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[moscooter]

 

For those of you whom maybe own a Road King Classic,  here is a "mod" I did to mine several years ago and I (and others) found it to be quite handy.

I'll not go into detail here unless someone requests it,  but this mod is quite easy to do and eliminate jerking around with those leather straps and buckles.  Likewise,  there is absolutely no "lifting" at speed of the lids with this mod.........You flip it open and then you flip it closed.  No problem.



When the lid is down,  the "look" is absolutely exactly like the "stock" look............

[CVODON]

Rivco has made these for several years. They come with the ends crimped and a thin plastic push on washer that keeps the washer from coming off the pins when they are removed. I do not remember what they sell for but I bought two kits from a sale/clearance table a couple years ago for $5.00/ea. I know they still sell them because they had them on display on beach street during bikeweek @ the Rivco booth.

[TheGullGuy]

Never heard of Rivco, some neat stuff.  The Bagger Budz - Saddlebag Feet & Pin Retainer Kit at Rivoc is $20 before shipping.  I think I'll use the DYI method. 

Thanks for the tip . . .

[GregKhougaz]

Never heard of Rivco, some neat stuff.  The Bagger Budz - Saddlebag Feet & Pin Retainer Kit at Rivoc is $20 before shipping.  I think I'll use the DYI method. 

Thanks for the tip . . .

You're welcome!    The Rico kit is for the '13 and older bags.

[moscooter]

 

"With some 18 Guage copper stranded wire, eight 1/16" ferrules (and a ferrule crimper) and some gorilla glue or Loctite instant automotive glue, you don't have to worry about the pins.  Make simple, wire retainers for the pins and glue the metal washer to the rubber grommet around the hole.  See photos.  Total cost is under $6."

An easy alternative to (gluing the metal washer.....) is to use a small O Ring instead.

Many of us have cussed the dropping to the damn washer into the bottom of a half packed saddlebag and/or drop the damn thing between the saddlebag and its liner if you have one.

A stop at Lowes or Home Depot,  can get you a small box of #5 O Rings.  Can't recall,  but think a pack of 10 was less than a dollar.   The #5 size is 3/8" o.d. X 1/4" i.d. X 1/16".

Slide one of these onto the post and it will retain the washer in place when you remove the fasteners and the o ring does not interfere with hooking the fasteners back up again.

.  

[Rooster]

Good ideas there Greg.

[GregKhougaz]

An easy alternative to (gluing the metal washer.....) is to use a small O Ring instead.

Many of us have cussed the dropping to the damn washer into the bottom of a half packed saddlebag and/or drop the damn thing between the saddlebag and its liner if you have one.

A stop at Lowes or Home Depot,  can get you a small box of #5 O Rings.  Can't recall,  but think a pack of 10 was less than a dollar.   The #5 size is 3/8" o.d. X 1/4" i.d. X 1/16".

Slide one of these onto the post and it will retain the washer in place when you remove the fasteners and the o ring does not interfere with hooking the fasteners back up again.

So many people have liked these two modifications when they have seen them that I thought I would give this thread a bump.  The "modification to the modification" proposed by moscooter to use #5 O rings instead of glue works perfectly though the cost is over a dollar.  Thanks!   

[RGlideKid]

And I thought it deserved another bump.  We all have great ideas and we ought to be sharing them. 
Even if you think maybe someone else has thought of the idea before, if it works for you, we ought to be posting them!
Here's another simple one.  Most of us have a 12v outlet in the tour pack.  I have a male 12v plug that has 2 usb ports on it.  Very simple plug and can be found at walmart.  Get two cables for your cell phones, coil them up tight with cable ties, and just leave the thing plugged into your tour pack.  When you and the wife go for a ride (or just you), you'll always have a charging phone to use should you need it!  If you need to, buy a cheap little case that'll hold both your phones while they're charging.  That'll protect them, and then one of you grabs the phones when you go in to eat or whatever.  Most of you have already thought of this but I'll bet some still struggle with their phones.

[Dan_Lockwood]

I have one other option for the pins.

I have several assortments of O-rings in my shop and I took a small diameter O-ring and just slide it over the outside end of the twist pins.  The O-ring will stick to the pin and not let the pin fall out of the rubber grommet.  Now if you pull on the pin, that's a different story, but just for cleaning etc, this works great.  The pins stay in their respective grommet ready to be reinstalled.  The O-ring does not interfere with the operation of the pin and wire.

I thought that I was the only one that wanted the pins to stay put while doing maintenance or cleaning.

[dayne66]

Here's another simple one.  Most of us have a 12v outlet in the tour pack.  I have a male 12v plug that has 2 usb ports on it.  Very simple plug and can be found at walmart.  Get two cables for your cell phones, coil them up tight with cable ties, and just leave the thing plugged into your tour pack.  When you and the wife go for a ride (or just you), you'll always have a charging phone to use should you need it!  If you need to, buy a cheap little case that'll hold both your phones while they're charging.  That'll protect them, and then one of you grabs the phones when you go in to eat or whatever.  Most of you have already thought of this but I'll bet some still struggle with their phones.

We do that...but, in the high side saddle bag due the TP being detachable and wireless. Also have short cords for charging the Scalarider communicators always on my bike.

[RGlideKid]

Here's another one, but on a more serious note: 
I printed out a list of emergency contacts to about a 3" square piece of paper, with friends and family names and numbers on it, and I put put it on the inside roof of our tour pack.  I'm not worried about it getting swiped, cause we always lock the tour pack when leaving the bike...I've just always locked my bike up.  I also put a list like that in my wallet.
If you have an accident (God forbid!) and you're alone, whether in your car or your bike, it's just a good practice, I think.
All that info's already in my cell, but you need an unlock code to get into that, so...