I think leather side bags would looks cool on R80G/S. Did anybody try to install leather side bags? I know ST supposed to come with them but I can't find any pictures or info on such bags. Thanks,
I have never seen leather panniers fitted to either a G/S or an ST, I have tried using throwovers on my G/S but the strap between them was not long enough due to the offset of the exhaust. You might have to have some custom made to fit over the original pannier frames.
You can't see the rear one too well, but the three bags all held together and could be taken out as a unit in 5 minutes or....separated. Made some carboard patterns, flew all the way east to my friend the cobbler and then we started cutting/sewing. Designed some simple SS brackets, couple holes in the subframe side plate, never failed/galled or cause corrosion problems. Brackets....because someone asked before, they looked like that,quick plan and scribbles off the top of my head because the bike was sold....no pics. Note that I have the BMW mounts on there, also had another set of even older leather bags, I'd mount those to travel for weeks, then remove them and the OEM brackets and use the upper bags only for day to day use. 5 bags on the road.....more than enough. Thinking of doing something like that for my K, that may be difficult re: the seat/luggage plate angles but not impossible.
I know its an r100 but you get the idea I made these for the r100 when I had it. I think leather panniers look great on an airhead. They had an abs stiffener I sewed into the backsides, and mounts added to that to fit the oem pannier racks. Used them stuffed full all the way to laguna seca and back last year. I've been thinking of making a set for my 1150, just not sure if they'd look right on it.
Look at horse places they will know someone who can make a saddle bag. Edit more info. Ok now that I'm sitting at my computer here's what I've found There are a number of places that cater to the horse crowd, you can normally get them to build you a set for around 150-500 (or more if you want to spend that much) But remember these are for horses so you might have to work with them to get the right dimensions. I've found that the once ridgid boxes will start to get soft and formless if there's a lot of weight carried in them, or if they get really wet often, That can be solved by making stiffeners inside the bags and a kind of "L" shaped bracket that the bag sits on supporting the weight. When I was thinking about this style of bag I worked out a way to make a kind of hoop that hooked onto the stock R80ST bag mounts while supporting the bottom of the bag. As far as I know BMW only offered leather bags as an accessory, those bags had kind of funky proportions, tall, skinny and narrow, more vertical then horizontal. You had to get a different frame for them. If you don't mind smaller bags, look toward the retro hipster bicycle culture where there are a lot of options for leather and waxed cotton and leather bags.
When I get home ill find some bigger pics of them. They're gone with the bike but I might have saved the pattern at work.
I couldn't find my old pattern. Must have tossed them, no big deal, they're pretty basic. I believe they were around 18"x13"x7". I used some starboard I had laying around to make the mounting system to the oem racks. The top pieces could be loosened and turned to pull them off the rack. I could have made it all nicer, but I just needed to get them done in time for my trip, so they're no frills, function only. I had the footman's loops and grommets and they enabled me to lock the bags. Not super secure, but enough to keep a hand out (unless it had a knife in it:eek1) They worked great for my trip.
I made these last year: I bought a Speedy Stitcher for $15 and read the instructions that came with it. I had never done leather work of any kind before. Sewing leather is pretty simple. I buy scrap leather online from belt factories. I spent about $50 for the fork bag and the tank bags. If you look at the G/S thread in my sig and skip to about page 50 you'll see a write-up about it. I had a great time making the bags. I keep leather tools on the bike and I'm always sewing something when I'm sitting next to a campfire on road trips. It's a lot of fun and you can get cool stuff from doing it. Tandy Leather makes all the tools and nothing is very expensive. You need a ruler, a razor knife and the speedy stitcher. If you want to get fancy Tandy sells rivets that come with a simple punch for a few dollars. I used lexan from Home Depot for the map case. A piece twice that size cost $4. If the bags sit empty they tend to fold in so I backed the leather with lexan on the top case.
