I'm planning on putting long bags on my street glide, I found the bags I want to go with, their 4" longer than the stock bags. My concern is the obvious scraping factor. Any imput on this or experences on this. Do skid plates work? Can you possibly blow out your bags?

Ride Safe

Out here in CA its legal to split lanes and one time some kid playing with his cell phone drifted into the part of the lane I was passing him in and caught the corner of my hard bag in his front wheel well. Needless to say it pulled the mounts right through the fiberglass and the bag was dangling off.... don't know if thats what you're looking for but the bags ain't indestructible...
As for ground clearance, my foot boards are ground down pretty good and i've scrapped the frame more than once in a hard corner. I lost the rubber kick stand bumper a bunch of times too, from cornering.

Roadking





I guess what I'm saying is, I don't want to change my style of riding in fear of trashing my investment. I love the look, but i don't need to have those worries while I'm riding.

I believe when your using your cell phone your vehicle should be disabled, hands free or not.

Thanks for the input....... ride safe

let me put it like this, if your style of riding scrapes the floor boards then be careful because ground clearance might be an issue. I never leaned it over to the point I scrape the stock pipes in turns BUT one time my foot slipped out from under me in a gravel parking lot and the pipe did get a ding when it went over. Since the ding was on the bottom of the pipe you really cant see it but I knew its there, (i've since changed out the stock set and went to the thunderheader, 2in1). Now if it was a painted fiberglass surface it would have be worse i'm thinking. And I'm really careful, but Sh&t happens.
Hope it helps, ride safe.

Roadking..... Thanks for the input.... Ride Safe

As for dragging stuff, I was lucky enough early in life to learn about the insanity of this muiy macho practice with two examples. It left a lasting impression.

The first example was a BS sesssion when I worked at the old Decker Harley dealership. We had a factory rep come visit, and this topic came up. He informed us that the factory calls 'nub' on pegs and some floorboards (even the left-side rear floorboard mount on the primary covers of shovels) as "warning balls."

While some guys are proud that they grind them down with rigorous riding styles, the rep told us that these warning balls signify when the bike is keeled over so far that metal parts can lever the rear wheel off of the pavement.

The heavier the rider, the softer the shocks and the more worn away the warning balls become the lower the bike sits and more of a chance to drag parts.

Fast forward. I was on the back of my friend's hard-tail custom pan, a bike with after-market straight pipes mounted low on the frame. We took an "S" shaped on-ramp into traffic, he keeled the bike over far to the right, the rear wheel levered off of the road, and we slid across two lanes on the chrome into traffic--and managed not to get hit.

Now, you're a free American adult male, you can equip your bike as you see fit, and ride it however you want. If you're deciding between style and ground-clearance, you might measure twice and ride once.

I never "try" to drag any part of my bike but sometimes you go into a corner just a little "too hot" and the only way to keep the correct line is to lean it over, sometimes things get to touching the ground. Decreasing radius corners are the worst. But I'd rather scrape a floorboard then head into the wrong side of the road any day.
But I'm with ya, best not to do it at all.

Tourist,



I'm not saying I ride like the young bucks on the crotch-rockets. But at times I do hit my floor boards, I did try loosening them once, bad idea better off keeping them tight. My concern is because the bags are not only longer but they also have thickness bringing the bags even closer to the road. maybe i used the wrong terminology when I said "riding style". It's more that I don't need to be constantly watching that I don't scrape my bags.





Thanks for the input........Ride Safe

One of the things I've learned in having LEOs as clients is the idea that "you are always responsible for your actions." For example, if you come into a decreasing radius turn too hot and high side, I suppose some guys will blame the city engineer who laid out the ramp. Other guys might sue Goodyear for not making their tires with more adhesion. Heck, I've even known cases where drunks tried to sue their bartenders.

It's your bike, your tires and your hand on the throttle. If you've invested anywhere from 15K to 30K into an HD, I don't think it's too much to ask that you actually learn how to drive it.

The life you save might be mine.

It's not just custom saddlebags. It's poorly mounted pegs, and muffler clamps, and spike trimmed acorn fasteners. It's also the downright silly idea about 'chicken marks' and ground down foot pegs.

I see scraped off warning balls and I think "organ donor," not juke-box hero.

Tourist bro,



With all due respect, you obviously worked for a dealer and know some stuff about bikes. But all I'm hearing is bla bla bla blabla blabla! Life is full of rules and this and that's. We can place ourselves in a plastic, protective bubble and seclude ourselves from all the worlds dangers. But what fun would that be? When I ride my bike, yes at time it's an expression of what I'm feeling inside at the time. When I ride I'm free, I could be bummed out from one of life's many rollercoaster rides, yet I get on my bike and all is forgotten. It's an attitude adjustment.



Bro I think your experiencing cabin fever, when the time comes, get on your bike and ride it (don't drive it), let your hair down have fun, experience the freedom.



Ride...Safe