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saddlebag lid problem

12K views 20 replies 11 participants last post by  TNXR 
#1 ·
Rode my XR today and when I got back I noticed bug guts all over the right side saddlebag bar. Sitting on the garage floor and started cleaning and noticed a huge gap at the front (toward drivers seat) of the bag! I can about stick my finger into the bag. Looked at the left side bag and it is pretty snug but not great. The rubber seal looks fine so I don't know why the gap is there but it is big enough that alot of water could come in there if I was riding in the rain. Is there anyway to adjust the bags? The bag or the lid may also not be made right so if that is the case I have to take a 2 hour ride up the road to get my dealer to fix or maybe even replace the bag.
I took a picture of the problem, the first is the right bag with the large gap and the second is the left bag with a little better fit. Red Automotive lighting Automotive exterior Auto part Car


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#2 ·
Many of us have complained about the lack of tightness in the hard bags, but that's certainly the worst I've seen.

The only adjustment seems to be putting a dowel inside the rubber tube thingy by the lock, but that's not a major adjustment. Are the hinge bolts all still in, and tight?
 
#3 ·
I checked all the bolts when I noticed the gap and they are all tight. The bag with the biggest gap has also been the most loose one as well where the lid seems to have a lot of movement to it. Putting a dow in the foam peice at the lock does not help because it actually raised the bag up more. After posting this I messed around my garage and found some door seal tape I had lying around and put a small section where the corner of the lid is and that helped, may pick up some thicker door seal tape and try that. I also looked at the back corner of the lids and noticed that the bag with the front corner gap problem is pretty snug on the back but the other bag that was good up front has a bigger gap in the back corner. If there was a way to mess with the hinges where you could move the lid around would help but looks like that is not an option. I will stick with the door seal tape for now since I don't plan on riding in the rain any time soon. I am not even sure the dealer can do anything about it and getting new bags may be like pulling teeth and who's to say if the new ones won't have the same problem.
 
#4 ·
Actually, mine looks similar -- not as bad, but somewhat similar. I just went out to the garage, to look up, from sitting on the ground, underneath that area. I put a flashlight in the corner, inside the bag, aiming up, and turned off the garage light. I couldn't see any light from inside the bag.

Mind you, the inside of my bags gets filthy from dust, so it's definitely a poor design, or implementation, or both. (Haven't had a problem with water getting in, but I haven't done much riding in the rain, either.)

You have a big flashlight you can put inside, and a dark garage, so you can do this test? And are you sure that you've clicked the bag lid closed -- I mean, can you pull on the outside latch, and not have the lid open?
 
#5 ·
Yeah, I did the flashlight test before I started this post. On my left side bag I could see just a small bit of light but the right side let out alot more light. I've had this bike for 7 weeks now and never noticed the gap and wouldn't have had I not been sitting down next to the bike. If I had to guess I am probably not the only one with gaps at the front corner big enough to stick your finger into, just most have not looked up to notice it. Normal rain will not get in but I figured riding down the interstate in the rain would. The door sealing tape has snugged it up some so it is up in the air if I take it to the dealer or not, just wish Victory would have done a better job since these same bags go on the full blown CCT's as well.
 
#6 ·
Have you removed the bags at any point? If so it could be from binding when you reinstalled them, it could be from the dealer installing them as well. The bags have some flex in the material, if you force them or don't take some care in mounting them they twist up and won't fit nicely. Try removing the pins that hold it in place and moving them around a little until the pins go in smoothly and you should see those gaps line up a lot better.
 
#8 ·
Took your advise and took the bags off and the gap is still the same. Put the bags back and still there. Everybody ought to check the front of their bags and see how much of a gap you have, I might not be the only one because it is something you really don't notice unless your looking at the bag from underneath. This is the downside to buying a motorcycle where the closest dealer is 2 hours away, a pain to have to take it in for these kind of things.
 
#7 ·
You paid too much money for this bike take it back and have the dealer look after, this is not acceptable.
 
#9 ·
Tried searching the web for more problems like this and found a youtube video from somebody in my neck of the woods and one from another Victory website.
 
#10 ·
I have a 2012 XCT and the inside of the bags always have a thick layer of dust in them. Initially I thought this was going to be a huge problem as I expected them to fill with water in the rain. I have ridden in some hard rains and things seem to stay dry. So I've just lived with the dust problem. I bag everything before putting it in a saddle bag on this bike. I've never had such a dust issue on any of the several sets of hard bags I've had. I hope Victory does something about this issue before its time to make a decision on my next bike.
 
#15 ·
I've never really had an issue with dust on mine and I've never had water get into them even though mine also has that gap. Now the lid coming off the sunscreen in the saddlebag and making a huge mess....................that's a whole another story.:mad: I keep it inside a zip-lock bag now for a little extra assurance.
 
#11 ·
In January, when I was buying my XCT, my riding buddy also bought one. Hey, there were all sort of rebates and a dealer incentive -- the price was right. (He never did bond with his Victory, and has since sold it.) In any case, he emailed the dealer, complaining about the lack of proper sealing of the bag lids. This is the response he got from a tech at that dealer:

I received the following response from Victory.

This is not uncommon and the bags are not completely sealed off, most likley completely normal and doesn't require repairs. Make comparision to other bikes and let us know if this is abnormal. Bike in our possesion have similar spacing on the seals. Only parts available are the production part numbers.

