Anyone have a Saddlemen S3500 bag on a R3T?

If anyone has used a Saddlemen S3500 bag on a R3T, I would like to hear their opinion of that setup. I've decided that a bag of this general type is the way I'm going to go. This bag gets great reviews but I haven't seen any pictures of it mounted on a R3T or read any reviews by R3T owners who use one. It's huge. In fact, the size is one of my concerns but I do want a large bag. Also, I would like to hear from anyone who mounted it on the stock R3T rack/backrest. As small as the rack is and the fact that it leans back doesn't seem to be a problem because, from what I've read, others mount it on similar setups and I read no complaints about that but I would still like to hear from any R3T owners before ordering it.

ZoneIII said:

If anyone has used a Saddlemen S3500 bag on a R3T, I would like to hear their opinion of that setup. I've decided that a bag of this general type is the way I'm going to go. This bag gets great reviews but I haven't seen any pictures of it mounted on a R3T or read any reviews by R3T owners who use one. It's huge. In fact, the size is one of my concerns but I do want a large bag. Also, I would like to hear from anyone who mounted it on the stock R3T rack/backrest. As small as the rack is and the fact that it leans back doesn't seem to be a problem because, from what I've read, others mount it on similar setups and I read no complaints about that but I would still like to hear from any R3T owners before ordering it.

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Well I don't have the 3500, mine is the BR3400 and this is on a roadster with the tall stock sissy bar. Even though it's not exactly what you're looking for I thought it might help you visualize it better. I got it to ride out to Vegas last fall and it actually had more room than I needed and it is extremely well built and thought out. I highly recommend their product. It has a lot of great features including a wide band that's adjustable that wraps around the sissy bar. In the pictures you see I used a piece of 1" closed cell foam to stuff in there to push the whole rig forward just a tad for a better fit to my back. Extremely comfortable and practical! It even has a little waterproof bag in the top compartment, on a tether (so it won't get lost) and if you hit rain you just unzip, pull it down over the whole thing and pull the drawstring and go. So simple, but incredibly handy.

Rocket3Pilot said:

Well I don't have the 3500, mine is the BR3400 and this is on a roadster with the tall stock sissy bar. Even though it's not exactly what you're looking for I thought it might help you visualize it better. I got it to ride out to Vegas last fall and it actually had more room than I needed and it is extremely well built and thought out. I highly recommend their product. It has a lot of great features including a wide band that's adjustable that wraps around the sissy bar. In the pictures you see I used a piece of 1" closed cell foam to stuff in there to push the whole rig forward just a tad for a better fit to my back. Extremely comfortable and practical! It even has a little waterproof bag in the top compartment, on a tether (so it won't get lost) and if you hit rain you just unzip, pull it down over the whole thing and pull the drawstring and go. So simple, but incredibly handy.

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Thanks! That's helpful. However, I will be using it behind the sissy bar and my wife will be on the passenger seat. But it's still helpful because when I take solo trips, I would like to have it on the passenger seat.

Beautiful bike!

My Kuryakyn is very similar in its method of mounting and that bag should work beautifully on the R3T with the Triumph sissybar. The only minor issue is that the mounting strap (the very wide one on the bag) will thread over the sissy bar, so there will be some extra material between your wife and the backrest. But it shouldn't be an issue.

The bag in itself isn't that huge, it just looks gigantic with that extra top bag is mounted on it.

But I do like the backpack straps on that one, you really do want some comfortable way of moving the bag off the bike. A handle works, but it's a pain (often quite literally with a heavy bag). Not as good as a roller bag but pretty good.

cr0ft said:

My Kuryakyn is very similar in its method of mounting and that bag should work beautifully on the R3T with the Triumph sissybar. The only minor issue is that the mounting strap (the very wide one on the bag) will thread over the sissy bar, so there will be some extra material between your wife and the backrest. But it shouldn't be an issue.

The bag in itself isn't that huge, it just looks gigantic with that extra top bag is mounted on it.

But I do like the backpack straps on that one, you really do want some comfortable way of moving the bag off the bike. A handle works, but it's a pain (often quite literally with a heavy bag). Not as good as a roller bag but pretty good.

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Funny you should mention the Kuryakyn. After making my original post, I looked at them more closely and I really like them too. I was thinking of their largest bag, the Ultra Tour, and possibly using it in combination with their small day version which I could use on the bike when I only needed a small bag. They look like really nice bags and it sounds like that may be the combination you have. The Ultra Touring is listed as 3,960 c.i. and,expanded at 5,280. That's a big bag! Is that the one you have? Then with the smaller "day" version, that would be some serious capacity.

I wish all the bag makers would stick to the same volume measures or at least list them in all the common ways because the Saddlemen is measured in liters. Of course, I can convert those numbers to compare them but it's a PITA when trying to compare so many bags.

