Motorcycle Repair: parts, motorcycle salvage yard, hard saddlebags

Question
Hi Chris.  I have a question that you may not be able to help... but i'm at my wits end and allexperts is my last hope.  I own a 2000 Vulcan 1500 Classic.  I'm looking for saddlebags... but not drop over types.  I'm looking for the kind that mount directly to the bike.  The ones Kawasaki make are no good.  The only company I can find that offers them is www.bossbags.com... but at $900 I think I can find something a bit more reasonably priced.  In your experience...do you know of a company or web site where i can find what I'm looking for? I thank you for your time.  Please reply to feanics@homail.com

Answer
Hi Kevin.
 The price that you saw is fairly common for decent hard saddlebags.

 What you could do, and it may require some modification on your part, is to find a hard bag mount set for your bike and then go to a motorcycle salvage yard and see what they have that you may like.  You would likely have to repaint them, but that requires a wind-free place to work and a bit of light sanding and paint and a few hours.

 Alternatively, if you know how to work with fiberglass, you could build the bags you want yourself, but this is a long-term project that will eat up a lot of your spare time to do it quickly.

 You can also look on a few of the catalogue sites.  here are 3 that I know;

www.jcwhitney.com

www.denniskirk.com

www.shadetreepowersports.com

 In addition to that, try some of the e-groups for Kawasaki's and Vulcans.  There are a lot of specialized e-groups out there for specific makes and models of bikes.  Look there as there may be someone who is getting rid of a set that will work on your bike.  It will certainly be less expensive than new.

Good luck.
FALCON