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| Rusty Knuckles custom leather saddle bags with acid etched and hand stitched Harley Davidson emblems |
Creating a set of saddle bags from raw materials and building to fit a bike can be quite the challenge. For a good while now, ideas have been inked on a well thumbed page in the sketchbook as a project to get done. Luckily for us, the years of hard work and showcasing our capabilities allow for customers to spring up that want unique custom items.
One such customer out of Pennsylvania just so happened to want a set of narrow saddle bags that would fit their softail and to be in a deep cherry color to match their bike. I presented my sketches to them for a style of bag and we hatched a plan.
These bolt on saddle bags can easily be built to fit onto any bike, its just a matter of what mounting bracket that is intended to be used. We asked the customer to pick up a set of their choosing and would attach the support slot for the bracket accordingly. They chose to pick up these Saddlemen Brackets from J&P Cycle and shipped them over.
Being the fact that we also wanted a deep color to the bags with a unique look, we picked up some extra heavyweight ox blood leather in 10 oz. Then to achieve the color choice, opted to dye it some more after a light top scuffing and air brush the edges with a black fade. Another aspect that was key was a very tight fit and profile so match the bike. Nothing too bulky for hauling groceries, but a solid set of bags that could pack your leathers, some tools, oil and any other quick essentials you might need for the road.
Needless to say we are quite proud of these bags and working to produce a line of them now starting in deep black and full custom color options. We have one more round of prototypes to produce to work out any more bugs with brackets and hardware and will then be offering them as a new product in our online stores. Lots of options to also work in such as quick release mounting bolts and a locking option.
Check out more of our leather work
Shop our etsy store for much more of our custom leather gear
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| Back panel of saddle bag showing top bolt holes for fender strut and lower stitching of mounting area for bracket |
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| Mounting the Saddlemen S4 Universal Support Brackets on our 2000 Dyna FXDX for mockup |
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| Old saddle bag picked up from swap meet for mock up purposes |
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| Creating working templates with design specs for some of the leather pieces to cut out |
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| Slip through support slot for universal support brackets for easy on and off mounting |
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| Shaving the underside and rounding over the top flap for machine stitching for top of saddle bags |
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| Saddle Bags in mockup stage before final coats of color are to be added |
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| Custom etched aluminum emblems that were attached by drilling and hand stitching |
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| Top view of saddlebag to show the narrow width of the finished bag. (bag isn't fully bolted on, just in mockup stage) |
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| Saddle bags fully finished and ready for shipping. |
