R3T OEM-Like Saddlebags

[Anomaly]

Ended up buying these:

Triumph Rocket III Touring Lamellar Extra Large Painted Shock Cutout MotorcycleSaddlebags

They look fairly close to the OEM.

 

[Joesmoe]

You already have the stock saddle bags, right?

I'm curious how much larger these are than stock, and I note the Viking unit does not appear to be a direct fit, requiring the addition of their mounting hardware.

Please take photos as you do the work, and post here with your account of how you did it, and having done it once, would you do it differently the second time.

 

[Anomaly]

You already have the stock saddle bags, right?

I'm curious how much larger these are than stock, and I note the Viking unit does not appear to be a direct fit, requiring the addition of their mounting hardware.

Please take photos as you do the work, and post here with your account of how you did it, and having done it once, would you do it differently the second time.

I do already have the stock bags, but I've been wanting to run some electrical into my saddlebags and don't want to cut/drill into the factory bags.

The factory bags are 39 liters combined, the new bags are 77.8 liters combined. I'm going to order another set of the rubber mounts and try to drill these to fit the stock quick release. That being said, I'm having someone paint them to match the factory bags first so It'll probably be at least a week before I can get them fitted, as they havent been shipped yet.

 

[Joesmoe]

I'm tempted to follow your lead, hence the interest. Can't have too much storage.

Like you, I would need to have mine painted.

 

[Anomaly]

Wow, very disappointed right now. The Viking bags are nowhere near their claimed capacity. The bags are claimed to be ~38.9L each. I'm not sure how these were measured, but they are not that size.

Here are a few pictures comparing the stock bags to the viking bags.

This saddlebag here is claimed to be filled with 120 beers. (the smaller "soda" sized beers) it's a Tsukuya Jumbo Strong which are claimed to be 40L capacity. 120 beers or sodas would be about 42 liters. Meaning this viking bag is claimed to have about 9 sodas fewer in capacity.

I don't know how they measure that, but this bag is tiny. Especially being called their extra large bag. I kind of suspected it wasn't quite the claimed capacity based upon the picture of it mounted on the bike, but thought it was extra wide.

For another comparison this a jumbo strong bag on a R3.

I guess the silver lining is that for the moment I no longer need to worry about getting paint. Looks like I'll be searching for another bag or buying the front flip Tsukuya bags and calling it good enough.

I'm tempted to follow your lead, hence the interest. Can't have too much storage.

Like you, I would need to have mine painted.

 

[Anomaly]

Ok i just figured it out the product exterior dimentions from the widest, longest, and tallest point are 22" x 12" x 9". (mind you the widest point is wider than the usable width as the mounting studs protrude on the fender side of the bag, and the hinge protrudes on the outside).

The max exterior dimensions of 22"x12"x9" = 2376cu in = 38.9L which is the claimed capacity.

It seems they calculated the "capacity" by the longest measurement in each direction, which effectively has nothing to do with the "actual" capacity of the bag.

 

[Itse saatana]

Sorry to hear you did not get what you wanted. Here we call that cheating. By doing this Viking is making a statement; Don´t buy from us. We cheat!

 

[El Toro Rosso]

Sorry to hear you did not get what you wanted. Here we call that cheating. By doing this Viking is making a statement; Don´t buy from us. We cheat!

We call it cheating here too. I guess it's just another example of a case where "If something is too good to be true, it probably isn't true.

Sigh ... A top box for the Rocket is a good solution for adding storage. The way the Rocket is designed, it won't affect how you mount the bike, but as is always the case for top boxes, it will adversely affect high speed handling.

I guess that's why some folks add trailers or side cars.

When we want to travel together, my wife and I prefer the car. Quieter. Better audio. Easier to move around. Better climate control. Etc., etc., etc.

If I want to travel alone, I just pare down the junk that has to be brought along and add a soft bag in the place where the pillion would have ridden. Works for me. Very low cost.

YMMV

 

[Anomaly]

We call it cheating here too. I guess it's just another example of a case where "If something is too good to be true, it probably isn't true.

Sigh ... A top box for the Rocket is a good solution for adding storage. The way the Rocket is designed, it won't affect how you mount the bike, but as is always the case for top boxes, it will adversely affect high speed handling.

I guess that's why some folks add trailers or side cars.

When we want to travel together, my wife and I prefer the car. Quieter. Better audio. Easier to move around. Better climate control. Etc., etc., etc.

If I want to travel alone, I just pare down the junk that has to be brought along and add a soft bag in the place where the pillion would have ridden. Works for me. Very low cost.

YMMV

Yea, a trunk could work, I'm just not ready to purchase my trunk yet. The trunk I picked out is about $1800.00 before being painted or having the mounts made. I'm probably going to do that right before next winter, when i buy my fairing as well.

For the moment I just want another set of saddlebags I can mount my stereo in. I was trying to avoid paying $3,400 for another set of factory bags.