I am looking to make some saddlebags to hang on my LX. I'm not thrilled with the styles offered by the bags that are available to be purchased, though they would probably be more durable than anything I could make. I was wondering, however, from those of you who have made your own, if you could offer photos or instructions on how you made durable and reliable saddlebags? Thanks.
50 caliber ammo cans buy them at an army trading post or off ebay
Thanks. How did you mount them? Do you know if the ammo cases take easily to being painted easily?
dude..yes...anything can be painted.
scuff up the ammo boxes with 200-400 grit sandpaper, prime them with automotive sandable primer, hit them again with 600 grit wet sand paper with water, them apply Duplicolor car paint(comes in rattle cans), wet sand in between 2 coats with 1200 grit, apply one last coat of color than a few layers of clear coat (Duplicolor rattlecan brand as well).
I know because I have done this for work before. My company does POP displays and we did about 100 of them like that.
I went to the army surplus store and got two military supply carry-arounds. They already have clips on them, so I just clip them to my back rack. They were 4 dollars each.
Swiss Bread Bags (another military bag) work very well, also. Bread bags (or ration bags) are usually water resistant. You should look on ebay for some of thems.
Military bags usually have all sorts of straps all over them so it shouldn't be too hard to mount them to your moped.
I used (3) 1/2" cable clamps to mount the boxes to my ped
"Ammo bags":http://www.nebrownstone.com/moped.htm
Hope the link works
The clamps work great, but the threaded part sticks into the ammo boxes, which can get in the way, but most of the time I can make it work. I also don't care for them sitting so high. A few inches lower would be nice to lower the CG, but I had to work with what I had.
OOOh! I like those! Where did you pick them up?
Hey Cranky, From the "...the place of the wealthy hardware man" ACE Hardware. They were actually reasonably priced. Like $3.00 each. I figured they were going to be more like $6, but to my surprise.
While you are there, I'd pick up either a 1/2" drill bit,or a "UNIBIT" that goes up to 1/2". The saddle of the clamp is perfect, but the size of the U-bolt is WAAAYYYY overkill. One could hold a car up. Also, like I had mentioned before, the threaded part that sticks into the box takes up some room. With some time and a grinder (abrasive kind) I could trim them down, but I just stuff stuff around them.
My bags are used for holding the parts and extra oil, so it's not like I'm putting and pulling stuff in and out all of the time, so I've been living with it.
That's my excuse for not wanting to get set up to grind.
haha! that is nice man, awesome areas for vinyl decals or paint. was thinking about getting some ammo cans for something just like this. great idea!
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