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| In preparation to riding Route 66 from Chicago, IL to Santa Monica, CA additional storage capacity was added to the VTX 1800. |
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| Because a Willie and Max Park Avenue tool bag and sissy bar bag were
already on the bike, a pair of the larger Willie and Max Park Avenue square
saddle bags were chosen.
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| A pair of chrome plated M/C Enterprise saddle bag protectors were selected.
After the parts came in the instructions stated that they could not
be used with the Honda Line sissy bar or luggage rack.
After doing some quick measurements it was determined that the M/C Enterprise bars were intended to be mounted using a bolt hole (see the red dot on the chrome) covered up by the mounting kit for the sissy bar/luggage rack and that the bolts for the M/C Enterprise bag protectors were too short to go through the bag protectors and the sissy bar/luggage rack mounting plates.
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| A measurement of the mounting bung on the M/C Enterprise bag protectors
was made and that amount was added to the the stock Honda Line bolts already
on the VTX 1800.
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| The stock Honda Line bolts that came with the sissy bar/luggage rack
kit are on the left which are the same size as the bolts that came with
the M/C Enterprise mounting kit.
The bolts on the right are 10mm X 90mm and 10mm X 100mm which are long enough to pass through the mounting bungs on the M/C Enterprise bag protectors as well as the mounting plates for the Honda Line sissy bar/luggage rack. The mounting bolts we ended up with were chrome plated allen head bolts from Gardner-Wescott.
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*********************** IMPORTANT NOTE! **************************** Because the M/C Enterprise bag protectors are mounted 5 inches further forward than intended, you must insure that there is adequate clearance between the bag protectors and the top of the rear shocks. Shims had to be put between the bag mount bung and the sissy bar/luggage mounting plate on one side of the VTX 1800. The following pictures make it look closer than it is but you still
will only have about 1/4 inch clearance between that bag protectors and
the tops of the rear shocks.
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******************************************************************************* After the bag protectors were installed the saddle bags were mounted over the rear seat of the VTX 1800. This method of mounting was desired so that the bags could be easily taken off and stored in the motel over night. Another problem we had was that because the bag protectors were mounted over the sissybar/luggage rack mounting plates, that made the bike was almost 4 inches wider which made the yokes on the saddle bags too short to mount properly. An e-mail to the Willie and Max web site explaining the problem brought an immediate response from John Snelgrove the Sales Manages who promptly shipped 2 yoke extensions and a Comfort Cushion free of charge. Now that is customer service ! The following pictures show the installation using only one of the yoke
extensions however, because only 2 eyelets could be used in the saddle
bag yokes, it was decided to use both extentions so that 4 eyelets could
be laced for greated strength and peace of mind.
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| This shows how the saddle bag yokes and the extension were laced together
to make the yokes longer so that the bags would fit properly.
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| There is more than adequate clearance between the saddle bag and the
monster muffler on the VTX 1800. The Comfort Cushion is in place
to pad the area where the saddle bag yokes and the extension are laced
together. The final configuration has our duffle bag sitting on top of
the Comfort Cushion and strapped to the sissy bar which keeps everything
in place.
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| There is also more than enough clearance between the saddle bags and
the rear caliper and the rear wheel.
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Last Updated 01-21-2008 |
