Does anyone know of a solo bag available in Australia like this Licks bag? They are about USD 200 in the US, so expensive by the time you get it here. And does anyone know how they are held on? Must be some sort of elastic strapping.

 

 

 

Is anyone in or near Sydney interested in a bulk order? Ozhungery in Newcastle made the suggestion so that might be two of us anyway. They occasionally have them on special so I'll check the current price.

Hi TaffyMarsden,
   I have made this one for my sportster and it turned out bloody good considering it was my first attempt at hand sewing with two needles and waxed cotton.

Next time I will use a thicker leather that is pre-dyed since it took just as long to dye it as it did to sew it. I am hoping to have it back on my bike this week. I had to take it off my bike because the bag was rubbing the paint off part of the swing arm. I have discussed this on other forums and found that others with solo bags have trouble with paint rubbing off if they strap them straight to the bike.

To secure the bracket to the bike I need to remove the pillion footpeg bracket and fasten the new solo bag bracket in it;s place.
I recently bought a pipe bender and some mild steel bar and mild steel tube to make up a bracket . A mate of mine is going to weld it for me. .

At the moment I do not have any more leather or spare cash to make any more but I am keen to make some more later.
when I make the next one I am more than happy to do a post on how to make one along with the patterns..
Once you know the trick to the hand stitching, you can get good results quite easily. 

Sprocket.

 

Sprocket... that is awesome mate... good job!!!

I have the Licks bags, both left and right, got in on a group buy for them while I was in the US and stuck them in my 2nd suitcase with some other bits, so a bit cheaper, but they don't have the character of Sprocket's bag.

Here is another guy in the US selling a similar bag for a bit cheaper than the Licks ones; won't help you so much with the postage costs, but at least the dollar is back up.

http://donscycleware.com/dcwsysobanew.html

But I still like Sprocket's bag the best... where were you 12 months ago???

The rear of the bag has slots in it. The bag comes with a leather strap that goes around the frame and two velcro straps that go around fender strut near the shock mount and then around the swing arm. No problems with the left side; having to do some re-adjustment on the right side to keep it off the exhaust and out of the way of the shocks; am using zip ties on the right as it is fiddlier to get at the correct height. The various straps will scuff the frame a little... nothing that won't polish out at this point. You may have to extend your pillion pegs if you use them.
Here are the instructions for the Lick's bags.

the licks solo bag is great i've had 2 now..but shipping thru licks is about $60-00 us i bought my last one when the dollar was about 68 and it cost about $370-00 landed you can get cheaper (and dearer) shipping but i go for the cheapest registered post and it only takes about 10 days us-aus...at todays dollar price it would be about $290-00 aus to your door...

Hi Taffy and Sporty,

Thanks for the praise about the bag. I would love to make a few more but I am going to see how the one on my bike goes and if I need to fine tune it any more.
It was based on the awesome look of the garage leathers solo bag. garageleathers.com/bags  Theirs have the advantage over mine of not needing a bracket to fasten them to the bike Their solo bag for the sportster sell for $229 USD plus shipping.
Because I had the leather for that bag lying around, the only thing I had to pay for was the $10 for the buckles... Then make the bracket.. $10 in materials. Mates labour and tools PRICELESS! I went over to my mates house last night and he fabricated a bracket for it.. There was a lot more work involved in making the bracket than I thought there would be but it came up tops. He even managed to countersink the allen bolts into the bracket. I will take a photo of it once I have washed all the mud off the bike. Gotta love all the road works they do this time of year.

Those Doncycle bags are amazingly cheap. A bit too pretty for me though.

Let us know which bag you end up getting and be sure to post some pickies and let us know how they fasten.

Cheers

Sprocket

On the XL Forum, Licks are doing a group buy deal.

The black bag is up for sale at $150 US or distressed brown at $165 US plus postage.

Just bought a black one myself. I think postage was $58 US.

Bit exy, but I wasn't going to make one.

 

 Licks have a sale on just this weekend. Just ordered the black one for USD 201 including express international postage. Still pretty pricey but it seems  to have the reputation. 

Hey Sprocket,

Any updates on how your bag making is going ?

Any info or patterns on how to make one ?

If your bags are marking/scuffing your paint u can get some clear plastic sticky back sheet from your motor parts shops i.e. Auto Barn, Super Cheap Auto. The stuff I got is by 3M & it is quite thick & durable (almost 1mm thick). Its a bit too thick to stretch around compound curves but can be cut up to be put on as spots if you want, anyhow just a thought!!

Hi StillLooking72,

The bag has held up really well. I used it on my trip to Perth and back. I am really pleased with the bracket. It worked fantastic and can be easily removed for cleaning or having a pillion on the back. I have taken it off for the moment. The reason being the leather definately needs to be thicker because with weight in it, after a while it tends to lean out a bit at the top which detracts from the overall look. I am sure that thicker leather will resolve this. I have not made another one yet because I have not had time to travel to Sydney to buy more leather. The next one could be a fraction bigger too.

The plans I have drawn up are in AutoCAD but the flap has to be redrawn since I updated it on the fly. I have not done the instructions yet either. I was told the trick to the stitching by a leather craftsman who gave me a three hour lesson. The trick was using a stitching wheel to mark the spacings of the stitches and then glue the leather panels together before predrilling the stiitch holes with a dremel with a 1.3mm diameter drill. Then the stitching is a piece of cake and looks real professional.

I'll take some photos of the bracket next week. Unfortunately The back of my prototype bag has a few too many holes in it after trying different ways to secure it to the bike.

Sprocket.

Hey sprocket would you send me a copy of your Acad dwg I would not mind making some extra bags but maybe out of light Ali checkerplate polished up. 

Cool, i'll keep an eye out for the thread.

Thanks Sprocket

Ping me a DXF file (DWG) etc i have solidworks here mate at work of that bracket mate.

Can knock you up a batch of brackets for the cost of postage for a copy of your plans mate

Bruce

This bag was made by a friend in the US..............just stunning.