Has anyone made their voyager into a bagger?

[electriccruiser]

I was wondering if anyone has made their voyager into a bagger, and it looked good? I like that look, and plus I think of weight, crosswinds, and not so bulky looking, etc. I have a 2002 Voyager. Pics would be cool if you have.

[Nails]

Yeppers. Search on "bagger". I posted photos of my conversion.

[electriccruiser]

I tried bagger, and no pics that I could find.

[Nails]

When I started:
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=12076&p=87262&hilit=bagger#p87262

My last ride report:
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=12414

[electriccruiser]

Perfect, thank you. I like it!

[electriccruiser]

Thanks Nails,
Thats what I'm talking about. I just got my 2002 voyager, and I want to make it into a bagger. Probably not this year, but next spring project. Can you give me more specifics, on the light, and where you ordered the flashing part from? I've never had the trunk off yet, but sure want to figure something out that looks neat. I'm keeping it on there for a trip, as I love it now. I do like the suitcase idea though as an add on when needed.

[Nails]

I don't remember where I bought that stuff, but I think the availability would've changed by now anyway. I did some google-fu to find a light I liked. (I actually wanted something a little larger and higher quality.) You can also find LED bulbs that do the flash thing (just not where I bought mine, anymore), or get a flash unit.

I resurrected the "Goldwing" lights at the bottom of the rear fender. This was a royal PITA. And they still only work for brakes, despite having 1357 sockets. I simply can't find a 1357 socket that actually works.

I fabricated the rack and backrest from mild steel, mostly 1/8" thick flatbar. It was a PITA to get right -- cut and re-weld. And I still have one minor change to make. (I prefer to sit upright and built everything accordingly.) I fabbed the backrest pad as well as the seat pad behind my butt -- copied the design on the front of the (removed) passenger seat. I moved one of the helmet locks from the old trunk bracket to the backrest. That hurkin' trunk bracket is surprisingly light, so I didn't really save much weight with this conversion.

Unforeseen: the backrest is great for pushing the bike around or lifting it -- but I haven't actually dropped the bike since building the rack. Just saying it's pretty stout.

I already had the suitcase, but fabricated the aluminum "angle iron" rails to fit my rack. (I have to be careful where I toss the suitcase as those brackets could rip upholstery.) I sewed up some naugahyde to cover the ugly stuff on the rear fender. And I modified a fake-leather duffel bag to fit the rack when I'm not using the suitcase. But to be honest, I've never actually used that duffel bag -- the groceries have always fit in the saddlebags. It's just stayed folded up on the rack. I have bungeed a big bag of dog food and other silly stuff on that rack.

I like this set-up a lot. I can take the suitcase to my room or friend's house, no fuss. I think it has more useful space than the trunk, including fitting a nice foam sleeping pad, folded. It's hard to get into those pocket things on the saddlebag lids without taking the lids off (a good thing for security) -- but I'm going to cut these down anyway (make them much shallower) because I want the saddlebag room more. I'm tempted to remove them completely for a clean lid, but I can live with those little doors -- store crap like registration/insurance and spare ear plugs.

I also fabbed naugahyde bags that ride on the passenger floorboards, in front of the saddlebags. I really like these to carry things like riding gear, sleeping bag, a camera (padded and accessible), and my restaurant purse (a butt pack). Much better than a pile of crap stacked on back. Before I figured out how to pack, I bungeed stuff on top of the suitcase, but I really prefer to keep that clean. Don't usually need to get into the suitcase during the day.

I plan to fab different, shorter exhaust pipes, including re-doing the exhaust mounts and dumping the passenger floorboards. I'll build something else to support these bags. It'll end up being simpler and lighter, and the pipes should sound great.

All of this can be reconverted to stock (but I still might make minor permanent mods to the saddlebag brackets). I also considered extending the saddlebags forward: stretch saddlebags. This would've involved replacing the front lid latch with a hinge because the latches extend too far down. But I've abandoned all that because it works so well as is and that would've been rather "involved" (tip-over bars &etc) -- even if it would've looked mighty kool.

I wrote two earlier threads on here somewhere about these mods and others, and they might have more detail. I don't regret doing any of this work -- the set-up suits me swell (solo touring), and the bike handles superbly. It's my bike, I reckon.

[GrandpaDenny]

I resurrected the "Goldwing" lights at the bottom of the rear fender. This was a royal PITA. And they still only work for brakes, despite having 1357 sockets. I simply can't find a 1357 socket that actually works.

Sounds like you've got the bulbs in backwards.

[Nails]

No, the sockets barely connect to both posts at once. It's one or the other. With fiddling, both can work for a little while. Right now, the running lights have lost contact. And I want the brake lights more.
Third set of sockets I've tried. They need to be short -- no room for them to stick way out the back.