Help! He's turning me into a bagger!

[Nails]

License plate light replaced with tail/brake light. (The "Gold Wing" lights are also brake lights.)
Helmet lock on backrest.
That rack is about a quarter acre.

I copied the butt-rest from the passenger seat. The back-rest pad is new. I cut and re-welded the backrest about four times to get it right. It doesn't adjust, but the butt-rest does.
The post thingies at the corners of the rack are for the suitcase.

Have suitcase, will travel. Here, the suitcase is just sitting there. But now it's actually attached.

[Nails]

These are aluminum, bolted through to some aluminum flatbar on the inside. Roughed up with a wire wheel and JP Weld-ed.

They hook on the back and swing down to the front. Cut out for the ridges in the suitcase.

[Nails]

This is the lock to keep the suitcase down in the front and otherwise stuck on the bike. Completely seperate so I don't have to tote it around if I'm not using the suitcase.

It's pretty secure with a cheap padlock.

[Nails]

The bad:

• No passenger seat. (My darling has a bad attitude about wind anyway.)
  No place to stick the helmet "indoors". (But it fits on the backrest just swell.)

The no-difference:

• This suitcase is as big as the trunk.
  Maybe a little lighter, but basically a wash.

The good:

• Much better mass centralization.
  Less wind resistance, especially to side winds.
  The suitcase goes into the motel room or wherever, easy-peazy.
  I got a backrest.
  The helmet lock is a lot more usable than stock; and the helmet doesn't hang to catch rain.
  I think it looks way kool.

[SgtSlag]

My opinion does not matter (though I do like it...). Your opinion is the only one that really matters. Nice work. I would suggest an LED brake light on the top of the backrest, but I'm big on conspicuity. Cheers!

[Nails]

Thx. Not everyone's cuppa, but now after 800 miles I like it swell. Bike is more playful, and I like not being just another tourer. (Okay, it is just another bagger.)
To be honest, I'm surprised at how few bikes were on I-40 today, anyway.
And all my lights are LED. That new taillight does that flash thing with the brakes. I like conspicuous, too. And no room on the short backrest, anyway.
I have way more storage capacity than with the trunk because my helmet took up half of it -- don't like the stock helmet locks. This doesn't count putting crap on the pass seat, just counts what I can put under lock and key. I mean, when I packed the same crap a couple years ago, I had to use soft bags on the pass floorboards. Now it all fit in the suitcase and hardbags, leaving the floorboards to stretch my legs.

[cbrfxr67]

I like it alot. I really want to do another Voyager straight bagger look.

[Nails]

Do it!
With modest suspension mods (Progressives and replace shock oil), it'll dance The Hustle between your thighs.
(Okay, no more blogging on tequila.)

[Nails]

Maybe a better view, from the road.