So it looks like there is no real cure other than creating something. Possibly a seal on the lid to contact the bottom. Sorry I could not help you more. This is your opportunity to create something and sell it on line, ha ha. In the mean time, you and Bill enjoy your bikes and we’ll see you at your next service.


The good news is that those hard bags are huge, with world-class storage. The bad news is that, IMHO, the design and implementation of the lid-closing, lid-sealing, mechanism is pathetic. Victory ought to be ashamed of itself for producing such a half-assed solution, with no adjustment capability, inadequate and non-uniform sealing, poor tolerances, and so forth. At the very least, they ought to redesign this system, so they can stop receiving bad press on this all over the 'Net. I've had dust-free baggers before -- it's not rocket science.
 
#12 ·
I guess I was just a little ignorant when I bought my XR because I wanted some locking bags that were sealed. When I was looking at the cross bikes I opened up the saddlebags and seen a rubber weather strip and thought well, these are nice big bags that will keep my luggage dry and secure. I also called a local dealer yesterday to see if he would look at the bags for a possible warranty issue and he said take it back to the guy who sold it to you. I referred him to Vics website where it says any Victory dealership will honor the warranty. He said oh and that he would call me back. Never heard back yesterday or so far today (they close at 12:00 on Saturdays). I really enjoy riding my XR and love the size and power it provides and plan on owning it for a few years but I am afraid that when I get the itch for a new bike that it will probably not be a Victory. Dealer support in my area sucks and the bike itself seems to have some quirks that I am finding I don't like. I am just glad I got my XR for a quarter below retail because I think MSRP or close to it is too much for this bike.
 
#13 ·
yeah vic needs to do a whole lot better. the hard/mushy/iffy/noisy shifting, the clack between on and off power, vibration at certain speed. bash harley all you want but vic will have to do a whole lot better to even challenge them.
 
#16 ·
Mine was similar

My XR had a Gap on the Hard Bag and and I noticed when the lid was open it had a lot of movement and then realized one of the Hinge pins was missing (there is a front and rear pin).
I took it to the Dealer and they verified and replaced the Hinge under warranty. The dealer mentioned he has seen two or three Hard bags where either the front or rear pin fell out. After replacing the hinge he added a small amount of glue to prevent the pin from coming out "IF" it worked itself loose.
:D
 
#17 ·
Two cross bikes and counting and never had a problem like that wow is all I can say....:crzy:
 
#18 ·
I too have issues with my VIc. I could say the same about every bike I have had. Still, I would likely reflect mightily before trading it over saddlebag lid fitment.
On my Harley it requires a Rube Goldberg contraption to change the oil without puking it all over the front of the engine. Design by chimp.
On a Wing, you can sit in plush comfort, that is if you think sitting on a plush dining room table chair is comfort. Design by chimp.
There are design flaws and compromises made on any machine and there are manufacturing flubs that make you say hmmm. Design failures you tend to put up with due to the effort and cost of correction, some snafus you can tweak, some are just so minor that they aren't worth the effort to improve.
I'm not going to do an engine redesign on the HD to relocate the oil filter. I'm not going to do an engine redesign on the Honda to accommodate my legs. I am likely to assess things like bag lids, determine a fix, weigh the effort against the value of the result, and act accordingly.
I would side with the technicians reply. A problem like bag lid fit is not nuclear physics. The guy that solves it has beaten a gremlin, improved and personalized his ride, and if so inclined he can manufacture and market the fix for fun and profit.
Alternately I can buy an entirely different bike to solve a bag lid glitch.
 
#19 ·
Pop, I agree that bag lids are no reason to look for another bike. There are many ways that the Vic baggers outshine the competition, which is why I bought one.

Having said that, I still think it's worthwhile that we customers point out to Victory that at least this one aspect of their product is poorly designed or poorly executed. Letting them know this gives them an opportunity to make a good product better; if they were to do that, it gives them one more reason to tout their bikes as better than the competition.
 
#20 ·
I guess since this is the first new vehicle I have ever owned it really gets to me when I saw such a large gap in the saddlebag. I took a bunch of measurements on my bags last night and from what I can tell it is not a problem with the bottom part of the bag, it is the lids themselves. The bottom part on both sides were pretty much the same when measured against the fender but the tops are all over the place. I think it is a lack of quality control with the bolt locations of the hinge and latch. I am probably going to ride my bike down to the local dealer (didn't buy bike from them) and see what they say and if they won't help then I'll take it to the next nearest dealer (the one I bought it from) and see what they say. It is mainly the right bag with the large gap that I would like replaced but if they or MaVic will do it is another story. I am also getting rubbing on the back part of the bag and it appears I have the exact same problem as the guy in the youtube video I posted. I have calmed down somewhat and if I can't get Victory to replace the bag I can put some thicker door sealeant on the bag lid and keep out most of the dirt/water. It just seems to me if you are going to sell a bagger then the bags should have had a little more thought put in to them or atleast a way to adjust the lids.
 
#21 ·
I was just looking at the diagram for the saddlebags in the XR/XC shop manual and saw something interesting. The gasket in the picture shows the top part flared up, kind of like a wing. The two "lips" on my gaskets are both pushed down but it looks like the top part is supposed to sticking up. I guess this helps keep out some debris/water but still wouldn't help with my left saddlebag, still too much of a gap.
 
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