Anyone ever repair damaged saddle bags?

[cpmaynard1980]

So one of my bags is busted up pretty bad. The bottom has some small cracks. The lid is broken from the hinge and there is a crack in the lid that goes about half way across the top.

Has anyone repaired anything like this or would know a way to repair something like this? Im not worried about maintaining the paint. Once its up and reliable I plan on getting it painted.

[mikubuilder]

if you have standard Yamaha fairing and hard bags, they are made with fiberglass...pretty easy fix, you can even get a fiberglass repair kit in any automotive store(about $20), you will get a piece of cloth, some resin and hardener...look online for directions, obviously you will have to paint them after repair(depending how bad the damage is....Pictures would help in assessing proper direction for repairs...

here are my bags after repairs and paint


here is the hardware...I bought a set for leather suitcase that looked pretty close, but when I got them, they felt cheap, so I riveted old ones back on...

[webbcraft2150]

The Yamaha bags on my 80G are ABS plastic as is the fairing and lowers. Fiberglass will not stick long to ABS. I tried. I had a crack in one of the bags. I found that fiberglass cloth along with ABS glue made a hard, permanent fix. ABS glue can be found at most Lowes/Home Depot/Ace stores. Get the glue that specifically lists ABS. Cut your patch piece out of the fiberglass cloth and slather the glue over it with a paint brush (like you would with glass resin) and let it dry. You can then finish it the same way you would a glass repair only it won't peal off and crack like the glass would. This fixed also worked on a crack in the inner fairing shell which was/is a big stress point. Both fixes have held up very well. Big cracks or missing chunks can be filled with glass mat using the ABS glue also.

[bikerphil]

I've used bondo on the fiberglass type Yamaha bags with no problems.

[GLoweVA]

Thinking about keeping your bags? I thought you had the idea of going with the ammo can look.

At least with bags, you don't have to worry about relocating you rear turn signals back up to the frame, you can leave them back at the rear and it'd look proper.

See ya Thursday!

[clashpistol]

Damaged saddlebag cover

Lucky me! One of mine just blew off the other day just after painting it a few days before. After driving back and forth the 8 miles 3x happily I found it. Was a little more confident not seeing in gernaded in the road. Thinking someone picked it up almost gave up but the 3rd time was a charm. Banged up and skidded and found about 10 ft off road in cat tails. Latches broken off and found seal on other side of road in another ditch. I bought 2 set of latches at the hardware store and just used hooks that I had to grind a bit. All back to new again. I knew it was going to be difficult to find one. Gears were turning about molding one and sadly Craig Vetter won t be back so I thank my lucky stars and I am putting little cables inside to keep the at least on the bike.

Jeff

[clashpistol]

Back to new



I am a happy boy!!

[motoman]

The Yamaha bags on my 80G are ABS plastic as is the fairing and lowers. Fiberglass will not stick long to ABS. I tried. I had a crack in one of the bags. I found that fiberglass cloth along with ABS glue made a hard, permanent fix. ABS glue can be found at most Lowes/Home Depot/Ace stores. Get the glue that specifically lists ABS. Cut your patch piece out of the fiberglass cloth and slather the glue over it with a paint brush (like you would with glass resin) and let it dry. You can then finish it the same way you would a glass repair only it won't peal off and crack like the glass would. This fixed also worked on a crack in the inner fairing shell which was/is a big stress point. Both fixes have held up very well. Big cracks or missing chunks can be filled with glass mat using the ABS glue also.

+1........all the hard cases and fairings whether Yamaha designed or Vetter are ABS plastic.