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The pinstripes were done by hand by an older local guy. I told him to do something to break it up & look "old school". I really like what he decided to do. I think he charged me a whopping $150.

The machines are a benefit of where I work. Long story short; we sold our family business to a larger company a few years ago. As part of the purchase agreement I made sure I could still work on my own projects after work. Having a waterjet and a CNC press / brake definitely come in handy at times. On the other hand, by the end of the day I usually don't want to turn around and go back to the shop.

One of our primary products is electrical control panels, boxes and brackets. Since a lot of the stuff is military we have demands for bend and size tolerances of +/-.005". That tends to make a person talk to themselves.

If you ever want to mess with 2D CAD there is a program we use called DraftSight. The best part is it's free.

Back to the bags:

The saddle bags that are on it are ones I got with the bike. Not sure what model or how old they are.

Did anyone notice that the saddle bags are not centered?
[img width=640 height=480]http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o35/boaski/2000%20Drifter%20800/IMG_0259_zps73b72bb5.jpg[/img]

The bag on the left sits 5/8" farther from the fender than the right one. The bag brackets are identical mirror image right to left. It doesn't look like the seat mounts have been modified. Weird.

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Posted by Drift1

- May 21, 2013, 18:39:02 PM

Boaski,great job on the pinstripes really breaks up the color nicely.Sure Chief will enjoy this post for the mod section,great write up pics as well.Unfortunately for me these are machines I'll never own so following your directions are way beyond my league on this one.Besides if you ever saw me operate the computer that cutter wouldn't stand a chance behind these fingers.....now my dear son Aidan on the other hand.....Hmmmm???What do you say maybe I can get him one of these tools for Christmas ::)Any back to the mounts.Those bags are sweet,love that little pouch on the bottom.....looks detachable.The only problem I see is they stick to far out from the sides of the rear fender.Wouldn't want them touching but,definately as close as possible without....just mop of course..When they ready available I'm in the market for a set as well.

Posted by CDNRatMan

- May 21, 2013, 18:05:50 PM

Well I think we could go into business here selling brackets and a few other items.....mmmmm.....very nice.

Posted by Boaski

- May 21, 2013, 16:50:03 PM

A year and a half ago I purchased a 2000 Drifter from a guy that posted on here.

Since it was winter I decided to do a few things to it, like having some pin striping and putting a set of fish tail pipes on that Joe (the previous owner) had.

Once I did this stuff the saddle bag brackets that Joe had made did not work any more.

Shortly there after my wife suggested there needed to be a passenger seat for the required trips to go get ice cream.

I never liked the way the bike looked with the 2 up seat, never liked the way it felt either. The bike just didn't seem to do well with 2 people on it and it wasn't very comfortable for the wife either. So I decided that I'd put the single seat back on it while I had things apart for new rear rubber. I also knew I wanted to figure out a way to hang the saddlebags on it again. My goal was to make a bracket that would be convertible between a removable passenger seat and a luggage rack.

Here's my current "Rev B" saddle bag mounts:

I did some test layouts until I found a location that the bags did not contact the pipes or the seat. I tend to over-build things & this project is no exception. I made the main plates out of 13 gauge (.090") CRS:

I knew I needed to space them out similar to the stock 2 up seat bracket so I found a hunk of 3/4" A36. It's handy to have access to a waterjet cutter...

Yeah, I know, maybe a little heavy.

These parts filled the void at the front of the brackets as well as spaced the brackets out.

I also wanted something to stiffen the bracket along the length of it so I made a small angle brace out of 13 ga CRS.

A handy PTX tool cleans up the steel after it's been cut on the WJ

Entered the info in the press/brake:

Put in some tooling:

Checked to find out I got lucky the first time

I cut another part out for the radius on top & fit the various parts together

I went ahead and welded them up & ground them smooth. I'm way better with a grinder than I am with a welder.

Here they are painted & mounted on the bike. The bike is dirty & in desperate need of a bath.

This picture really bugs me. Does a problem show up in the picture?

Now that I have them on I see a whole lot of things I should have done differently. "Rev B" is in the thought process at the moment.

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