I bought this small sissy bar bag off ebay for $45. The ad said it was made from PU Leather, whatever that is. "Pretty Usuitable" comes to mind in retrospect. I could immediately tell the fastening straps were rubbish so mounted the bag on to my sissy bar loaded with 500ml of water, a very lightweight pair of rain pants, a mask in case I had to go into a shop and the log book for the bikes rego which only is a few grams heavy. Can't recall how far I'd ridden that arvo but coming up my dirt road on the way home I heard something and glanced in the rear mirror to see the bag tumbling along the road.

That pissed me off!.

I attempted to do a u-ey at the bottom of my drive way to go back and get the fucken thing and realised I was not going to make it as it is a very steep drop off down the other side. I had to lay my beloved shovel over in the dirt to avoid going over the edge.

That really pissed me off.

Went back, got the silly bag took it home in disgrace.

Moral of the story so far is do not buy PU leather stuff from Chibay.

Got to wondering how hard it would be to make a decent one myself as I have sewn up the odd wheat and potato bag in my youth.

Got some cardboard and marked out the front back and sides in situ on the bike to get the ideal sized bag to fit my sissy bar.

Then went up to town to the leather shop and bought some heavy duty leather, 2 needles, a 1.5mm hole punch, some sturdy waxed thread and a nifty little tool that marks out the hole centres all for just over a hundred bucks The guy in the shop said you will need to sew it using a needle on each end of the tread..just google it.

Pretty darn happy with the result, the fastening straps would look better black will keep my eye out for some.

Ventura make the bags that slide over the rack (like a sock over a foot) .

If you added a panel of leather to the rear of the bag you could drop it over the sissy bar without any ties in the same way the Ventura bags ?

Just a thought 

I too have ventura bag , not ace, and many other type, brands of bags, just a fetish have had for some time, and no pb don't have hand-bag or the first wife bag.

travelled a lot when young so bags to live outta.

You the Man!

I gave you a hard time about the saddlebags that you made but if I remember right they were a brown /  diarrhoea sort of colour.

Are you still using the sissy bar bag and the saddlebags and how are they fairing?

Hi Beags

Still using the sissy bar bag, reckon it will be around way after I am.

Yeah still using the saddlebags too for big trips and cant say anyone has heckled me for them being black and brown aside from you.

Last project was to make a smaller set of throw-over type bags for my shovel and guess what?, the leather shop in town did not have enough black leather in the required thickness to do the job so had to use brown again as well.

Although made for the shovel they actually work better on my Honda and FXR.

Latest project is a HEAVY DUTY vest made from an earlier attempt at a saddlebag using leather that was not sturdy enough for the job, (did use it for a saddlebag for a while but had to make an aluminium internal frame for it and ended up getting the shits with it) and other bits of leather.

Anyway on the back and front of the vest you can still see bits of the said saddlebag.

Still a work in progress but it is solid as fuck and should withstand sliding along the bitumen for a long way before wearing out.

They are certainly unique and after all that is what it's all about. 

Not convinced about the vest but, you're gunna look like Ned Kelly.  When it's finished send a pic with you wearing it.