There are so many choices that it's almost overwhelming but I think I have it narrowed down to those two bags and possibly a third.

What I really wish is for somebody to make a bag that's much larger on the inside that it is on the outside!

Kuryakyn used to have a product called the Full Dresser bag but I think it's discontinued (and it's more "low tech" than these new bags also), but the XW 1.5 roller bag fills the same niche. Should have more storage than the Saddlemen bag, although the roll bag on top of it probably equalizes things pretty well.

This Saddlemen bag is new to me though (as you said in that other thread, there is a huge assortment out there to pick from) and looks really good also. More classic leather and buckles, less spage-age formed synthetic pockets.

I'd love to get one of these Kuryakyns for this summer but between LED conversions, new seat, Ricor Intinimators I'm going to try in the front forks and so on I'm running low on cash if I want to have vacation money too! Everything costs at least 25% more to get here to Europe what with shippings and customs duties so it adds up.

XKürsion® XW1.5 | Roller Bags | Luggage, Organizers and Storage Covers | Kuryakyn

Honestly though, I don't see the need for a smaller bag at all. The same bag packed with less stuff works fine, a small bag or a big bag still use up the luggage rack.

cr0ft said:

Kuryakyn used to have a product called the Full Dresser bag but I think it's discontinued (and it's more "low tech" than these new bags also), but the XW 1.5 roller bag fills the same niche. Should have more storage than the Saddlemen bag, although the roll bag on top of it probably equalizes things pretty well.

This Saddlemen bag is new to me though (as you said in that other thread, there is a huge assortment out there to pick from) and looks really good also. More classic leather and buckles, less spage-age formed synthetic pockets.

I'd love to get one of these Kuryakyns for this summer but between LED conversions, new seat, Ricor Intinimators I'm going to try in the front forks and so on I'm running low on cash if I want to have vacation money too! Everything costs at least 25% more to get here to Europe what with shippings and customs duties so it adds up.

XKürsion® XW1.5 | Roller Bags | Luggage, Organizers and Storage Covers | Kuryakyn

Honestly though, I don't see the need for a smaller bag at all. The same bag packed with less stuff works fine, a small bag or a big bag still use up the luggage rack.

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The main reason I would consider the smaller bag would be to use it in combination with the large bag for more volume on trips. I believe you can do that with the Kuryakyn Then again, maybe I'm confusing that feature with another bag. I know you can do that with the Saddleman and a couple other makes. If the Kuryakyn can be used in combination with their smaller bag, having the option of using the smaller bag, say, for around town when needed, would just be a secondary benefit for me because, normally, I wouldn't have any bag on the bike. Since I would have to install one on the bike anyway and I would be taking it off when done with it, the smaller bag might be more convenient for whatever I was using it for - say I had to pick up something small at a store but that was too big for the saddle bags. But I wouldn't buy the smaller bag just to use alone. Then again, I may be removing the saddlebags for normal use too. I've never been one for saddlebags, windshields, etc., but I'm actually beginning to like them on the R3T. I just bought the bike a couple weeks ago. I haven't had a whole lot of time to ride it due to the weather and other things but, one of these days, I'm going to strip the bike down and see how I like it.

@Zonelli you are going to find that when you remove the saddlebags the framework is quite ugly and yo cannot remove it easily as the mufflers mount to it.

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Fingers said:

@Zonelli you are going to find that when you remove the saddlebags the framework is quite ugly and yo cannot remove it easily as the mufflers mount to it.

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I suspected that might be the case. I'll pop them off one of these days anyway just to take a look. But, like I said, I'm actually beginning to like the saddlebags and they sure are practical. Even the windshield is beginning to seem OK which surprises me because I simply never liked windshields. Besides, I don't notice much difference with or without it. I tried it both ways last week.

Long ago when I practically lived on my bikes, I never had a problem on extremely long trips without a windshield. And by long trips, I mean 18 months with never staying in one place for more than one day (with one short exception of four days) and constant high-speed highway driving. And, back then, there were TONS of bugs. I'm always amazed at how that has changed. When I was a kid, if someone drove for 50 miles, their car's windshield, and the whole front of the car would be literally covered with butterflies, dragonflies, etc. People would have screens in front of their radiators. Of all the parts of North America I rode in, none had more bugs back in the 60s than Missouri. (I didn't care for getting hit in the face with a dragonfly or stag beetle at 80mph, though! I got hit in the chest one night with a bat feeding on all the insects. I guess I was going too fast for his "radar" to detect me in time.) It was unbelievable! But now you could drive through the entire state and only have a few bugs on your windshield.

But I digress!

If you want bugs on your shield come to Florida.At almost 63 I still don't like windshields you just have to keep your mouth shut.