riding.
I wasn't sure what I wanted on the bike so I took one of my son's old back-packs from when he was in high school and rearranged the straps a bit so that it is easily attached to the back of the seat via the turn signals and the seat bar. It works best, especially when loaded, if the top of the bag faces rearward.
This has worked out so well that I have just kept using it and have forgotten about bothering with saddle bags or boxes. I have had as much as 2 wine bottles and a full bag of groceries in it - in addition to the small socket set and bag of wrenches which are always in there. When not making a liquor or beer run, it is flat and out of the way.
I even carried a passenger one day - though he had to abandon his fashion-sense and wear the empty back-pack...
Other than that, it's an elegant recycling solution.

that's pretty nifty Lou

Thanks. What I liked best was that the price was right. I have even taken a 5 litre gas container in it so that I could hit the magic 20 litre mark when filling at the SHELL station. Every 20 litre fill up gets me 15 bonus AirMiles until July 31st!
I've considered leaving the container in all the time when empty. Serves as a nice backrest.

Any other ideas for saddlebags?

Wal Mart sells a set of nylon bags. They come with quick release buckles in the attachment straps. They are not very big but they don't interfere with the lights.
Once the straps are adjusted you can just snap them on/off.
You can even get a matching tail bag. That's online only.
Leo

covertune said:

Any other ideas for saddlebags?

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Ammo boxes:

Lou Ranger said:

Ammo boxes:

http://www.princessauto.com/en/search?Dy=1&Nty=1&Ntt=ammo+boxes
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The .60 cal boxes are on sale for $35. starting Tuesday.

Those seem quite heavy, no? How would they be mounted, need to build some type of frame for them?

Ammo cans are very heavy for their size and you don't want hard bags. Soft bags are easier to mount, conform to your gear, are compressible, and transmit virtually no stress to the bike. Hard bags need frames and often lead to broken bike frames.

Go to your local bicycle shop and see what they have available. I opted for Ortlieb bags with a quick release feature. They are air tight, so even riding in hard rain doesn't result in wet gear. It took an afternoon to make a pair of racks for them. Installation is a 30 second process, removal is 10 seconds.

I was lucky to find this Iron Rider bag on Craigslist. Its got a quick release and extra strap in case you want a fashionable shoulder bag.. LOL - but its the perfect size for me. However, it does need a luggage rack to strap it to.. And I found that cheap for sale on this forum. In fact, if you can find a rack and and a few bungee cords, you can usually make do.

I've got a couple sets of bags that I use depending on how much space I need.

A friend gave me these after picking them up cheap on Kijiji. As you can see they sling over the seat. There is a strap on the back that goes behind the shock.



These I bought from a Wyoming cowboy on eBay. They attach the same way, which works great.



Neither are water proof but I seldom ride in the rain anyway. If I wanted water proof bags I'd go with Dave's idea.