Alternative to Factory Panniers

Hello all, thought I would share this. I’ve had my rocket for a few weeks now, initially got a small tank bag, and decided that I wanted saddle bags, but not the factory bags. Nothing wrong with them, except since i have the chrome tank, they would look a little strange, and I wanted more traditional saddle bags.
First thing I did was study the factory bag mounts to determine if the mounting knobs could be removed so that I may use the racks with classic panniers. Short answer is yes . With a trip to the local hardware store, I removed the knobs and made the mount as flush as I could. Structurally, you have to replace two of the knobs with bolts, but it’s easy to find something to work, and I got stainless so I don’t have issues in the future.
Next was to find bags that would fit the width of the pannier mounts. A more talented fabricator could create their own saddle bag rails to work with the factory brackets, but that’s not me! I found a “messenger” bag from Trip Machine, not huge, but I won’t have issues with the bag clearing the exhaust and will not hit the tire.
For me, the end result was exactly what I wanted. I’ll order a second bag for the other side; the build quality is good, and it fits the flow of the bike. Just thought I would share the results in case others are interested. Granted, this isn’t the largest bag, and I might be able to get a larger for the left side, but for what I need, these will work. Hope this inspires others to experiment and try some of the other options out there Ps I’m also messing with their large tank bag, and may use it as a tail bag, since I think it might look better in that position.

Enough rambling, here’s some pictures

beautiful but must be PITA to keep clean

Really suits the bikes retro look

Great idea, I like the look, but those bags would not be big enough for me. I went with H&B C-bow Buffalo bags, plenty of room for a trip and I like the retro look.

SPWL said:

Great idea, I like the look, but those bags would not be big enough for me. I went with H&B C-bow Buffalo bags, plenty of room for a trip and I like the retro look.

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can you post a pic with H&B C-bow Buffalo bags on your Rocket? Thank you.

kevin S said:

can you post a pic with H&B C-bow Buffalo bags on your Rocket? Thank you.

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Here you go.
I really don't like the look of the C-Bow brackets, but since I always ride with the panniers it's not a problem.

@monstertorch , did you have to cut off the locking pin and or file down that part of the OEM brackets? I am still waiting for mine to rrive (severe back order), so I am waiting to see. I like what you did and may go this route as well (looking at adapting C-Bow bags), but not sure what I am seeing in that part of the bracket in the pocture. Looks like you had to file it down a bit before getting that socket cap screw in there.

Jay said:

@monstertorch , did you have to cut off the locking pin and or file down that part of the OEM brackets? I am still waiting for mine to rrive (severe back order), so I am waiting to see. I like what you did and may go this route as well (looking at adapting C-Bow bags), but not sure what I am seeing in that part of the bracket in the pocture. Looks like you had to file it down a bit before getting that socket cap screw in there.

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I would be very wary of using the OEM brackets with a larger heavier bag. The OEM brackets are a beautiful piece of engineering but I would not trust them to hold any more weight than the 5kg Triumph specify. Even using the C-bow brackets I added another fixing for extra strength.

I ended up getting some custom mounts made based on SW-Motech’s bag mounting system. They mount to the bike in the same way as the H&B C-Bow system. Done out of chromoly for extra strength.

SPWL said:

I would be very wary of using the OEM brackets with a larger heavier bag. The OEM brackets are a beautiful piece of engineering but I would not trust them to hold any more weight than the 5kg Triumph specify. Even using the C-bow brackets I added another fixing for extra strength.

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What did you add for extra strength on the HB mounts and did it work?